Aaron Rodgers certainly was more effective against poor defenses...that is expected. So let's throw out all the gaudy numbers he put up against piss poor defenses. He is supposed to toy with those units, and he did to a VAST extent.Originally Posted by mraynrand
However, Rodgers did face a fair number of very good to great defenses this season to test him. Using top 10 defenses...based on total yardage allowed over the season...Rodgers faced those units 6 times out of 16 games. Rodgers was .500 in those 6 games...he won the home games, lost the road games. He was not consistently dominant against elite defenses, but he held serve at home and had several big performances.
Seattle (#1) - Week #1 - Rodgers was mediocre in this game. Granted, it was the first game of the year...on the road...against the defending champs. He completed 70% of his passes, but wasn't impactful.
Jets (#6) - Week #2 - Rodgers and the offense was not firing on all cylinders here either, but in key situations Rodgers was good...QBR over 84. 7-14 on 3rd downs. 3 TD passes, including an 80 yarder to Jordy late in the 3rd quarter to give Green Bay the lead.
Detroit (#2) - Week #3 - Very tough start to the season facing the top 2 defenses in the league on the road! The Lions made things uncomfortable for Rodgers and he wasn't effective on the road.
Carolina (#10) - Week #7 - Rodgers dominated a good Panther defense. Only 3 incompletions. 94 QBR. 3 TD passes.
Buffalo (#4) - week #15 - Perhaps Rodgers' worst game ever. He certainly got no help from his receivers with 7 drops, but some of that was due to inaccuracy by Rodgers.
Detroit (#2) - week #17 - With a division title on the line and a nagging injury in cold temperatures, Rodgers posted a 97+ QBR against an elite defense in an epic performance.
In addition to those, Rodgers also had statement WINS over capable Patriots (#13) and Dolphins (#12) defenses.
The best offense JJ Watt can claim to have beaten this year...using the same yardage metric? Baltimore at #12.
Bottom line? Against better offenses, JJ Watt and his defense did not do enough to win games. It wasn't like Houston's offense was horrible either to the point they had to be overcome...they weren't great, but they were 14th in points scored in the league. If Watt was SO dominating and SO disruptive and SO much better than any defensive player since LT...why were they only 9-7 against a cupcake schedule?
Sorry...I do not see how any of that translates to an MVP award for Watt. If he put up the numbers he did and his team was 12-4 or 13-3...yeah, put him in the debate like LT was. However, you can't be valuable if your team doesn't get wins...because WINS are what ultimately determine value more than anything else. Rodgers got wins against elite competition and in big moments. Watt did not.
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