PHOENIX The first NFL Most Valuable Player was Jim Brown in 1957. He won it as a rookie. Brown obliterated people. When he got the ball it was Hulk smash time. A bunch of 5'7 dudes weighing 155 pounds trying to tackle Brown was almost comical.
Brown would go on to win consecutive MVPs and to this day those campaigns to me remain the best MVP runs of all time. I know there are better statistical seasons. There was O.J. Simpson in 1973. Dan Marino in 1984. Lawrence Taylor two years later. There was Brett Favre and Tom Brady and Adrian Peterson and John Elway. The list is impressive but I consider what Brown did to be the standard. Or rather I used to until Aaron Rodgers this season.
Rodgers deserved the MVP award. No one else. Rodgers did. He earned it by playing a nice chunk of the year on one leg and still reaching the NFC title game.
Jordan Strauss/Associated PressRodgers' season will go down as the best MVP run we've seen possibly in decades. Possibly of all time. This isn't about statistics necessarily (though Rodgers' numbers are still impressive) his season was about both talent and toughness. Most MVPs not all but most become MVPs because they spent all or the majority of the season healthy. Rodgers spent a nice chunk of it significantly injured and still produced one of the better seasons we will ever see a quarterback have.
The view of Rodgers from many around the league before his calf shredded like Parmesan cheese was that he was talented. He was good. But he was also swaddled by a system that played perfectly to his skill set. Rodgers was a pretty boy back there sitting comfortably in the pocket throwing dimes. That was the perception.
Then came the leg injury and we saw what many of us already knew. Aaron Rodgers is a tough son of a bitch. It was that toughness that made this to me maybe the greatest MVP campaign we've seen in some time.
Rodgers simultaneously downplayed the injury and brought to light just how much it held him back this season.
I mean so much has to come together for this to happen. It was a tough year injury wise. I had the unathletic hamstring and calf pulls and just dealing with those. My training staff and my acupuncturist and my massage therapist deserve a lot of credit for getting me back on the field. But it was tough it was a tough grind to get through it but that s what we do as players. Nobody s healthy at the end of the season and we all put our bodies on the line every week for our teammates.
David J. Phillip/Associated PressThe view of Rodgers pre and post leg injury was epitomized by Seattle safety Earl Thomas. Thomas told reporters before the NFC Championship Game that he didn't believe based on Rodgers' near miraculous performance against Dallas in the divisional round that Rodgers was truly hurt.
I'm not buying into this leg issue Thomas said then. I saw him scramble close to the goal line on the Cowboys so he's not fooling me with that. I'm not falling into that.
Then Thomas played against Rodgers and everything changed for Thomas. He saw firsthand just how hurt Rodgers was. Thomas wrote this on his website after the game
I have to give Rodgers a lot of credit. Going into the game after watching the tape of their game against Dallas I honestly didn't think he was that injured. I was preparing for the real Aaron Rodgers not the hurt Aaron Rodgers.
But that guy was really hurt out there. Going against him in the game I could tell immediately that he was really in pain. And it sounds funny but that actually caught me off guard. Now that I'm dealing with an injury of my own I have even more respect for him and what he did. A tremendous amount of respect.
David J. Phillip/Associated PressMy belief all along was that Rodgers was far more hurt than he let on. I'm not sure we'll ever know just how bad that injury was until Rodgers writes his autobiography.
It turns out Rodgers isn't just a pretty face. He's part android with a pain threshold that is Jim Brown sian.
The statistics weren't bad either. Rodgers finished with a passer rating of 112.2 and he's the only player in league history to have a 100 plus rating in six straight seasons. He had 38 touchdown passes and just five interceptions. He threw zero interceptions at home which seems unfathomable. Like science fiction.
J.J. Watt is impossible to root against and he's another tough customer. Whenever highlights of Watt are shown among them usually is Watt playing with a bloodied face. His toughness is reinforced by these images.
A calf injury is a more silent assassin. It robbed Rodgers of his third greatest asset. The first is that huge Cal educated brain of his. Second is his uncanny accuracy. But third is the mobility. It's that combination that makes Rodgers the best in the league. The injury was a drain on Rodgers' game and still he was brilliant. The overcoming of the injured leg is what to me separated Rodgers from Watt.
Stephen Brashear/Associated Press
He used a lot of quick strike plays against us and he attacked certain spots on the football field Thomas wrote. It played to his advantage that they were playing an aggressive team like us. We were flying all around but he was moving so slow and smooth. His focus was on point. I think that gave him an edge in the game. He also used his cadence to disrupt our rhythm. He was double counting triple counting and the ball wasn t getting snapped until two seconds were left on the play clock. They did a great job of controlling the game in that aspect. When you talk about a football game the game is always won up front. We have a great secondary but our front allows us to have a lot of leeway and all of us were just off rhythm early on.
Rodgers appeared here at the NFL awards on Saturday Super Bowl eve wearing a lovely dark suit. On his arm was the beautiful Olivia Munn wearing a stunning purple dress. It was a star studded night and Rodgers certainly fit the bill.
Beyond the Hollywood stars beyond the looks beyond the star girlfriend is something much deeper. It's a toughness some didn't know Rodgers had. Now they do.
Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.
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