I'm sick of hearing how much better Rodgers is than Brady as well when the casual person looking strictly at numbers decides to make the comparison. I don't recall the Patriots going through a 1-4 stretch at any point in the last 15 years, and Brady's ability to keep this team competitive during the worst of circumstances is something that continually gets lost. I do feel a lot of that has to do with coaching and keeping guys from getting swallowed up by adversity, although the other half of that is done by veteran players who have been here a while who have raised the game of the newer players who have come in and Brady is part of that.
But I think Rodgers is overrated when it comes to being considered among the elite QBs, although if you really think about it, the league isn't exactly full of players who fall into that category right now, especially at QB. I mean, think about it and go down the line: Manning has falling off, Rivers is done, Wilson is good but not great, Romo is hurt but he's been inconsistent, Brees is starting to falter, Dalton is showing his true colors in Cincinnati, Flacco was awful before he got hurt. Newton is athletic and actually playing well, but Carolina's had a relatively easy schedule this year considering how bad the majority of their opponents have been this year and he's yet to put together a string of seasons that would put him into the "elite" category. But I won't fault the Panthers for what they've accomplished because you can only play who you play and it's not their fault that the group of teams they've faced is among the teams having a not-so-great year.
That essentially leaves Brady and Rodgers as the only two left still playing who have played consistently well, but Brady's done it for much longer and is still doing it, and as the stats show, in tough situations the guy rises to the occasion. So it's not a knock on Rodgers, but the experts calling him "the best player in the NFL" is just obnoxious. Until Brady starts consistently making bad decisions and not helping this team win football games, it's hard to put him below any player at this point.
