The countless all-time great quarterbacks of the NFL is a very complicated list. There is one G.O.A.T Tom Brady, but I want to place a second. To do that, I must decide who was the better all-time player. Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers? You might ask, where would we even begin to separate these two from second and third? Well, the answer to that is in this article. Let’s dive in.
MVP Seasons
Manning and Rodgers had nine MVP awards between them. The former had five MVP campaigns in 2003, 2004, 2008, and 2009 with the Colts and in 2013 with Denver. Rodgers had 4: 2011, 2014, 2020, and 2021 with the Green Bay Packers.
MVP seasons are a great way to start to see the separation of greatness. How many times did Manning win back-to-back MVPs? He did that twice. Rodgers only did that once in his career. That is a check in the box for Manning. Where do we look next you say? Super Bowl appearances.
Super Bowls
The Super Bowl appearances between both of these guys are four respectively. You may think two apiece but no it’s quite lopsided. Manning went to three Super Bowls. He won two. He won a Super Bowl with the Colts and Broncos. Rodgers appeared in only one Super Bowl. He won it with the Green Bay Packers. I see this as a two-part separation point.
The Broncos and Colts QB has more rings but Rodgers has a better winning percentage. That being said, I put the greatness score at Manning two and Rodgers one. At this point, you might say where do we go next Jerry? I will tell you. It is Super Bowl MVPs. Let’s dive into it.
Super Bowl MVPS Between Manning and Rodgers
In the section above, we discovered how many Super Bowls each player went to. Now that we know that, let’s see who gains the edge on Super Bowl MVP wins. We know Manning went to three Super Bowls. Two with the Indianapolis Colts and one with the Denver Broncos.
The crazy thing is even though Manning was in two more Super Bowls than Rodgers, they each have one Super Bowl MVP. So how do we score this stat? Well, let’s look at it this way. Manning had more chances to win the Super Bowl MVP than Rodgers so we will score this one to the “discount double-check” Rodgers. That makes it at a dead even heat going into the final two stats that we are using as greatness criteria. The next criteria we will look at is head-to-head stats to see who gains the edge with only two stats left let’s look at it.
Head-To-Head
The head-to-head between Manning and Rodgers could be the separation one of these two gets to become the better all-time player. With the age difference between them, there were only two regular-season games played between the two. They went 1-1 in those games. Head-to-head just doesn’t mean games against each other. It also means awards and accomplishments they achieved.
We discussed MVP, Super Bowl MVP, and Super Bowls. Let’s look at All-Pro teams, Pro Bowls, and AP Offensive Player of the Year, shall we. In the Pro Bowl, Manning has 14 trips to Rodgers’ 10 invites. Let’s see about All-Pro teams. It is lopsided with Manning doubling up Rodgers, 10-5. The last award possibly breaking the tie on which player is better is AP OPOY. With a 2-0 lead, Manning won AP Offensive Player of the Year twice. Rodgers never won the award.
The Verdict
The better all-time player in my opinion upon this research is Manning. His one more Super Bowl ring and the doubling up on All-Pro teams speaks volumes to the greatness of who he was on the NFL gridiron.
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