Your inbox approves Men's coaches poll Women's coaches poll Play to win 25K!
NFL
Aaron Rodgers

First Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers meeting long overdue

Lindsay H. Jones
USA TODAY Sports
Tom Brady has thrown 26 TDs this season against just six interceptions.

Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have both been here before, atop the race to be named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, while quarterbacking their teams into Super Bowl contention. But they've never been here together.

In one of the more that-can't-really-be-true stats of this NFL season, Brady and Rodgers, three MVP awards and four Super Bowl rings between them, have never even played each other. Brady is 2-1 in his career against the Packers, splitting his two starts against Brett Favre and notching a win in 2010 against Rodgers' backup, Matt Flynn, in a game Rodgers missed because of a concussion.

What a treat the NFL world will get on Sunday afternoon, when Brady's Patriots play Rodgers' Packers at Lambeau Field, while both are playing so well. The game could not only be a Super Bowl preview, but could serve as a de facto final exam for the MVP race.

"It's going to be a great match-up, but at the crux of it is these two guys. I have to imagine that in big games, like they normally do, they'll both play huge," said Kurt Warner, a former NFL MVP and current NFL Network analyst. "When it comes down to the MVP race, especially these last five games of the year, a big part of it is how do their teams finish? What everyone will remember is what you did at the end. Who makes his mark in a game like this, when they are going head-to-head — does one of these guys shine?"

Rodgers and Brady did the typical quarterback-fraternity thing this week by praising each other, dealing out platitudes like extra servings of pumpkin pie, but it was clear there is genuine affection between the two Northern California natives.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

"He's just phenomenal," Brady said. "I always love watching him play because he does things that a lot of guys in the league can't do, well, that nobody can really do except him. For a quarterback, I really know how hard it is to do that, especially on a consistent basis, and he's been as consistent as anybody who has ever played the position, so I've got a lot of respect for him."

New England coach Bill Belichick and both quarterbacks tried to downplay comparisons between the two this week, beyond such a mundane and obvious fact that both quarterbacks wear jersey No. 12. But there are plenty of similarities.

Both had to learn patience to start their careers — Brady as a sixth-round pick who began as a backup behind Drew Bledsoe; Rodgers as a first-rounder who had to wait three years behind Favre before finally getting his chance. Both have become crossover stars, with mainstream marketing campaigns. And both have love lives worthy of gossip magazines.

And both have rallied their teams from slow starts this season, to the point where they have been so dominant in recent weeks that it is hard to remember those lean times in September, when the Packers were blown out in Seattle and the Patriots laughed out of Kansas City. The Packers have won seven of their last eight games, while the Patriots have won eight consecutive games since that embarrassing loss to the Chiefs.

"I think we've been more relaxed," Rodgers said, smiling as he alluded to his "R-E-L-A-X" message from September. "The preparation, the urgency and the focus picked up after the 1-2 start, but I think we also played some really good football teams."

NFL STORY LINES: PATRIOTS-PACKERS A SUPER BOWL PREVIEW?

There are certainly other players remaining in the MVP discussion, notably Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck, who spent much of his third season in the NFL on pace to break the single-season passing record; Dallas running back DeMarco Murray, who has powered a resurgent Cowboys offense; and dark horse candidate J.J. Watt, Houston's do-everything-even-score-touchdowns defensive lineman. But Rodgers and Brady have made the strongest cases lately, and one of them can pull ahead in the race by Sunday night.

So let's handicap the race:

The case for Rodgers: No one in the NFL has a better touchdown-to-interception ratio than Rodgers, who has thrown 30 touchdowns and just three interceptions. And if playoff spots and postseason games are often determined by turnover margin, there is no one more valuable to his team than Rodgers.

Rodgers has a solid group of skill position weapons, including star receiver Jordy Nelson and a strong running game with Eddie Lacy, and the Packers have scored 44 points per game in November — including two wins that were so lopsided that Rodgers got to watch the fourth quarter from the sidelines.

The case for Brady: His season turned around in October as tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to full health, finally giving Brady an elite passing weapon to complement receiver Julian Edelman. With 26 touchdowns, Brady has already surpassed his 2013 total (25) and is completing his highest percentage of passes (65%) since 2011, while leading the Patriots to convincing wins over top AFC contenders Denver, Indianapolis and Cincinnati.

Now both players just need what Warner described as a "signature moment" to propel one of them to another MVP trophy. Perhaps, for one of them, it will come Sunday at Lambeau.

"You get those (national broadcast) games against another big-name guy, and you really look forward to those, and really relish those moments," Warner said. "As a quarterback fan, I'm going to be sitting there to the end of this one, just to watch these two guys go back and forth. They both do it differently, which is kind of fun, because you can appreciate both sides of it, and both sides of what they can do. So it is going to be fun."

Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.

GALLERY: BEST WEEK 13 GAMES TO WATCH

Featured Weekly Ad