Pelissero: Aaron Rodgers in thick of MVP race again

GREEN BAY, WIS. -- There are times Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers can be so in control he doesn't even have to throw the football to put the defense on a string.

Take the first drive of Sunday's 38-17 stomping of the Carolina Panthers, who got drawn offsides on consecutive plays to turn third-and-12 into third-and-2, then let Rodgers dance his way out of traffic for a 3-yard scramble that set up the first of three touchdown passes.

If Rodgers' 2011 MVP season was "one of those off-the-chart years," as Packers coach Mike McCarthy recalled Sunday, saying he's never been part of something like it, 2014 could be about Rodgers changing how that chart is drawn up.

"I'll say this about Aaron," McCarthy said. "Aaron is a much better player today than he was in 2011."

He's up to 18 touchdown passes with just one interception, which bounced off Jordy Nelson's hands way back in the Sept. 4 opener at Seattle. The Packers lost that one and another 17 days later at Detroit before they and Rodgers began the run that has him in the MVP mix again.

Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray and San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers are on the ballot. So is the reigning MVP, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, as well as Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck and perhaps Houston Texans end J.J. Watt.

Nobody has operated on a much higher level than Rodgers the past month, though. And even on a day the Packers didn't need him to make the impossible throw, the 30-year-old dictated everything to a struggling Carolina defense that couldn't have looked much more helpless.

He caught the Panthers with 12 men on the field. He repeatedly checked them into favorable runs as Eddie Lacy and James Starks combined to average 5.2 yards on 19 carries. He was 19-of-22 passing for 255 yards and a 154.5 rating, his second near-perfect figure in four weeks.

"I've had a lot of experience since (2011), been through a lot of games – tough games, wins, losses, solid performances, poor performances," Rodgers said. "You've got to learn from everything, and there's stretches in that season where I was playing really, really well, and we're kind of in a stretch right now where we're playing pretty well."

Rodgers hasn't thrown an interception in six games, tying Bart Starr's 50-year-old franchise record. He's the first quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 18 touchdown passes and one interception or fewer through seven games. Tom Brady is the only other QB to throw three TDs without a pick four weeks in a row, or two 150-plus passer ratings in the first seven weeks.

Is that more valuable than Murray's record streak of seven 100-yard games to open the season that was extended in Sunday's 31-21 win over the New York Giants? Or Rivers' record string of five 120-plus QB rating games that ended in a 23-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs?

Stats never tell the full story. A lot can change with more than half the season to go. But watch Rodgers command a game like Sunday's, and it's not hard to make the case nobody does more for his team – even more than he did in 2011, when he set career highs in touchdowns (45), yards (4,643), completion percentage (68.3) and passer rating (122.5).

"His responsibility level has increased a lot since then," McCarthy said. "So, what he does during the course of the week, during the course of the game, at the line of scrimmage, the communication between (quarterbacks coach) Alex Van Pelt and myself, he is, in my opinion, watching him grow throughout his career – he's clearly a better player."

Perhaps the best measure of Rodgers' value is how the Packers stumbled without him last season, when he missed seven games and most of another with a broken collarbone. That injury occurred at a time the Packers were 5-2 and on a four-game winning streak, just as they are now.

They ended up sneaking into the playoffs at 8-7-1, with Rodgers heaving the 48-yard winner to Randall Cobb on fourth-and-8 to beat Chicago in Week 17, then lost 23-20 to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round as the offense struggled to regain its rhythm.

If Rodgers keeps rolling like this, the Packers will be a threat to do more than just get in this time. And he'll have a shot for more personal hardware, even if another MVP hasn't crossed his mind.

"It doesn't," Rodgers said with a smirk, then paused. "I wouldn't mind it, but it doesn't. I'll take a Super Bowl championship first."