Aaron Rodgers led the Green Bay Packers to a win over the Dallas Cowboys on only one leg, and he’s not done yet.
The calf injury that Rodgers has battled since Week 17 made him mostly ineffective in the first half Sunday against the Cowboys, but he emerged in the third quarter and put together a gutsy performance, completing 15 of 20 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns in the second half to advance the Packers to the NFC Championship Game.
Rodgers fought off the pain that was shooting down his leg and carved up the Dallas defense while rarely venturing outside the pocket. His ability to get the job done even at less than 100 percent showed why he should be named the NFL MVP, former Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga argued in his latest Football by Football post.
The signal-caller, “limited, but still capable,” once again will have to struggle through the pain to find a way to win Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, but if he’s done it once, he can do it again, Poppinga says.
“Rodgers has been known as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks for several years now,” Poppinga writes. “His last performance, playing essentially on only one leg with all of the onus for a victory on his shoulders, put one thing on display: Rodgers has elevated himself from one of the best to the best. And he’ll need to continue to play at that level for what lies ahead.”
