Aaron Rodgers simply too much for Eagles

GREEN BAY - At times, Aaron Rodgers seems almost bored.

Rodgers is the best player on a very good team - logical, since he is the best player in a very deep league. He is the most accurate and efficient passer in history, an unflappable leader and a splendid athlete.

He is football's Michael Jordan; the best, most polished quarterback in history.

There is no shame losing to the best; not when he and his cast is fit and healthy, playing well and at home. 53-20? Walk it off.

This was no more a referendum on the Eagles' capabilities than, say, the fact that Hakeem Olajuwon won only when Jordan did not play, or that Charles Barkley never won a title at all.

The game left both teams at 7-3. There is a decent chance that they will meet again in January.

The Eagles can only hope they don't meet in Wisconsin, where Rodgers performs without peer, and, it seems, without trying. He told Packers fans to "R-E-L-A-X" after the team started 1-2, and has followed that advice himself.

Rodgers plays the toughest position in sports; cerebrally taxing, physically demanding and incredibly dangerous, always at a size disadvantage to 11 men bent on making him a puddle of goo.

This season he looks like he's running the scout team in training camp.

He actually used to do that, too, for three whole, wasted seasons, while Brett Favre stumbled through the twilight of his tenure as the second-best quarterback in Packers history.

Nobody looked like he gave more effort than Favre.

Nobody looks more effortless than Rodgers.

"It's not easy," Rodgers insisted, then pointed to his supporting cast . . . who pointed right back.

"He's lights-out right now," right tackle Bryan Bulaga said.

"I need to figure out new ways to compliment Aaron, frankly," said Packers coach Mike McCarthy, a cumbersome orator at best.

That's OK. The Eagles' glib coach had plenty of compliments.

"He's as good as they get," Chip Kelly said. "He saw it all and hit it all."

It helps to have weapons like receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, but, said Kelly, "It all comes down to the trigger man, and he put on a show today."

Right now, Rodgers is a walking assassin.

Well, a sleep-walking assassin.

He emerged from the showers almost somnambulant, plodding through the locker room. He conducted his postgame press conference at about 12 decibels, with the enthusiasm of a history professor. He wore a smart blue suit coat and a crisp, white, button-down shirt . . . and white leather tennis shoes.

Maybe all of this is old for him. He has won a Super Bowl and he has been the Super Bowl MVP and he has won the NFL's MVP award, which he deserves again this season. He proves again and again that he is, simply, the best.

Such as when he throws passes away on purpose to avoid sacks. Or when he's scooting up the middle for a 16-yard gain, having only glanced at the coverage and the pass rush.

Or when he's converting third-and-18 with a little 24-yard flick to tight end Andrew Quarless, one of four receivers Rodgers found more than once in the first half.

"Those are the little back-breakers," Rodgers said.

Rodgers entered the game the hottest player on the planet, and nowhere hotter than at his frigid home field. He hadn't thrown an interception at Lambeau in almost 2 calendar years, which spanned 286 attempts, including 26 touchdowns. His home passer rating this season was a mind-boggling 140.1.

By the end of the first half, Rodgers' home passer rating was up to 144.7, and the Packers led by 24 (it dipped back to 140.2 by game's end). He had 28 touchdowns and no interceptions in 311 attempts at the half; 29 in 322 by game's end. He finished 22-for-36 for 341 yards with three touchdowns and plenty of time to nap in the fourth quarter, which he did not play for the second straight week.

In fact, in his last two starts Rodgers is 40-for-63 for 661 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions . . . and he only played two-thirds of the games' 120 minutes.

True, he has dedicated technicians as his primary targets.

Nelson runs his deep routes with a special bit of nuance. As the ball reaches its apex, Nelson, a shoulder ahead of his defender, veers away from the sideline and into the center of the field. The defender must adjust. Then, as the ball descends, Nelson veers back toward the sideline and reoccupies the space he created.

If the pass is thrown precisely down the sideline, the defender is helpless. Precision is crucial.

No one in history is more precise than Rodgers.

He entered the game as the leader in career passer rating, at 106.2, bolstered by his completion percentage, 66 percent, and his interception rate, 1.7 percent, also both best in history.

Give him a weapon as big, as fast and as tough as Nelson, it explains why Rodgers never seems to sweat.

Nelson blew past Fletcher for a 64-yard reception that framed the Packers' first score, a field goal. He burned him again for a 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Nelson would have had another TD, from 19 yards, but Fletcher grabbed his hand as the ball arrived and was called for pass interference. The Pack then scored on a run and made it 30-3.

"We call it stacking the defender," Rodgers said of Nelson's technique, which worked wonderfully against Fletcher: "We liked that matchup."

Especially when only one safety lines up deep: "I get excited," Nelson said.

Asked if he was surprised that teams often still play with only one safety deep, Rodgers admitted, "Every now and then, yeah."

It marked the sixth consecutive home game in which they scored at least 30 points. That includes all five this season, of course.

The dominance has been complete lately. In their previous three home games they held a combined halftime lead of 98-3. After yesterday, it was 128-9.

That's right: The Eagles doubled the three previous opponents' aggregate score.

Pyrrhic, no?

Slot receiver Randall Cobb has been a big part of Rodgers' explosion. Cobb entered the game with 10 touchdown catches, second in the league. He and Nelson, who has nine, could challenge the record set in 2007 by Randy Moss and Wes Welker, who combined for 31. Moss and Welker caught their passes from Tom Brady, the only other quarterback who enters the conversation as history's best passer.

Like Rodgers, Brady plays his home games in a harsh outdoor climate on a field often slick and mushy, as Lambeau was for the Eagles' visit.

Unlike Rodgers, Brady is unable to escape pressure. Even at 30, Rodgers can scramble and run. He picked up two first downs that way yesterday.

Certainly, it's not as if Rodgers is God, or anything.

He underthrew Nelson deep early in the third quarter, then took an intentional-grounding penalty on the next play. Those mistakes led to the Packers' first punt of the game.

Yawn.