Aaron Rodgers didn't have quite the gaudy numbers he did in his first MVP season. But perhaps it's what the Green Bay Packers quarterback didn't do in 2014 that secured his second NFL Most Valuable Player award.
In winning the MVP on Saturday night in Phoenix, Rodgers was rewarded for a season in which he almost never threw the ball to the other team.
The 31-year-old Rodgers led the NFL in TD-to-INT ratio (38 touchdowns, five interceptions) during the regular season. He also finished second in passer rating (112.2) and yards per attempt (8.43) and third in touchdown passes.
He was the only quarterback to finish in the top three in all four of those categories.
His TD-to-INT ratio was the fifth-best single-season mark in NFL history and was second among quarterbacks with at least 30 touchdown passes, trailing only Tom Brady's 36-touchdown, four-interception 2010 season.
Rodgers played the final game and a half of the regular season plus the playoffs with a torn left calf muscle that significantly limited his mobility. When he returned to the game in the third quarter of the regular-season finale against the Detroit Lions, the Lambeau Field crowd saluted him with chants of "MVP, MVP."
Rodgers, 31, won his first MVP following the 2011 season. He became just the ninth player in history to win multiple MVP awards, joining former teammate Brett Favre, who won three MVPs.
Rodgers received 31 of the 50 votes. Defensive player of the year J.J. Watt got 13 votes. The rest of the votes went to Cowboys teammates Tony Romo (two) and DeMarco Murray (two), Patriots QB Brady (one) and Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner (one).