Speculation begins about Rodgers repeating as MVP

It might be too early to speculate, but there’s at least some buzz about Aaron Rodgers repeating as the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.

The Green Bay quarterback has been on fire the last two weeks with a combined passer rating of 140.8 in victories at Houston and St. Louis.

Rodgers got off to a slower start than he did a year ago, when the Packers went 15-1, but he appears to be catching his stride now. Rodgers’ understudy, Graham Harrell, said most quarterbacks would “kill” to have the type of games Rodgers had the first four weeks, when the Pack went 2-2.

Pro Football Weekly has its MVP Meter running. It lists Rodgers as the fourth likeliest to win the award. That’s up from the No. 8 ranking he had two weeks ago.

Now, Rodgers only trails Matt Ryan of Atlanta, Eli Manning of the Giants and ex-Badger J.J. Watt of Houston.

Rodgers could become the fifth player in NFL history to win back to back MVP titles. His ex-Packer teammate Brett Favre is among them, in addition to Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, and Jim Brown.

Raji returns

Green Bay Packers nose tackle B.J. Raji returned to practice Thursday after missing two games with a bad ankle. He took part in all of the drills during the early portion of the practice that was open to the media.

There is chance that Raji will return to play on Sunday when the Packers host Jacksonville.

Receiver Donald Driver also returned to practice Thursday morning after he sat out Wednesday with a neck injury suffered in last Sunday’s win at St. Louis.

Running back James Starks missed practice Thursday for the first time in a couple weeks. There was no immediate indication as to why.

Meanwhile, coach Mike McCarthy said on Sirius XM satellite radio that receiver Greg Jennings might need surgery to fix the groin injury he first suffered Sept. 9 and aggravated three weeks later.

Jennings has missed the last three contests due to the injury. He sought a second medical opinion this week after the problem was slow to heal.

There’s an indication that Jennings might have a sports hernia. An operation could keep him out for three to six weeks.

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