FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- This is why the NFL needs more Aaron Rodgers-Tom Brady matchups.

The second-ever meeting between the best two quarterbacks of their generation couldn't possibly live up to the hype that came in advance of such a rare occasion.

And it didn't, at least from the Green Bay Packers' perspective.

The biggest downer of Rodgers' career -- other than owning just a lone Super Bowl title, of course -- might be the absence of a regular quarterback rival such as Brady. If they don't play in a Super Bowl, their next scheduled meeting won't come until 2022. Brady, if he's still playing (and still with the Patriots), will be 45 years old then.

Rodgers, 34, won his only previous start against Brady: 26-21 at Lambeau Field in 2014 in receiver Davante Adams' coming out party as a rookie. Four years later, Brady got his revenge in the form of a 31-17 victory on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium.

Not that he needed it. Not with five Super Bowl titles to Rodgers' one -- a fact that Rodgers himself admitted last week should settle the greatest-of-all-time (or at least the greatest-of-this-time) argument.

"He's got five championships, so that ends most discussions, I think," Rodgers said last week.

In a game that featured the contrasting -- yet successful -- styles of the two quarterbacks, Rodgers hit on a variety of deep balls. Most often, those went to the Packers' newest offensive weapon, rookie receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who surpassed 100 yards on just his third catch of the game. Meanwhile, Brady showed that he is the master of quick, precise throws from within the pocket, taking what Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine gave him.

Yet the Patriots' most impactful pass play of the night came not from Brady but from Julian Edelman, who threw to James White for 37 yards on a double-pass trick play to the Green Bay 2. That set up a White rushing touchdown that put the Patriots ahead 24-17 in the fourth quarter.

If Rodgers was envious of the weapons at Brady’s disposal or the style of offense the Patriots run, he didn’t make it obvious. Unlike earlier in the year, he didn’t take any thinly veiled shots at the Packers’ game plan.

All he would say about the Patriots and their uptempo offense and trick plays was: "Yeah. it seemed to work pretty good for them."

That followed an Aaron Jones fumble that took the ball out of Rodgers' hands after he hit consecutive throws of 24 and 26 yards to Valdes-Scantling on the final two plays of the third quarter. Rodgers started the second half with a 51-yard bomb to Valdes-Scantling and a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham that tied the game at 17-17.

"It doesn’t help when you hurt yourself when you hurt yourself with things like that, whether it be penalties or turnovers," said Adams, who caught six passes for 40 yards and a touchdown. “Nobody’s out there trying to turn the ball over. We’re going to do what we do to try to protect it and put ourselves in a better situation as we move forward."

It was mundane football from Rodgers before that: 15 passes in the first quarter -- his most in a first quarter in the past two seasons -- yet the Packers managed just three points. They had 42 offensive plays in the first half, yet only 10 points and a touchdown deficit. That was after they ran only 52 offensive plays the previous week against the Rams and scored 27 points.

Rodgers struggled under duress. He was pressured on 19 dropbacks, his most in a game this season, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Rodgers was pressured on 5 of 10 fourth-quarter dropbacks, including his last three of the game. His 10 fourth-quarter dropbacks netted 14 total yards. Meanwhile, Brady was pressured on five dropbacks overall, his second-fewest in a game this season. Brady was not pressured on any fourth-quarter dropbacks and completed all six of his passes.

It wasn't Saints-Rams from earlier Sunday or Patriots-Chiefs from earlier in the season. For the NFL's sake, that was too bad.

In the head-to-head matchup, Rodgers was 24-for-43 for 259 yards with two touchdowns, while Brady was 22-for-35 with 294 yards and a touchdown.

“Yeah, if you play long enough and you have the sustained greatness that Tom has had, there’s going to be a lot of records that go down,” Rodgers said of Brady. “He’s had an incredible career, been the gold standard at quarterback for the better part of two decades. He’s a great player.”

With a 3-4-1 record at the midway point of the season, the Packers don't look like a playoff team, which means there won't be another Rodgers-Brady matchup anytime soon -- if ever again.