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From the best to the best: Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams power Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- What coach calls a deep-shot play down the field to start a drive backed up at your own 1-yard line?

One who has Aaron Rodgers to throw it and Davante Adams to catch it.

Such is the life of luxury for Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who gave the green light for a risky play that saw Rodgers drop back 8 or 9 yards deep in his own end zone and launch a ball down the middle of the field to a double-covered Adams in the third quarter of a 30-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.

"Those guys are two phenomenal players," LaFleur said afterward. "You could argue they are the best at what they do."

It wouldn't be a difficult case to make.

With four games left in the regular season, Rodgers' 36 touchdown passes -- including his three against the Eagles, the last of which made him the fastest to 400 in NFL history -- ranks as the second-most in team history through 12 games behind only his own mark of 37 in 2011 (when he finished with 45 in 15 games). Sunday was his ninth game of the season with three or more touchdown passes. With only four interceptions, Rodgers has posted 35-plus touchdown passes and five-or-less interceptions in the first 12 games for just the second time in his career.

Take the first half on Sunday alone -- even before his daring bomb to Adams. Rodgers completed 13-of-14 passes, marking the second time this season he's posted a 90-plus completion percentage in a first half (he was 11-of-12 against the Vikings in Week 8). Before this season, he had never done that in a first half.

All that after just turning 37 years old last week.

Rodgers' case for a third MVP was strong before Sunday's game. It might be stronger now with the Packers (9-3) in prime position for a run at the NFC's best record.

Now, the case for Adams.

In his last 16 games, playoffs included, Adams has 132 catches for 1,680 yards and 17 touchdowns.

With 10 catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday, he matched Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison and Jerry Rice as the only receivers in the Super Bowl era with 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns in their first 10 games of the season. Remember, Adams missed two full games and half of another yet still ranks fourth in the NFL with 1,029 yards receiving and tied for the league lead with 13 touchdown catches.

Sunday was his seventh straight game with at least one touchdown catch, tying the franchise record held by Don Hutson (who did it twice in the 1940s). He also has a streak of seven straight games with six-plus catches and a touchdown, tying Owens for the longest such streak in league history.

There were enough Adams highlights against the Eagles to fill an entire SportsCenter segment: his leaping 1-yard touchdown catch on fourth down with Darius Slay draped all over him, the 42-yarder from his own 1-yard line and the 9-yard catch-and-run all-effort touchdown in which he carried Slay across the goal line for Rodgers' 400th.

"Some of those catches he made, the one down on the goal line -- unbelievable," LaFleur said. "I don't know how he caught that ball ... the deep one when we were backed up. How about him scoring a touchdown when we throw the little run alert out there in the red zone on the 9-yard line, and he's able to find a way into the end zone?

"The guy is so unbelievably talented. He works so hard, he's got great instincts, awareness, intelligence. That's what the great ones have, and he's a great one. And he's got a great quarterback throwing to him as well, which definitely helps."

Rodgers and Adams have connected on 75% of their targets for an average of 9.2 yards per attempt this season. Both would be career highs as teammates if they held up.

But even Rodgers sounded a bit surprised when LaFleur radioed in the play-action deep shot when they started the third-quarter drive at the 1-yard line.

"He said, 'You good with this one?'" Rodgers recalled.

"I said yeah, 'Yeah, definitely like that one.'"

Said Adams: "It was a great call by Matt because I don't think they were necessarily anticipating it, especially off the action."

With Adams and Rodgers, perhaps anything should be expected now.