Superior preparation is one of the bedrocks of this Houston Texans defense of Wade Phillips, J.J. Watt and Johnathan Joseph. You're not supposed to be able to outwork a guy who comes in to lift weights on Saturdays (Watt), a guy whose dad started teaching him how to mess with quarterbacks' minds when he was still in grade school (Phillips) or a guy who believes you can never know too much about an opposing receiver (Joseph).

But somehow, Aaron Rodgers does.

It's a huge part of what blows the Texans away in a 42-24 Sunday Night Football runaway for the Green Bay Packers. Rodgers seems to know exactly where he needs to put the football — time after time after time.

"He knew what to do against our scheme," linebacker Brooks Reed says. "We didn't change up a whole lot and he attacked it. I've never seen a quarterback attack it quite like that before."

Phillips' Bulls On Parade aren't used to nights like this. They're the ones who make quarterbacks feel helpless. Only, Rodgers flips the script.

"It sucks," Reed says. "You get so close and . . . "

The linebacker is talking about Rodgers ability to escape from pressure, to turn should-be-sacks into monster plays. But he just as easily could be referring to No. 12's penchant for flinging footballs over Texans defenders' heads and outstretched arms (have we finally found a J.J. Watt-reach-proof quarterback?), his skill at twisting Phillips' defensive backs into positions that Madonna wouldn't even try.

Reed isn't kidding when he says that Rodgers knows exactly what to do. The Packers quarterback could teach a Masters-level course in Wade's defense.

"I mean, we had a good gameplan going in," Reed says. "It's hard to explain."

In many ways, it's a lesson in true greatness. As doggedly as the Texans prepare, Rodgers raises his own prep work to another level with the critics rustling at his door. He completes 65 percent of his passes against the best defense in the league, throws for a career-high six touchdowns, each seemingly more gorgeous than the last, and completely seizes the game almost before the biggest regular-season crowd in Texans history even realizes it's completely gone.

"It was a game that I was into early," Rodgers says.

They'll be plenty of talk in the coming days about how this is a wake-up call for the Texans, how it's almost good that they lost now, yada, yada, yada . . .

Don't buy any of it for a moment. This is only a reminder of how far the Texans still need to go in ramping up their own smoldering intensity for sweat.

The Texans work extremely hard. Champions work even harder.

Sweat Equity

In many ways the work Rodgers put into this game is a major compliment to what Phillips has built with this Texans defense. The best quarterback in the league (and with the way Tom Brady's been having trouble closing games going back to last February's Super Bowl, Rodgers is the best) ups his workload with the Bulls On Parade looming.

"I think it speaks for itself," Packers coach Mike McCarthy says. "Aaron was on fire. He did a great job of putting the ball where it needed to be."

Rodgers does it by studying Phillips defense to the point where he's comfortable going against one of its strengths — by picking on the man-to-man coverage skills of Joseph. Many teams are afraid to truly test Joseph, one of the best cornerbacks in football. Rodgers embraces it, confident and cocky enough to know that even an all-pro cornerback can be had if he's left out on an island time and time again.

"They challenged us," Rodgers says of Phillips' gameplan. "They played a lot of one-high safety, a lot of man coverage and put those corners in one-on-one spots with not a lot of safety help."

The Texans need to get to the quarterback to make Phillips attacking defense work. And No. 12 just will not let them get there on this night.

"He's a different type of quarterback," Reed says. "We haven't played a quarterback that elusive yet this season."

Rodgers steps out of one would-be Connor Barwin sack where the Texans linebacker has him by the shoes, makes No. 98 miss out on two more potential sacks too. He releases a bullet a split second before Reed hits him on one play, bounces up and taps the Texan on the helmet.

"No, not at all," Reed says later when asked if Rodgers talks much to defenses. "Not this game."

Why trash talk when you can simply throw missiles over everyone's heads? Let Watt playfully mock his discount double check touchdown move (the Texans star breaks into Rodgers' phantom wrestling belt thing and then pretends to toss it to the ground before getting into his own sack salute after a first quarter takedown). The quarterback will just bomb on, taking apart the league's best defense chunk by chunk.

The Packers build such a large lead that Rodgers only throws one pass in the last 14:46 of game action. In a closer game, he easily racks up a 450-yard day on the Bulls.

"As a defense, we let a team put up 42 points," Watt says. "That's unacceptable any week. It doesn't matter who we're playing."

Rodgers shows it's the only thing that matters. The best of the best prepare harder too.

When it's over Rodgers gives a bemused smile when he and Matt Schaub meet near midfield and the Texans quarterback cannot stop talking about what a night his counterpart had. Later, Rodgers shoots NBC sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya a "Shhh!" when she asks what he'd say to the critics who had the 2-3 Packers and his arm all but buried.

It's good to be the king.

"We could have easily had four or five more sacks," Texans defensive end Antonio Smith insists.

Not with how Rodgers prepared for this game. Not with No. 12 locked in.

"(Houston) is a very good team," Rodgers says. "That team is going to be in the playoffs."

Now, the Texans need to decide if they want to be champions enough.