Michael Vick Wins Comeback Player of the Year Award; Tom Brady Unanimously Voted as AP Most Valuable Player

Yesterday the league announced that Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback Michael Vick had won the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year award, and rightly so.

In his first full season back after serving jail time for his participation in dog fighting, Vick led the Eagles to a 10-6 record and an NFC East title. His Eagles were one and done in the playoffs after failing to come back against the Pack, who were eventual NFC Champions, in the opening round.

Before his jail term, Vick was a run-oriented quarterback and was always looking for a running lane rather than an open receiver. But this year, his throwing arm seemed remarkably stronger, and more accurate. Not only was he concentrated on passing the ball first, be he was also a more effective runner when he did tuck the ball away and take off down the field.

Vick wasn't even named the opening day starter, and only got the chance to start because of the concussion that Kevin Kolb suffered in the first week of the season against Green Bay. Vick ended the season with 3,018 passing yards and 21 touchdowns, both career-highs. He also set a career-high with nine rushing touchdowns (100 attempts, 676 yards). Even more impressive? He threw just six interceptions, and didn't throw his first until week 11.

If Tom Brady didn't have a near flawless regular season--not postseason, the award is given out according to regular season play--then Vick may have had a shot at winning the MVP as well. Instead, Brady became the first player in history to win unanimously win the league MVP award.

Brady led his Patriots to a league-best 14-2 record, and threw a league-high 36 touchdown passes. The NFL Offensive Player of the Year (handed out earlier this week) threw for just shy of 4,000 yards (3,900) and just four interceptions, which is the least amount he has thrown in one season discounting 2008 when he missed the entire season.

Other awards handed out this week: Sam Bradford and Ndamukong Suh won Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year respectively. And rightly so.

Photo credit

Michael Vick: Kirby Lee/NFL

Tom Brady: Kirby Lee/NFL

NFL playoff system "broken" but can't be fixed

The NFC West division has been a weak link for years when it comes to the National Football League's playoff seeding procedure, but it hit a new low this season.

After defeating a hapless St. Louis Rams offense last night, led by rookie quarterback Sam Bradford, the Seattle Seahawks became the first team to win a division with a sub-.500 record (7-9). Recently several NFL employees have brought to attention the weak spot in the procedure for figuring out each conference's playoff seeds.

Because of the format (No. 1 thru No. 4 division winners, No. 5 and No. 6 the two Wild Card teams), the Seahawks get to host the 11-5 New Orleans Saints, since they are in a stronger division and didn't win the NFC South. Depending on how the sixth seeded Green Bay Packers do in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Seattle has a slight chance at hosting not just the first week, but the conference championship game as well if they make it that far.

Another thing that was brought to my attention is the fact that two 10-6 NFC teams (New York and Tampa Bay) are both sitting at home watching the playoffs while the Seahawks are not. Funny thing is that both the Giants and Bucs crushed Seattle earlier this season--New York won 41-7 during week nine and Tampa won 38-15 just last week. In the history of the league this is the first year that two 10-6 teams in the same conference missed the postseason.

It's clear that Seattle, who didn't even get to start Matt Hasselbeck in last night's game yet still managed to pull out a victory, doesn't deserve a playoff spot after finishing with a point differential of -97 and going 2-6 on the road.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves. This isn't a fixable system like the NCAA's.

Employees have brought up the idea of changing the format to just picking the top six teams in each conference (record-wise). But what exactly does that fix? I mean yes it does allow the top six teams to make it in to the postseason, but it also completely takes away the whole point of having divisions.

If this change happens sometime in the near future, I am not going to be a happy camper. There would be no reason to have division match-ups and it would take away from the rivalries which have been created through having four divisions in each conference.

If they want to fix the system, you might as well fix the entire format of the league. And that just seems like far too much trouble to go through.

I hope you hear me, Roger Goodell. Do not fix the playoff system. That may temporarily fix the problem, but it will only lead to new problems.

Photo credit: AP Photo/John Froschauer

The Inevitable: Five Things That are Bound to Happen in 2010

Each season brings change and new hope for each team.

But, then again, certain things never do change. Here's five things that are unavoidable, and will happen whether you want it to or not.

Brett Favre Returns for 20th Season

Duh.

As much as we all hate the Favre talk it's going to pop up in conversation, and he's going to make yet another return. There have been more Favre sightings at a local high school and Minnesota head coach Brad Childress has reportedly already met with him.

If those are telling signs that Favre is going to mosey on in to the Metrodome come September 9, then I don't know what is. I mean, he even chose to get the ankle surgery, which was required if he planned on playing another down.

Favre, we all know you don't want to go through training camp. So, instead of trying to hide the fact that you are a huge diva, just come out and admit it so we all feel better about ourselves.

Favre will suit up in the purple in gold this season. Count on it.

Terrell Owens Will be in an NFL Uniform by October

Teams have been good about staying as far from T.O. as possible (so far), but don't expect this to last too much longer.

Obviously the 36-year old is past his prime, but as soon as the injury bug hits a couple of these teams they will start to get desperate enough to give this man a call. Heck, it may even come before then. He could find himself on the field by the end of August or early September. It's really all up to him.

If he is willing enough to sign a short-term deal with a contender, like he should be, he shouldn't have to wait too long to suit back up.

Personally I would be shocked if he was still unemployed by November. But hey, why complain? The NFL world seems to be better off without this diva in any locker room at all.

Neither the Saints Nor the Colts will Return to the Super Bowl

One of the great things about the NFL is there are so many talented teams out there. Unlike the NBA and MLB, talent in this league seems to be much more spread out amongst the teams.

In the AFC, there's at least five or six teams that could give Indy a run for their money. The NFC has about seven.

Teams the Colts will have to look out for include, but are not limited to: Jets, Pats, Ravens, Chargers, Titans, Steelers and, yes, even the Texans could make a playoff run. New Orleans needs to be aware of basically the entire NFC East, Green Bay, Minnesota, Atlanta and Arizona.

I don't know about you, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that neither team will make a return.

Rams' Rookie QB Bradford Starts From Beginning

There has been a lot of talk about whether Sam Bradford should be the starter from day one in St. Louis. Some say yes, others say no.

But, if you're St. Louis you don't really have many other choices. Sure you could go with the veteran A.J. Feeley and let Bradford ride the bench for a couple weeks. Although I really don't think a couple more weeks will make too big a difference.

Bradford has already shown some maturity and appears to be as healthy as ever. If St. Louis wants the best chance to win this season, it will be with the 22-year old Bradford, not the 33-year old Feeley who has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns throughout his career.

Houston Texans Make Playoffs for First Time in Franchise History

With the No. 1 passing attack last season, ahead of both Indy and New Orleans believe it or not, Houston finished the season with a winning record for the first time in its eight seasons.

2006: 6-10
2007: 8-8
2008: 8-8
2009: 9-7

Houston has improved each season and it seems as though they finally have everything in place to capture an AFC wild card spot. Last year's defensive Rookie of the Year Brian Cushing has been suspended for the first four games of the season, but besides that, the defense looks to be in pretty good shape as well, with the secondary being the weakness.

Don't expect them to take the top spot in the division (that usually belongs to Peyton's Colts), but Matt Schaub's top tier passing attack shouldn't have much trouble nabbing the sixth seed in the AFC playoff picture.