EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The ballot is not due until the first Friday of 2011, but I have already filled in the name that goes next to MVP: Michael Vick.
Yes, I get a vote for the NFL's most prestigious individual award, and while there are two games left in the regular season and I know that Tom Brady is playing lights-out for New England, Vick is as deserving, if not more so, particularly after he led the Eagles back from the dead against the New York Giants on Sunday.
Honestly, did anyone other than Vick think the Eagles still had a chance after the they fell behind the Giants, 31-10, midway through the fourth quarter? New York owned the Eagles from the opening kick, abusing the Birds' seven-defensive-back formations and pinning Vick in with zero blitzes and rushers off the edge. The idea of an eventual 38-31 Eagles victory seemed laughable.
DeSean Jackson won it with his 65-yard punt return as time expired, but it was Vick who got the Eagles back into the game. Without his perseverance, his confidence, his running and his throwing, the Eagles would be in a huge hole right now. The NFC East essentially would belong to the Giants. The Eagles would have next to no chance at a home playoff game, much less a first-round bye, and even a postseason berth would not be a given.
Vick was not willing to let that happen. He told his teammates to savor every play, to keep pushing, that every possession counted, every down counted. He told them to be "efficient" and to block everything else out - the score, the crowd, the Giants. Make plays, he said. It was the only thing that counted.
With 8 minutes, 9 seconds left, Vick got the Eagles started with a 10-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin, followed by a 65-yard strike to Brent Celek that cut the Giants' lead to two touchdowns. After the Eagles recovered an onside kick, Vick scrambled 35 yards to the Giants' 9-yard line, and three plays later ran in for another touchdown that cut the lead to 31-24.
After the Eagles defense forced another stop, Vick scrambled for 33 yards and then 22 yards to get to the New York 20-yard line, and two plays later found Maclin with a 13-yard pass. Three plays later, the Giants punted to Jackson, and the game was over.
