Eagles quarterback Michael Vick wins the AP Comeback Player of the Year award (Part 4)
This is the final part of a series of articles discussing Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick winning The Associated Press’ Comeback Player of the Year award.
The Eagles crushed the Redskins in their next game, with Vick’s jersey earning a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Eagles won 59-28 with Vick passing for 333 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 80 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first player in the history of the NFL to throw four touchdowns and run for two in a single game. In that game, Vick threw an 88 yard touchdown pass to rookie DeSean Jackson on the first play of the game.
Another game that might arguably the best of his career, came about two months later against the New York Giants. The Eagles were down by 21 points with only two minutes left in the game. Vick and the Eagles did the almost impossible and scored three touchdowns in less than two minutes. This made the score even now at 31-31. The Giants then accidentally kicked a punt right to DeSean Jackson, one of the most dangerous kick returners in the NFL. Jackson showed the crowd exactly why he’s so dangerous. He scored a touchdown on a 65 yard punt return, sealing a 38-31 victory for the Eagles.
So what exactly is so great about Vick? Well, he has one of the most deadly combinations of skills in the entire NFL. He has a throwing arm that can give Patriots’ Tom Brady a run for his money and a pair of legs that can outrun most runningbacks in the league. Only Randall Cunningham has more rushing yards as a quarterback than Vick, with 775 carries for 4,928 yards and 35 touchdowns over a ten year career. Vick is closing in on him, running 653 times for 4,630 yards and 32 touchdowns over an eight year career. This doesn’t include playoff games, with Vick running 35 times for 265 yards and a touchdown in four playoff appearances.
What else has he done during his career that his attorneys were so sure that he would be welcomed back into the NFL? Well back in 2006 with the Falcons, he became the first quarterback in the history of the NFL to rush for over 1,000 yards, running 123 times for 1,039 yards and two touchdowns. In that season, he was only 101 yards behind the Falcons’ running back, Warrick Dunn, who ran for 1,140 yards. Vick went to the Pro Bowl four times, in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2010.
This season really proved that Vick is a changed man. Aside from doing many things for the public good, he led the Eagles to win the NFC East with a 10-6 record. If Vick had started in all of the games in the season, he statistically would have had 4,024 passing yards and 28 passing touchdowns. And I say passing touchdowns because Vick also tends to run a lot. He would have had 12 rushing touchdowns instead of 9, which is 11 more than Tom Brady had. So if Vick wasn’t injured, he most likely would have won The Associated Press’ Most Valuable Player award along with the Comeback Player of the Year award.
So what do you think? Should Vick really have gotten the award? Is he really a changed man? Only the future will tell if he is really sorry about the heinous crimes that he committed. One thing is for sure: If Vick can stay out of trouble, he will go on to become one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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