Here’s a Brady Bunch for NFL fans: Tom Brady got all 50 votes for MVP.
The New England Patriots quarterback on Sunday became the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league.

He surpassed himself, too: In 2007, when Brady won his first MVP, he got 49 votes; one voter went for Brett Favre.

“It is always flattering to be chosen for such a prestigious award,” Brady said. “But I also look at it as a team award, as nothing in football gets accomplished without the mental toughness and determination of every player and coach associated with that team.

“I am very humbled to be a part of an organization where winning comes first, and our goals are based around the success of the team.”
Those successes, including three Super Bowl titles in the last 10 years, are in great part due to Brady’s excellence.

Although he didn’t set nearly as many passing marks as in ’07, Brady by far was the league’s top performer in leading New England to a 14-2 record, best in the NFL. He had a record streak of 335 throws without being intercepted, and passed for 36 touchdowns with only four picks.
Not that the 33-year-old Brady would compare this season’s Patriots to any others.

“Every team every year is different,” he said, “and over the course of 100 practices and many games a team establishes its identity. Players change, schemes change, opponents change, which is why the game is so exciting year in and year out.

“The fact that 32 teams start out each year with the same goal is why the popularity of the sport is at an all-time high. The great part about our sport is that nothing comes easy, and wherever you stand at the end of the year is the exact place that you deserve to be.”

Individually, Brady stands above all others. The only Patriot to win the award, he and Peyton Manning, his rival for the NFL’s best quarterback, have split the last four MVPs.

Brady followed his previous MVP trophy with a lost season, tearing left knee ligaments in the first half of the 2008 opener. His return in 2009 was solid, although hand and rib injuries slowed him.

This year, even with a sore right foot that required postseason surgery, Brady was simply dynamic. He twice threw for four touchdowns in a game and four times had three. Twelve times, he had a passer rating of at least 100.

And he guided a young team in transition to 14 victories.

“Brady is so special because he’s such a great leader and all the players can relate to him,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “These kids (rookies) who come in live in awe of him, but the nice thing is he treats them well.

“He works very hard, he studies very hard,” Kraft added. “Being a great quarterback isn’t just being very skilled. It’s being able to process information quickly, to make the adjustments, and I think he’s fabulous at that.”

As fabulous as he might have been, Brady, not surprisingly, has some regrets about 2010.

“When the season is over, 31 teams are disappointed about the outcome,” he said. “There is only one champion, and nobody plays this game for second place. The desire and hunger is about winning, which to me never gets old. The motivation to get up and work every day for that goal is something that challenges us all.

“Our team has very high expectations, and our team will come back this year with the same purpose,” he said. “Whether or not that leads to a championship season will be determined by the commitment each player makes to do their job as best as they possibly can.”
The way Brady does.
 

This contained all the intrigue of a Cleveland Cavaliers game.

Sure, Michael Vick, the Philadelphia Eagles’ dual threat, made a run at it, but by the end of the regular season, it had become perfectly clear.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was the National Football League’s Most Valuable Player during the 2010 regular season.

Brady was a unanimous choice for the Associated Press award, the first such selection since the year 2000 when the AP went to its current format of a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and broadcast journalists.

The announcement that Brady had won award for the award for the second time in his 11-year career was made on the NFL Network on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s a great award,” Brady told NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi. “I think playing in the Super Bowl is the greatest thing that any quarterback can be doing at this time of year. I obviously give a lot of thanks to my teammates and my coaches.

“I have a great group of guys and I think that’s why any quarterback is successful. Because you’ve got great coaches and teammates and I accept it on behalf of all my teammates.”

Brady also won the award in 2007 when he tossed an NFL-record 50 touchdown passes for a 16-0 Patriots team that set a league record by scoring 589 points.

Of course this season, like that one, ended in bitter postseason disappointment, Brady and the Patriots suffering their third straight playoff loss dating back to a pursuit of perfection denied, 17-14, by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII when they dropped a 28-21 decision to the Jets in last month’s playoff game at Gillette Stadium.

“You don’t ever get over the losses,” said Brady. “I didn’t get over the loss to Denver four years ago in the (AFC divisional playoff game). I didn’t get over the loss to the Colts in the (AFC) Championship Game or the Giants in the Super Bowl or this one. They stick with you forever.

“The years that we did get to the Super Bowl, we played really well in the postseason. This year, we didn’t. Hopefully, that motivates all of us to come back this offseason and train hard and hopefully we’ll have some great minicamps and a great training camp and then move into the season with a pretty good understanding of what it takes to get back to where we’re at.”

The latest chapter in a Hall of Fame career was written when the 33-year-old Brady concluded the regular season with the Patriots with a league-leading passer rating of 111.0 as he completed 65.9 percent of his attempts (324-for-492) for 3,900 yards and 36 touchdowns with just four interceptions while leading his team to a league-best record of 14-2 in 2010.

An interception on a “Hail Mary” pass on the final play of the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 23-20 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium on Oct. 17 was Brady’s last of the regular season. He went an NFL-record 335 consecutive passes without a pick and set another league mark by throwing for at least two TDs without an interception in each of the final nine games of the regular season.

Despite all that and the fact that the Patriots put up a league-leading 518 points in 2010, Brady said he believes there is room for improvement.

“There’s a lot of things we can do,” he said. “I think we’ve already started the evaluation of our offense. I think a big part of the reason we scored as many points as we did is we got a lot of turnovers and we didn’t turn it over much this year.

“We set a record for that (with just 10 turnovers all season). That’s a pretty cool record as a team for the guys that are protecting the ball. We play in New England. It’s not like we play in a great climate. We play in snow. We play in wind. We play in rain. So the guys that are possessing the football did a great job in protecting it. I think that was a big reason why we had a great record.”

As for Vick, while he emerged from a backup role to seize the Eagles’ starting quarterback job and was awarded the AP’s Comeback Player of the Year on Saturday night, his play faded late in the season.

After going his first seven starts in 2010 without an interception, Vick served up six picks in his last five and had a season-low passer rating of 74.1 while being sacked six times in a 24-14 loss to Minnesota on Dec. 28 in a game that marked his final start of the regular season.

Come ballot time, it was Brady in a runaway.

“The last thing I’ve ever been thinking about is an MVP,” Brady answered when asked if he felt such a season was possible for him at the start of the season. “It’s really contradictory to the way that I try to play quarterback.

“It’s about the team. And if you’re going to experience success, you’ve got to rely on every single guy and you win with those guys and you lose with those guys. Coach (Bill Belichick) said it best. He said, ‘Guys, we had a great regular season. The best of any team in the league. We just didn’t have the best postseason.’”

DALLAS —

Here’s a Brady Bunch for NFL fans: Tom Brady got all 50 votes for MVP.

The New England Patriots quarterback on Sunday became the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league.

He surpassed himself, too: In 2007, when Brady won his first MVP, he got 49 votes; one voter went for Brett Favre.

“It is always flattering to be chosen for such a prestigious award,” Brady said. “But I also look at it as a team award, as nothing in football gets accomplished without the mental toughness and determination of every player and coach associated with that team.

“I am very humbled to be a part of an organization where winning comes first, and our goals are based around the success of the team.”

Those successes, including three Super Bowl titles in the last 10 years, are in great part due to Brady’s excellence.

Although he didn’t set nearly as many passing marks as in ’07, Brady by far was the league’s top performer in leading New England to a 14-2 record, best in the NFL. He had a record streak of 335 throws without being intercepted, and passed for 36 touchdowns with only four picks.

Not that the 33-year-old Brady would compare this season’s Patriots to any others.

“Every team every year is different,” he said, “and over the course of 100 practices and many games a team establishes its identity. Players change, schemes change, opponents change, which is why the game is so exciting year in and year out.

“The fact that 32 teams start out each year with the same goal is why the popularity of the sport is at an all-time high. The great part about our sport is that nothing comes easy, and wherever you stand at the end of the year is the exact place that you deserve to be.”

Individually, Brady stands above all others. The only Patriot to win the award, he and Peyton Manning, his rival for the NFL’s best quarterback, have split the last four MVPs.

Brady followed his previous MVP trophy with a lost season, tearing left knee ligaments in the first half of the 2008 opener. His return in 2009 was solid, although hand and rib injuries slowed him.

This year, even with a sore right foot that required postseason surgery, Brady was simply dynamic. He twice threw for four touchdowns in a game and four times had three. Twelve times, he had a passer rating of at least 100.

And he guided a young team in transition to 14 victories.

“Brady is so special because he’s such a great leader and all the players can relate to him,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “These kids (rookies) who come in live in awe of him, but the nice thing is he treats them well.

“He works very hard, he studies very hard,” Kraft added. “Being a great quarterback isn’t just being very skilled. It’s being able to process information quickly, to make the adjustments, and I think he’s fabulous at that.”

As fabulous as he might have been, Brady, not surprisingly, has some regrets about 2010.

“When the season is over, 31 teams are disappointed about the outcome,” he said. “There is only one champion, and nobody plays this game for second place. The desire and hunger is about winning, which to me never gets old. The motivation to get up and work every day for that goal is something that challenges us all.

“Our team has very high expectations, and our team will come back this year with the same purpose,” he said. “Whether or not that leads to a championship season will be determined by the commitment each player makes to do their job as best as they possibly can.”

The way Brady does.

 Here’s a Brady Bunch for NFL fans: Tom Brady got all 50 votes for MVP.

The New England Patriots quarterback on Sunday became the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league.

He surpassed himself, too: In 2007, when Brady won his first MVP, he got 49 votes; one voter went for Brett Favre.

“It is always flattering to be chosen for such a prestigious award,” Brady said. “But I also look at it as a team award, as nothing in football gets accomplished without the mental toughness and determination of every player and coach associated with that team.

“I am very humbled to be a part of an organization where winning comes first, and our goals are based around the success of the team.”
Those successes, including three Super Bowl titles in the last 10 years, are in great part due to Brady’s excellence.

Although he didn’t set nearly as many passing marks as in ‘07, Brady by far was the league’s top performer in leading New England to a 14-2 record, best in the NFL. He had a record streak of 355 throws without being intercepted, and passed for 36 touchdowns with only four picks.

Not that the 33-year-old Brady would compare this season’s Patriots to any others.

“Every team every year is different,” he said, “and over the course of 100 practices and many games a team establishes its identity. Players change, schemes change, opponents change, which is why the game is so exciting year in and year out.

“The fact that 32 teams start out each year with the same goal is why the popularity of the sport is at an all-time high. The great part about our sport is that nothing comes easy, and wherever you stand at the end of the year is the exact place that you deserve to be.”

Individually, Brady stands above all others. The only Patriot to win the award, he and Peyton Manning, his rival for the NFL’s best quarterback, have split the last four MVPs.

Brady followed his previous MVP trophy with a lost season, tearing left knee ligaments in the first half of the 2008 opener. His return in 2009 was solid, although hand and rib injuries slowed him.

This year, even with a sore right foot that required postseason surgery, Brady was simply dynamic. He twice threw for four touchdowns in a game and four times had three. Twelve times, he had a passer rating of at least 100.

And he guided a young team in transition to 14 victories.

“Brady is so special because he’s such a great leader and all the players can relate to him,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “These kids (rookies) who come in live in awe of him, but the nice thing is he treats them well.

“He works very hard, he studies very hard,” Kraft added. “Being a great quarterback isn’t just being very skilled. It’s being able to process information quickly, to make the adjustments, and I think he’s fabulous at that.”

As fabulous as he might have been, Brady, not surprisingly, has some regrets about 2010.

“When the season is over, 31 teams are disappointed about the outcome,” he said. “There is only one champion, and nobody plays this game for second place. The desire and hunger is about winning, which to me never gets old. The motivation to get up and work every day for that goal is something that challenges us all.

“Our team has very high expectations, and our team will come back this year with the same purpose,” he said. “Whether or not that leads to a championship season will be determined by the commitment each player makes to do their job as best as they possibly can.”
The way Brady does.
 

DALLAS — Here’s a Brady Bunch for NFL fans: Tom Brady got all 50 votes for MVP.

The New England Patriots quarterback on Sunday became the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league.

Tom Brady becomes the first unanimous MVP since The Associated Press started voting on the award, garnering all 50 first-place votes.

He surpassed himself, too: In 2007, when Brady won his first MVP, he got 49 votes; one voter went for Brett Favre.

“It is always flattering to be chosen for such a prestigious award,” Brady said. “But I also look at it as a team award, as nothing in football gets accomplished without the mental toughness and determination of every player and coach associated with that team.

“I am very humbled to be a part of an organization where winning comes first, and our goals are based around the success of the team.”

Those successes, including three Super Bowl titles in the last 10 years, are in great part due to Brady’s excellence.

Although he didn’t set nearly as many passing marks as in ’07, Brady by far was the league’s top performer in leading New England to a 14-2 record, best in the NFL. He had a record streak of 355 throws without being intercepted, and passed for 36 touchdowns with only four picks.

Not that the 33-year-old Brady would compare this season’s Patriots to any others.

“Every team every year is different,” he said, “and over the course of 100 practices and many games a team establishes its identity. Players change, schemes change, opponents change, which is why the game is so exciting year in and year out.

“The fact that 32 teams start out each year with the same goal is why the popularity of the sport is at an all-time high. The great part about our sport is that nothing comes easy, and wherever you stand at the end of the year is the exact place that you deserve to be.”

Individually, Brady stands above all others. The only Patriot to win the award, he and Peyton Manning, his rival for the NFL’s best quarterback, have split the last four MVPs.

Brady followed his previous MVP trophy with a lost season, tearing left knee ligaments in the first half of the 2008 opener. His return in 2009 was solid, although hand and rib injuries slowed him.

This year, even with a sore right foot that required postseason surgery, Brady was simply dynamic. He twice threw for four touchdowns in a game and four times had three. Twelve times, he had a passer rating of at least 100.

And he guided a young team in transition to 14 victories.

“Brady is so special because he’s such a great leader and all the players can relate to him,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “These kids (rookies) who come in live in awe of him, but the nice thing is he treats them well.

“He works very hard, he studies very hard,” Kraft added. “Being a great quarterback isn’t just being very skilled. It’s being able to process information quickly, to make the adjustments, and I think he’s fabulous at that.”

As fabulous as he might have been, Brady, not surprisingly, has some regrets about 2010.

“When the season is over, 31 teams are disappointed about the outcome,” he said. “There is only one champion, and nobody plays this game for second place. The desire and hunger is about winning, which to me never gets old. The motivation to get up and work every day for that goal is something that challenges us all.

“Our team has very high expectations, and our team will come back this year with the same purpose,” he said. “Whether or not that leads to a championship season will be determined by the commitment each player makes to do their job as best as they possibly can.”

The way Brady does.

– The Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — Here’s a Brady Bunch for NFL fans: Tom Brady got all 50 votes for MVP.

The New England Patriots quarterback on Sunday became the first unanimous choice for The Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Award since the AP began using a nationwide panel of media members who cover the league.

He surpassed himself, too: In 2007, when Brady won his first MVP, he got 49 votes; one voter went for Brett Favre.

“It is always flattering to be chosen for such a prestigious award,” Brady said. “But I also look at it as a team award, as nothing in football gets accomplished without the mental toughness and determination of every player and coach associated with that team.

“I am very humbled to be a part of an organization where winning comes first, and our goals are based around the success of the team.”

Those successes, including three Super Bowl titles in the last 10 years, are in great part due to Brady’s excellence.

Although he didn’t set nearly as many passing marks as in ’07, Brady by far was the league’s top performer in leading New England to a 14-2 record, best in the NFL. He had a record streak of 355 throws without being intercepted, and passed for 36 touchdowns with only four picks.

Not that the 33-year-old Brady would compare this season’s Patriots to any others.

“Every team every year is different,” he said, “and over the course of 100 practices and many games a team establishes its identity. Players change, schemes change, opponents change, which is why the game is so exciting year in and year out.

“The fact that 32 teams start out each year with the same goal is why the popularity of the sport is at an all-time high. The great part about our sport is that nothing comes easy, and wherever you stand at the end of the year is the exact place that you deserve to be.”

Individually, Brady stands above all others. The only Patriot to win the award, he and Peyton Manning, his rival for the NFL’s best quarterback, have split the last four MVPs.

Brady followed his previous MVP trophy with a lost season, tearing left knee ligaments in the first half of the 2008 opener. His return in 2009 was solid, although hand and rib injuries slowed him.

This year, even with a sore right foot that required postseason surgery, Brady was simply dynamic. He twice threw for four touchdowns in a game and four times had three. Twelve times, he had a passer rating of at least 100.

And he guided a young team in transition to 14 victories.

“Brady is so special because he’s such a great leader and all the players can relate to him,” team owner Robert Kraft said. “These kids (rookies) who come in live in awe of him, but the nice thing is he treats them well.

“He works very hard, he studies very hard,” Kraft added. “Being a great quarterback isn’t just being very skilled. It’s being able to process information quickly, to make the adjustments, and I think he’s fabulous at that.”

As fabulous as he might have been, Brady, not surprisingly, has some regrets about 2010.

“When the season is over, 31 teams are disappointed about the outcome,” he said. “There is only one champion, and nobody plays this game for second place. The desire and hunger is about winning, which to me never gets old. The motivation to get up and work every day for that goal is something that challenges us all.

“Our team has very high expectations, and our team will come back this year with the same purpose,” he said. “Whether or not that leads to a championship season will be determined by the commitment each player makes to do their job as best as they possibly can.”

The way Brady does.

___

AP Sports Writer Howard Ulman in Boston contributed to this story.

For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11 1/2 votes.

However, in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he felt “deceived” by Belichick after the Spygate scandal in 2007, in which the Patriots got caught illegally filming the signals of New York Jets coaches in the season opener.

That led to Goodell fining Belichick $500,000. He also fined Patriots $250,000 and stripped them of a first-round draft pick. Goodell said he told team owner Robert Kraft that, as part of the penalty, he wanted Belichick to apologize in front of reporters.

Instead, the coach apology via a statement and refused to answer questions about the situation in a news conference.

“I was given assurances that [Belichick] would tell his side of the story,” Goodell told Sports Illustrated. “He went out and stonewalled the press. I feel like I was deceived.”

Belichick remembered it differently.

“I did not make any assurances about thoroughly discussing the subject publicly,” he told SI.

“I said I would address it following the league’s review. I then did that in a way I thought was appropriate. I don’t think that was deceptive.”

Noteworthy

* The Tennessee Titans have received permission to talk with Mike Mularkey, Gregg Williams and Perry Fewell as coaching candidates to replace Jeff Fisher, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Titans have not yet interviewed any of the three candidates.

Mularkey is Atlanta’s offensive coordinator, Williams is the defensive coordinator at New Orleans and Fewell, an African-American, is the Giants’ defensive coordinator. The Titans would satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule of considering a minority by interviewing Fewell, who interviewed with Cleveland and Denver earlier this year.

After the Titans received permission to talk with Williams, he later withdrew his name from consideration.

“The timing is just not right,” Williams told ESPN.com.

* Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson won the “2010 GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Year” for his Week 15 performance in which he returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the Eagles’ comeback victory over the New York Giants.

* Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has sued Washington City Paper over a column he says defamed him and had anti-Semitic references.

Snyder filed the lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court.

The story entitled “The Crazy Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder,” has an altered photo of the owner with horns and a beard. The suit claims the weekly newspaper used “lies, half-truths, innuendo and anti-Semitic imagery to smear, malign, defame and slander” Snyder.

The suit also says the newspaper reported Snyder engaged in criminal conduct by “forging names.”

Snyder will contribute any monetary damages received to groups that assist the homeless, the lawsuit said.

For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11 1/2 votes.

However, in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Peter King yesterday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he felt “deceived” by Belichick after the Spygate scandal in 2007, in which the Patriots got caught illegally filming the signals of New York Jets coaches in the season opener.

That led to Goodell fining Belichick $500,000. He also fined Patriots $250,000 and stripped them of a first-round draft pick. Goodell said he told team owner Robert Kraft that, as part of the penalty, he wanted Belichick to apologize in front of reporters.

Instead, the coach apology via a statement and refused to answer questions about the situation in a news conference.

“I was given assurances that [Belichick] would tell his side of the story,” Goodell told Sports Illustrated. “He went out and stonewalled the press. I feel like I was deceived.”

Belichick remembered it differently.

“I did not make any assurances about thoroughly discussing the subject publicly,” he told SI.

“I said I would address it following the league’s review. I then did that in a way I thought was appropriate. I don’t think that was deceptive.”

Noteworthy

* The Tennessee Titans have received permission to talk with Mike Mularkey, Gregg Williams and Perry Fewell as coaching candidates to replace Jeff Fisher, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Titans have not yet interviewed any of the three candidates.

Mularkey is Atlanta’s offensive coordinator, Williams is the defensive coordinator at New Orleans and Fewell, an African-American, is the Giants’ defensive coordinator. The Titans would satisfy the NFL’s Rooney Rule of considering a minority by interviewing Fewell, who interviewed with Cleveland and Denver earlier this year.

After the Titans received permission to talk with Williams, he later withdrew his name from consideration.

“The timing is just not right,” Williams told ESPN.com.

* Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson won the “2010 GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Year” for his Week 15 performance in which he returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the Eagles’ comeback victory over the New York Giants.

* Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has sued Washington City Paper over a column he says defamed him and had anti-Semitic references.

Snyder filed the lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court.

The story entitled “The Crazy Redskins Fan’s Guide to Dan Snyder,” has an altered photo of the owner with horns and a beard. The suit claims the weekly newspaper used “lies, half-truths, innuendo and anti-Semitic imagery to smear, malign, defame and slander” Snyder.

The suit also says the newspaper reported Snyder engaged in criminal conduct by “forging names.”

Snyder will contribute any monetary damages received to groups that assist the homeless, the lawsuit said.

DALLAS — New England coach Bill Belichick has won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Coach of the Year award, the third time Belichick has earned the honor.

“I accept the award on behalf of the entire organization — ownership, our assistant coaches and certainly the players — they’re the ones that stepped up and made the plays this year,” Belichick said in an NFL Network phone interview. “We had a lot of new people on the team, young players that contributed. It’s certainly an honor to receive this award on behalf of our performance in the regular season. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to carry that over into the playoffs.”

Belichick, who won in 2003 and 2007, now trails only Don Shula, a four-time winner of the award.

For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and got 11½ votes.

Belichick has overseen a transition in New England to a younger team, particularly on defense. Of course, he still has Offensive Player of the Year Tom Brady at quarterback.

Information from ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss and The Associated Press was used in this report.

DALLAS — Tom Brady has won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award for the second time in four seasons.

The record-setting New England quarterback, who had a string of 355 passes without being intercepted, received 21 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league. He easily beat Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick, who got 11 votes.

Brady opened up about his offseason surgery to the NFL Network during an interview to announce him as the winner of the AP’s award.

“I had surgery about a week ago, actually about 10 days ago; it’s just something that’s been lingering a little bit,” Brady said.

“Over the course of the season, a lot of players throughout the league, a lot of players on our team deal with these type of injuries,” he continued. “Part of having a little bit of mental toughness is putting those things aside and still going out and trying to perform your best each week. I have a great training staff and my friend Alex [Guerrero] that works with me weekly. I’m in great hands and they were able to get me out on the field feeling good and I was able to go out there and help our team win the AFC East, which we’re all very proud of.”

NFL Network’s Steve Mariucci noted that Brady walked on camera with the aid of crutches.

A unanimous choice for the All-Pro team, Brady led the Patriots (14-2) to the league’s best record and threw for 36 touchdowns while being picked off just four times. When he won the award in 2007, Brady set an NFL mark with 50 touchdowns passes as New England went undefeated in the regular season.

Oddly, the Patriots did not win the championship in either of those seasons, but have won it three other times.

Information from ESPNBoston.com’s Mike Reiss and The Associated Press was used in this report.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will undergo surgery on his foot, a source who’s close to Brady and familiar with his plans confirmed to ESPNBoston.com.

News of Brady’s impending surgery was first reported by The Boston Globe on Wednesday night.

According to The Globe, the surgery on Brady’s right foot will address a lingering issue and will be performed at Massachusetts General Hospital by team physician George Theodore. The report says that Brady may have a screw inserted. If all goes well, he “should be ready for training camp,” The Globe says.

Brady played much of this season with a stress fracture in his foot, but it did not affect his performance in the Patriots’ loss to the New York Jets on Sunday, according to multiple media reports.

Brady was a full participant in three practices leading up to the Jets game.

On Nov. 10, Brady missed his first practice of the season. He was listed that day with a foot injury for the first time on the team’s injury report. From that point on, it was common for Brady to be held out of Wednesday practices, while he was limited in practices the remainder of the week.

Brady was listed on the Patriots’ injury report with a foot injury for the last eight regular-season games and its playoff game but played in all of them.

A league source told The Globe earlier Wednesday that the injury wouldn’t keep Brady from playing in the Pro Bowl Jan. 30 in Hawaii, but WCVB Channel 5 in Boston reported Wednesday night that Brady has pulled out of the game and will be replaced by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel.

In his weekly radio appearance Monday on Boston sports radio WEEI, Brady hinted that he wouldn’t be playing in this year’s Pro Bowl.

“We have exit physicals today,” he said.

Brady added that his shoulder was bruised during Sunday’s loss (“They got me pretty good,” he said), but said that he wasn’t figuring on needing any surgeries this offseason.

Brady had season-ending surgery after he injured his left knee in the opening game of the 2008 season. He played in every game in the 2009 season despite having hand and rib injuries for much of the second half of the year.

Mike Reiss covers the Patriots for ESPNBoston.com. Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

FOXBORO — Shock and disappointment linger from Sunday’s playoff loss to the Jets, clouding assessments of the New England Patriots moving forward.

Patriots players underwent season-ending physical examinations and cleaned out their lockers Monday. Quietly they dumped the clutter from the 2010 season into large black trash bags, as though it represented their playoff hopes that the day before had crashed and burned.

There is uncertainty going into any offseason, but this offseason is further muddled by stalemated labor negotiations. March 4 is the deadline for billionaire owners and millionaire players to reach a new collective bargaining agreement before a lockout threatens the 2011 NFL season.

The two sides haven’t met since Nov. 22. The survival of the American male species hangs in the balance. Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain reasons that too many people love football for NFL football not to be played.

However, Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch’s assessment of the negotiations is the general assessment.

“We’re not close,” said Branch. “But I’m optimistic it will get done. I’m optimistic there will be football next (season). When? I don’t know.”

“Eventually, I’m sure it will get resolved, in time, whenever that is, at some point,” said Patriots coach Bill Belichick. “Those things are all out of my control as a coach.”

The only certain date on the 2011 NFL schedule is the draft in April — scheduled to proceed regardless

of the labor situation — in which the Patriots will be prominent players with three of the first 33 picks.

The Patriots have Oakland’s pick (17th overall) from the Richard Seymour trade, their own pick (28th overall) and Carolina’s pick atop the second round (33rd overall) from trading a third-round pick to the Panthers last April.

So while the clock ticks ever louder on quarterback Tom Brady, who turns 34 in August, the Patriots will continue to get younger, and presumably better. Eighteen Patriots were in their first NFL playoff game on Sunday. Twenty-nine players on the 53-man roster at the end of the 2010 season had three or fewer seasons of NFL experience. Twelve of them started on Sunday. The overall progress of New England’s younger players was exciting, notwithstanding the regression amid Sunday’s playoff glare.

“I feel the growth,” said Patriots second-year safety Patrick Chung. “But you can ask the coaching staff.”

Belichick, who turns 59 in April, was asked about his thoughts on returning in 2011 for his 12th season as New England’s head coach.

“Pretty much the same as they’ve been every year,” he said.

Belichick said he will assess what was done this season, assess challenges ahead, and seize on opportunities to improve the football team in every area.

But as the team gets younger, the “Patriot Way” may be getting old. Despite New England’s NFL-best 14-2 regular season in 2010, the Patriots last won a Super Bowl six years ago. They have lost three straight playoff games, including being knocked out at home this year and last by tough, talkative teams — the Jets and Ravens. The talkers played furiously, the Patriots like haughty AIG executives awaiting a bonus handout.

When hired as the Jets’ coach before last season, Rex Ryan said he did not intend to kiss Belichick’s Super Bowl rings. Since then, Ryan has four playoff victories (all on the road), Belichick has zero.

Time marches on. Glory fades. New England’s pending unrestricted free agents include two of the four remaining three-ringed old guard — offensive tackle Matt Light and running back Kevin Faulk. Faulk ripped up his right knee against the Jets in September at age 34. He hasn’t sounded ready to limp off into retirement. Light, who turns 33 in June, said after Sunday’s game that he wants to stay in New England where he has won glory.

“Ten solid years (in New England) and I hope like hell to be here and continue to do what I have done,” said Light. “But we will have to see if that works itself out.”

Logan Mankins’ bitter business relationship with the team will be regurgitated. The league’s best offensive guard sat out until November. He was still unhappy when he returned, reluctantly signing his tender to accrue this year of service. He still made his third Pro Bowl. Once the new CBA is hammered out, Mankins will likely be an unrestricted free agent.

Under the expiring CBA, leading rusher BenJarvus Green-Ellis would be eligible to become a restricted free agent.

“It’s a common situation every year with every team,” Belichick said of the annual free-agent merry-go-round. “I don’t think we have to act like it’s never happened before. I don’t know if the day after the season is the time to make a lot of decisions on those things. In due course, I’m sure those decisions will all get worked out.”

The Jets were going to have to beat the Patriots one time in New England this year no matter what. They failed epically in their last attempt. But here they are again, only this time with all the chips on the table. Unlike the 45-3 blowout, this contest isn’t for a division championship or playoff seeding. It’s for football life or death.

I’ve been listening to Boston’s sports talk radio station WEEI this week, and it’s remarkable that Patriots Land is so dismissive about the Jets’ chances this week due to a contempt for the Jets, a contempt born — they say — out of the Jets’ arrogance. You’d think a team that was the regular season champion of all time (only to be thumped in the sport’s ultimate game) would show some humility about regular-season performance mattering in January.

Unlike the last Jets-Patriots game, this time the Patriots are the better team. They’ve proven that. But they are not a juggernaut. They are not an unstoppable force. They’re good and very well-coached and have a Hall of Fame quarterback. They are very tough to beat, but they lack speed on offense and can’t defend the pass. There is a way to defend them, and scoring on them should not be too difficult if you can keep the score manageable enough to keep them guessing.

The key for the Jets is to avoid the blitz. Last week, they sent five rushers after Peyton Manning twice — once on the Colts’ last play — but never more than five. Furthermore, when the Jets did not blitz in that 45-3 disaster, Brady’s yards-per-average was a pedestrian 6.7 (18 attempts, adjusting for the one non-blitz sack). The big personnel change since is Eric Smith playing linebacker (and providing good coverage), as he did against the Colts. The Patriots will likely respond by running, which is a win for the Jets. Also, directing Deion Branch, who does not like contact, to the inside and then pounding him on every short slant should be effective. The Jets should also bracket one tight end and put Antonio Cromartie on the other. Darrelle Revis will erase Wes Welker like he erased Reggie Wayne.

Much of the Patriots’ success this year comes from turnover differential. The Jets are third in the conference in that statistic. But New England is plus-28, which is off the charts. Good news: turnovers have been proven to be mostly random. Consider that the Jets were plus-3 in turnovers in their first meeting and the Patriots were plus-3 in the second meeting. Yes, Brady is on an all-time interception-less streak, but he’s fundamentally the same player he’s been. Thus, his interception rate is simply a fluke. Going by his career rate, he should have thrown about 12 picks this year. He threw four instead. New England isn’t a lock to win the turnover battle when the teams kick off on Sunday.

Mark Sanchez gets killed, especially on New England sports radio, but is 2-2 career against Brady and Belichick. And he’s 3-1 career in playoff games, all on the road, with a 83.2 QB rating. He’s been terrible in New England. Neither of these numbers mean much other than providing some sort of range of probable outcomes. But boosting Sanchez is the Patriots’ poor pass defense, 24th in the league in yards per pass attempt. And the Jets have run well on New England both games — 288 yards on 63 carries, which is a solid 4.6 yards per carry.

Prediction time: The Patriots aren’t nine points better than the Jets, probabilistically. But they are better and they are at home. The Jets have to get a home playoff game one of these years — they haven’t had one since the 2002 season. Brady and Belichick stand in the way of that, and they stand in the way again on Sunday. I think Sanchez will play well. The Jets defense will be feisty. But the problem is that the Patriots retooled in-season, while the Jets could not reasonably respond. New England has essentially neutralized Revis and Cromartie. More accurately, Revis has been marginalized while Cromartie has actually been turned into a minus with no Randy Moss to cover. If he plays the bigger tight ends, his poor tackling then becomes a big problem. Patriots 24, Jets 20.

Michael Salfino writes for the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! and is a regular contributor to SNY.tv.