NFL Honors 2012: Why the Best Player in the NFL Won't Win MVP

The inaugural NFL Honors awards ceremony is set to take place on Saturday night. For the first time, every award handed out to an NFL player will happen in one red carpet gala, adding yet another event to the biggest weekend in the league.

Of the 14 awards being handed out, the arguably most important one is the Associate Press' Most Valuable Player, given to the one player who outperformed all others and made the most impact on the 2011 season.

Though it's all but certain that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will walk away with the honor, there's another player who deserves the award more than he does: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Brees personally outperformed Rodgers in almost every area in the 2011 regular season, with more yards and touchdowns, but also with more interceptions. Rodgers had 4,643 passing yards for 45 touchdowns and six interceptions, in comparison to Brees, who had 5,476 yards, 46 scores and 14 interceptions.

However, the most convincing argument in Brees' favor is also one irrelevant to the conversation entirely, and that would be his postseason performance.

In two playoff games, Brees threw for 466 and 462 yards, respectively, for a total of seven scores and two interceptions. In contrast, Rodgers played in one postseason game and completed just 56.5 percent of his passes for 264 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

Brees led his team to a playoff win, while Rodgers' missteps directly led to his team losing out to the New York Giants.

However, MVP voting concludes prior to the postseason, rendering whatever the leading candidates do if and when they make the playoffs inadmissible evidence for winning the award.

If all there is to go on is the regular season, it makes sense why Rodgers gets the nod over Brees.

The Packers went 15-1 in 2011 thanks primarily to Rodgers' efforts; while the Saints' 13-3 record can also be attributed to the skills of their quarterback, the team did lose more games than Green Bay and Brees threw more picks.

It's been a season of impressive quarterback performances, and it doesn't detract from what Brees accomplished this year if he doesn't win the MVP award tonight.

However, if we look at his entire season, including the playoffs, there's a much more sturdy argument for Brees to win the award than if we only take Weeks 1-17 into account.