Counting Down the Top 10 Players in the NFC East: No. 5, Michael Vick

We're counting down the top 10 players in the NFL's most popular division. This is based mainly on what went down in 2011, but we've projected a little as well. Whittling it down to two handfuls of guys was no easy task—it felt as though a couple dozen Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins were worthy of the top 10. 

No. 5: Michael Vick, quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles

Had this blog—and therefore this list—existed a year ago, Vick probably would've been in the No. 1 spot. This year, he's stuck behind two other quarterbacks and two pass-rushers (do the math if you so desire to spoil the ending). 

The drop-off had a little to do with those players kicking it up a notch, but it was still mostly about what Vick did on the football field. In 2011, he saw his completion percentage drop by three points while his interception rate rose by more than 100 percent. He threw fewer touchdown passes and for fewer yards per attempt, and his passer rating plummeted from 100.2 (fourth in football) to 84.9 (14th).

While Vick continued to show improved patience in the pocket and good discipline in terms of processing his progressions, he didn't deliver in clutch moments like he did the year prior. After leading four fourth-quarter comebacks in 2010, he was a part of zero in 2011.

In addition to that, he seemed to expose himself to more hits than usual, appeared to wear down as games progressed and simply made the kinds of decisions expected from the 23-year-old Vick, not the 31-year-old version who tossed only six interceptions in his first post-prison season as a starter.

It wasn't all bad. We're giving Vick some leeway for tough luck with injuries here, as well as the fact that he was attempting to make some rather drastic changes to his style without a proper offseason to work with.

Some believe that he could be primed to take the good from 2010 and combine it with the new-found discipline from 2011 and have his best year yet in 2012. So we're giving him some credit for that possibility as well. 

Yeah, I'm concerned that he's about to turn 33 and might be on the verge of losing some of the edge that makes him so unique and dangerous. But right now, he remains one of the most feared offensive players in football. 

In a down 2011, Vick still posted a better yards-per-attempt average than Matthew Stafford while tossing fewer interceptions than Eli Manning. And on top of all that, he still managed to run for nearly 600 yards, averaging a full yard-per-carry more than he did in an MVP-caliber 2010 campaign.

That has to be enough to keep him in the top five, doesn't it?