Some guys never get hurt. Some guys are injury-prone. And then there’s Chad Pennington, who can’t seem to make it a few months without undergoing a major health issue.

The free agent quarterback’s string of bad injury luck continued last week when he tore his ACL while playing a pickup basketball game in Miami. He’ll undergo an operation to repair the ligament next month. The famed Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery.

Pennington took two snaps for the Miami Dolphins last season before his recurring shoulder injury sent him to injured reserve. He’s had four surgeries on the shoulder since 2004, all stemming from a rotator cuff injury he suffered while playing that season for the New York Jets.

Already in his career, Pennington has twice won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award. He had been hoping to sign with a team and pursue a third, but the knee injury likely derails any chance he had at returning this coming season (if there even is one).

I’ve always thought Pennington got a raw deal from analysts and fans. It’s cliche to say, and overused in other sports, but he got the job done. Those four playoff appearances have to mean something, right? There’s a widely held belief that quarterbacks need to be built like Tom Brady or have the athleticism of Michael Vick or project the leadership of Peyton Manning. Pennington didn’t look the part or appear to have commanded the huddle, but he won ball games.

He’s only 34 years old (just 14 months older than Tom Brady), so it’s not unreasonable to assume he could return to the league when the ACL heals. If he misses this year, though, any comeback to football would start as a 36-year-old in 2012. Given his injury history and his lack of big arm, this untimely injury could signal his NFL swansong.

As someone who lives in the Philadelphia area, Donovan McNabb was a good QB when he started here, but after a while, he started to piss people off in the City of Brotherly Love.

• First it was the T.O. Debacle where they could not just get along.
• Then he felt “not appreciated” by the fans and then management
• Then blaming losses due to inexperienced and young receivers
• Not to mention his laughing and smiling on the sidelines while his team was losing important games.

Furthermore, if you add all of this including his recent mess with the Washington Redskins, you start to say to yourself “This guy is a Putts and is all about himself” and is expecting to be treated like a Joe Montana or Tom Brady. Well, to add fuel to this annoying fire, have you checked out his personal website lately? It’s like the Fox News Spin for the McNabb family. You have personal opinions and criticisms of the Redskins organization while a big photo of himself dominates the webpages.

However, you will also see him trying to push off his own merchandise to make an extra buck, which is hard to swallow considering his lackluster performance over the past 5 years. A word of advice Donovan, worry about your playbook and winning a game once in a while, instead of going Rogue like Sarah Palin. In the end, you will have literally NO Respect by the time you retire your ass.

Alex Rodriguez wasn’t very pleased to see a video of Cameron Diaz feeding him popcorn at Super Bowl 45 all over the internet.

Hold the phone… a 6’4 professional, hispanic sports jock making $30 million a season ISN’T happy about the world seeing him being fed like a little cutesy wootsy, cuddly, baby? Who knew?

According to Bill Zwecker at the Chicago Sun-Times, Rodriguez was furious and claimed that the Fox cameraman was out to get him.

“He really went ballistic — thinking the cameraman was out to get them in a paparazzi-like shot. … That’s so crazy,” said Zwecker’s source.

The unnamed source went on to say that celebrity shots like that are “purely random” and “A-Rod, of all people, should know that.”

Come on A-rod, don’t be so difficult.  Here’s comes aeroplane… open the hanger door for mamma [insert flying spoon airplane noise here].

Very few non-football fans can possibly comprehend what quarterback Tom Brady did for the New England Patriots this season.  With the deletion of pro-bowl receiver Randy Moss, Brady led a team of virtual rookies to the playoffs. And you better expect that he is going to receive his fair share of postseason accolades. And Brady added another one to his mantle on Tuesday — Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year.

The three-time Super Bowl winner was the epitome of efficiency in 2010, throwing 36 touchdown passes while only being intercepted four times for a ridiculous touchdown-to-interception ratio of 9-to-1. His string of 339 consecutive pass attempts without an interception is a new NFL record and he also threw for 3,900 yards while completing 66 percent of his passes.

Brady was the unanimous winner, receiving 21 votes from the 50-member panel to finish 10 votes ahead of second-place Michael Vick (11 votes). Houston Texans running back Arian Foster finished third with seven votes, followed by San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers with five and Atlanta Falcons receiver Roddy White, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson two apiece.

Three years ago, Brady also won the award and set an NFL record for most touchdown passes in a single season with 50 in leading New England to a perfect 16-0 record in the regular season, but his and the Patriots’ dream of going 19-0 overall to eclipse the 1972 Miami Dolphins’ 17-0 record fell short in a 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. This time around his 111.0 passer rating was the fifth best all-time and New England rolled to a 14-2 regular-season record only to lose to the New York Jets in the AFC divisional playoffs.

Shortly after the official announcement was made on the NFL Network, Brady, just 10 days removed from foot surgery, hobbled onto the set on crutches to do an interview with Steve Mariucci. He addressed the broken bone in his foot that plagued him down the stretch in the regular season but didn’t keep him off the field.

“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,” Brady said. “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.”

Brady might not be finished racking up the hardware as he is the favorite to take home the AP’s Most Valuable Player award on Sunday. If he does win it he will become the first player ever to sweep Offensive Player of the Year and MVP honors twice (he accomplished the feat in 2007). His head coach, Bill Belichick, also is one of the favorites to win Coach of the Year.

The longest-tenured coach in the NFL is on the way out, as Jeff Fisher and the Titans have agreed to part ways, the team announced Thursday.

Don Banks of SI.com first reported that Fisher would be leaving the Titans — with the only issue that needs to be ironed out between Fisher and Titans owner Bud Adams, according to Banks, being whether the coach’s departure will be termed a firing, a resignation or a mutual decision.

Adams had announced shortly after the regular season ended that Fisher would be retained into 2011. But things apparently have changed since then.

Fisher has had trouble holding together his coaching staff, with several assistants leaving for other jobs, and there are still lingering issues regarding the team’s quarterback.

In early January, Adams announced that Tennessee would move on without Vince Young — though Adams specifically said that the team would handle its QB and coaching situations separately. But Adams has always liked Young, and this could result in Young staying.

Fisher had a record of 142-120 in the regular season and 5-6 in the playoffs.

We’re used to fans questioning the toughness of NFL players, especially in a game that has a Super Bowl berth on the line. If the quarterback of your hometown team can’t go for whatever reason (especially if it isn’t really obvious that he’s hurt), there’s going to be some negative talk.

What you don’t usually see, as you did while Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler spent over half of the NFC championship game on the sideline with a knee injury, was the sort of invective we saw from Cutler’s NFL contemporaries, and some notable ex-players. We’ve got a roll of tweets after the jump in which Cutler is questioned outright for his toughness and resolve with his absence in the game that the Green Bay Packers won, 21-14. A very interesting turn of events, considering the fact that these were all in-game before anyone had any idea what Cutler’s injury actually was. Frankly, we’ve never seen anything like it.

The Bears said all the right things about Cutler’s injury in the postgame news conferences, but public perception is going in a very different direction. And in Cutler’s case, it starts with the guys who take the field and have a different level of understanding when it comes to putting it all out on the field. And we probably shouldn’t invite Cutler and Maurice Jones-Drew to the same offseason barbecue…

It’s a tough call. I have seen guys with torn knee ligaments walk off the field as if nothing was wrong. Will all these players (current and former) come back around and apologize if it turns out that Cutler has a serious injury?

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After an impressive upset victory over the New England Patriots, 28-21, the Jets continued their “classless” antics in their celebration. 

The whole week leading up to the most anticipated playoff game in recent time, the Jets simply were classless, and a disgrace to the NFL.

With Jets corner-back Antonio Cromartie calling Patriots quarterback an “a–h—,” and saying “F— him,” when questioned about him. And linebacker Bart Scott threatening Wes Welker by saying “Be very careful what you say about our coach. His days in a uniform will be numbered. Put it like that,” after Welker’s “foot-filled” press conference is nothing but a disgrace. 

With no means am I taking anything away from the Jets victory. They were simply the better team Sunday, and they physically dominated New England in all phases of the game. But, their behavior is disgusting. 

Disgusting enough that the NFL had to “warn” players about their trash-talking. 

Their behavior continued as the game concluded Sunday, and Patriots’ wide receiver Deion Branch wanted nothing to do with it. 

“I’m not embarrassed, I’m just frustrated. The embarrassing part came from a few classless guys [on the Jets] after the game. There were a lot of classless things that went on after the game ended.’’ 

From what I saw, Jets players were spreading out their arms like a Jet and were mocking the fans in the stands. You’re a professional athlete, you should not be mocking fans, act like you’ve been there. 

 Branch went onto say, “I’m a champion. I’m always going to congratulate guys. They beat us today. The ones with class, I shook their hands. And the ones that didn’t, I didn’t (shake their hands). You can tell they’re not used to being in this position.’’ 

Who knows what those Jets players were saying at the end of the game, but I can only imagine. 

It’s already enough that you’ll threaten a player’s career or to call a player a vulgar name to the national media, but seriously, act live you’ve been there. 

Show some class. You’re a disgrace to the world’s greatest sport.

Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, Cam Newton, who led Auburn to the national championship, will enter the NFL Draft.

“This decision was difficult for me and my family,” Newton said. “It’s been a blessing for me to be a part of something so great. Any time you win games it’s a big deal, but for this school to win a BCS national championship, what a way to make people happy. Auburn is a special place that I can call home.”

In Newton’s only season as a major college starter, Auburn went 14-0 and beat Oregon in the national championship game Monday night. Newton led Blinn College to a junior college national championship, too. Can he make the step to the NFL? Let the burgundy-and-gold conversation commence.

 Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, misdemeanor charges that carry no jail time but require him to register as a sex offender.

The 51-year-old ex-linebacker, who led the New York Giants to Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991, will serve six years probation.

“She told me she was 19,” Taylor, standing with his hands clasped behind him, said in court as he admitted having sex with a prostitute who turned out to be a 16-year-old Bronx runaway. Taylor said he now knows the girl was legally incapable of consent.

Harry Carson, his former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, was in the courtroom and gave Taylor a supportive handshake when he arrived.

Prosecutor Patricia Gunning said the plea deal was acceptable in part because Taylor had assisted in investigations into human trafficking since he was charged. Another prosecutor, Arthur Ferraro, said outside court that Taylor “was of assistance in the field of human trafficking in several jurisdictions and with federal authorities.”

Taylor was arrested in May at a suburban hotel.

He previously had pleaded not guilty to third-degree rape, patronizing a prostitute, sexual abuse and endangering a child. He had been resisting a plea deal for months.

Prosecutors said in December he had been offered a six-month jail term and 10 years’ probation in exchange for pleading guilty to a felony. Taylor would have had to register as a sex offender. Defense attorney Arthur Aidala had called that offer unacceptable but said he would listen to any other offers.

Two other members of the Giants’ 1991 Super Bowl team are behind bars. Mark Ingram Sr., a star receiver, is spending nearly 10 years in federal prison for money laundering, bank fraud and bail jumping. And the electrifying kick returner Dave Meggett was sentenced last year to 30 years for criminal sexual conduct and burglary.

Taylor’s trial would likely have started within a few weeks.

He was arrested May 6 after the underage girl’s uncle contacted New York City police. Officers from Ramapo woke him at a Holiday Inn in Montebello.

Police said he was cooperative and no drugs were found in the room, although a bottle of alcohol was. Taylor has a history of drug offenses but has been to rehab and his lawyer says he has been sober for years.

“The whole L.T. persona, to me that’s an act,” Carson said before court. “I’m here for Lawrence Taylor. I’m not here for L.T. … Once he went through some of the stuff he went through, he realized that was a hindrance to himself and his family.”

In court, Carson, sitting in the front row of the gallery, reached over a low wall into the defendant’s area and straightened Taylor’s overcoat collar.

In a related case, federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed a complaint last year against a man who is accused of acting as the girl’s pimp. Court papers in that case say Taylor admitted to sex acts with the girl but said he was told the girl was 19.

Ramapo police Chief Peter Brower said after Taylor’s arrest that ignorance of a minor’s age is not a defense to third-degree rape.

Aidala had claimed that Taylor’s arrest was illegal because police did not have a warrant when they burst into his suburban hotel room in May. Prosecutors said no warrant was required and state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly rejected the claim. But he granted a pretrial hearing on whether statements Taylor made upon his arrest were admissible. Aidala said in December he was relishing the chance to cross-examine the arresting police officers.

Taylor was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999. A fierce, athletic linebacker, he redefined his position and was selected to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

In 2009, he competed in ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” He had also been a spokesman for the NutriSystem weight-loss company, but he was dropped after his arrest.

Sentencing is March 22. That same day, state Supreme Court Justice William Kelly will determine what level of sex offender status Taylor will have.

His lawyer said he would seek to have Taylor’s probation transferred to Florida, where the former player now lives.