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At 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, The Associated Press will announce its Coach of the Year.

The Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards already have been awarded to New England’s Tom Brady and Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu. But the coaching category might be the first award where the NFC South has a chance at a winner.

You have to at least consider Atlanta’s Mike Smith and Tampa Bay’s Raheem Morris. Smith won an NFC-best 13 games. Morris guided a turnaround as the Bucs went from 3-13 in 2009 to 10-6 this year. Kansas City’s Todd Haley and a few other coaches are going to be in the mix as well. But I don’t think Morris or Smith would be a bad choice.

The question I struggle with is who had the better year of the two? Back when I did our All-NFC South postseason awards, I went with Smith as Coach of the Year. In all honesty, that call was basically a coin flip and part of the reason I went with Smith was to create some balance in representing the NFC South teams (although Carolina was in a different class than New Orleans, Atlanta and Tampa Bay).

Truthfully, I see the jobs Smith and Morris did this year as equal. Smith took a talented team with high expectations and won 13 games. He could have put himself over the top with a playoff victory or two, but that didn’t happen. Morris engineered a tremendous upward swing by the Buccaneers. He could have put himself over the top with a playoff berth, but that didn’t happen.

I basically see it as a tie between Smith and Morris. But let’s hear what you have to say. Hit the mailbag or the comments section below.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees officially has been selected to grace the cover of the "Madden NFL 11" video game.

It’s a nice honor for a player from a small-market team. But history has shown it’s not always a good thing to be on the "Madden" cover. Let’s turn it over to our friends at ESPN Stats & Information for a look at what’s happened to the guys who have been on the "Madden" cover in the past.

• 2010, Troy Polamalu/Larry Fitzgerald: Polamalu only played five games due to knee injuries, Steelers missed playoffs; Fitzgerald wasn’t affected much (97 receptions, 1,092 yards, 13 TD, Pro Bowl).
• 2009, Brett Favre: Feuded with Packers, traded to Jets, horrible down the stretch (lost 4 of last 5).
• 2008, Vince Young: Missed 1 game with quad injury; led Titans to first playoff appearance in four years.
• 2007, Shaun Alexander: Fractured foot, missed six games; fewer yards and TDs in '06 AND '07 than in '04 OR '05.
• 2006, Donovan McNabb: Sports hernia in first game, missed seven games; feuded with Terrell Owens all year; had been to five straight Pro Bowls, hasn't been since.
• 2005, Ray Lewis: Broke wrist, missed one game; first season without interception; missed 10 games next year with thigh injury.
• 2004, Michael Vick: Fractured fibula one day after video game was released, missed 11 games; Pro Bowl next 2 seasons; obvious issues since then.
• 2003, Marshall Faulk: Ankle injury, missed two games, never rushed for 1,000 yards again.
• 2002, Daunte Culpepper: 4-7 record before season-ending knee injury.
• 2001, Eddie George: Career season, but fumbled in playoffs as top-seeded Titans lost first game to Ravens.
• 2000, Barry Sanders: Retired one week before training camp.

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

TAMPA, Fla. -- There could be even another element to the quarterback situation for the Buccaneers.

The team could be looking to trade one of its quarterbacks for a draft pick. Coach Raheem Morris wouldn't confirm an NFL.com report that the Bucs are shopping three of their quarterbacks for a trade, but he didn't deny it either.

"Oh, man, they're Nostradamus," Morris said when asked about the report. "Everybody in this league, all 32 teams around this time start calling front offices. I can't control who calls us. Everybody's interested in everybody's roster and everybody's looking to nit-pick off everybody's roster. Everybody has talent and you're trying to accumulate the best talent on your football team. That's just all that talk is what that is."

But it makes total sense for the Bucs to at least try to find out what the market value might be for Byron Leftwich, Luke McCown or Josh Johnson. They're not about to let go of rookie Josh Freeman, who they call their franchise quarterback.

But that's likely in the future. For now, it appears the Bucs will open the season with either Leftwich or McCown as their starter. They're about even at this point and a potential trade could play into Morris' decision, although the Bucs likely would be able to get only a late-round pick (at best) for any of their quarterbacks.

Leftwich, a former starter in Jacksonville, probably has more trade value because of his experience. McCown has only seven starts. Johnson, a second-year pro, has yet to play in an NFL game and probably wouldn't bring much in a trade.