Countdown to the Draft: The Atlanta Falcons, NFC South (8-8)
Ah yes. The Falcons. Is Vick overrated or is he underrated? It depends on who you ask. If you ask a 14 year old boy who spends all day playing Madden, he will tell you that Mike Vick is perhaps the greatest quarterback in history.
If you were to ask a scout, he would tell you that Vick is talented. But is he good? They’d shrug.
If you were to ask a certain NFL blogger who really knows his stuff, but who will remain nameless, he would tell you that Vick is the most over hyped, overrated, overpaid, underachieving quarterback ever.
He would point out that the only reason Vick is so hyped is because:
A. He can be fun to watch
B. The media likes him, because
C. He’s black
I’m serious. If Vick were just some other white kid, would he get voted to the Pro Bowl after accounting for fewer yards than Eli Manning, fewer touchdowns than Drew Bledsoe, a lower rating than David Carr, and more turnovers than Mark Brunell? The answer is no. And that is why Atlanta is never going to win it all with Vick at the helm, because they have so much money invested in him they can’t very well get rid of him now, and he’s never going to be a great quarterback. He may run a 4.3 40, but he’s never going to throw the deep out accurately, and that is what the difference is between a good quarterback and a bad one. I remember on Thanksgiving watching Vick play and being stunned at how inaccurate he was. Alge Crumpler was wide open in the corn of the endzone, and he zipped it about ten feet over his head at 90 miles an hour.
In the long run, the best thing the Falcons could do for themselves would be to trade Vick for a really high first round pick and maybe a run stuffer or two, and then draft either Matt Leinhart or Jay Cutler, because they need them. But like I said, that’s never happening. However they still do have a shot at getting a run stuffer, and that’s really their priority right now.
Last year one of the many reasons they did so poorly is because mediocre teams ran all over their defensive line. Patrick Kerney is a great pass rusher, but that’s just what he is: a pass rusher. He’s not going to chase down DeShaun Foster. When they went up against the massively under tooled Patriots they couldn’t get to Brady at all, even with some big names going against some no-names.
Along with help there, the Falcons are also going to have to look at picking up a good cover corner to compliment DeAngelo Hall and a wide receiver that can actually get open so he has a chance to go for passes that are way off.
I think the biggest change the Falcons could and should but won’t make is switching from the West Coast Offense. Vick is just not a West Coast player, and they aren’t going to make him into one. The intricacies of running the West Coast Offense well just aren’t getting through his head, and they never.
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Tomorrow: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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That’s what I would do, if I was in Charge of the Atlanta Falcons.
What would you do?
Tags: Analysis, Atlanta Falcons, Coaches, Countdown-to-the-draft, David Carr, deangelo-hall, deshaun-foster, draft, drew-bledsoe, Eli Manning, mark-brunell, mike-vick, NFL Draft, Opinion, patrick-kerney, Players, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Teams, trade, west-coast-offenseRelated Stories
POSTED IN: NFL Draft, NFL Football, Opinion, Players
2 opinions for Countdown to the Draft: The Atlanta Falcons, NFC South (8-8)
DR U
Mar 7, 2006 at 10:57 pm
I think you should look at Vick’s career record as a starter. It is pretty impressive. He led a team that was going nowhere in the Falcons to the NFC Title game. Not to mention, a playoff win at Green Bay, which at that time was impossible. No team could beat Brett Favre in his backyard, but Vick did.
They keep changing the offense, and I think that is the real problem. Vick makes plays and wins games, and I am not sure how that combination could be viewed as a negative.
DR U
Squib
Mar 8, 2006 at 8:16 am
I see where you’re coming from, but I really can’t agree…
Kyle Orton has a pretty impressive record as a starter as well. Notice he got exactly zero votes for rookie of the year, mainly because the winning had nothing to do with him.
As for beating Favre, what role did Vick play in that? Oh yes. He sat on the sideline while the defense beat Brett Favre. It had very little to do with what Vick did.
Lastly, Mike Vick does help the Falcons. When he does nothing but run, the team tends to do pretty well. In other words, it is his throwing that kills the team, because he throws so poorly. That is why I argue that they should put him at another position or trade him, but that’s never going to happen.
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