Mike Vick: The End of A Legendary Career

Michael Vick the only player in NFL history to sign two - one hundred million dollar contracts with two different teams.

                    As a lifelong - die hard Michael Vick fan from  day one I can honestly say this football   season so far has given me all that I could ask for.  Coming into the season with one of my  favorite players of all time was picked up  within the last two weeks of training camp by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Michael Vick was thrust into the starting role. As a fan coming into the season my expectation was for Michael Vick to get in the game simply for mop up duty, however that all changed when Big Ben went down. When potential Hall of Fame quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went down with a knee injury, as a fan of Vick I was elated.  

Let me be clear, I was not happy about the Rothlisberger injury, but I was happy to be able to see my quarterback Mike Vick get a chance to show what he had left, and to show the NFL and the world that at age 35 he was still an elite caliber QB that deserved a starting job in the league.  After 8 quarters of football the realization came to me that the end was near for Mike Vick.  Coach Todd Haley did his best to scheme the offense around its play makers.  Historically Mike Vick has been the center of attention for every team he has played for.  With the Steelers Todd Haley decided to manage the game very conservatively with Vick not asking him to do much other than being a game manager.  After watching Mike Vick struggle to complete several timing route passes and posting ugly stats for 8 quarters of football reality set in for me as a fan.  Michael Vick is high risk versus high reward.  In order for Mike Vick to be the dangerous guy that he has been his entire career he has to play loose.  He has to threaten the defense with his legs and then with his arm.  At six feet tall Mike Vick is not a natural stand in the pocket passer.  He has had most of his success in space, on the corners - with a run pass option.  The only down side to Vick playing loose is that at age 35 he is a step slower, those nagging injuries don't seem to ever go away, and now he gets concussions in every game he plays.  Its always hard to say goodbye to the legends in any sport and in most cases the player almost always stays past his time.  Mike Vick has had a whirl wind career. He has changed the way the game is coached, and the way defenses draft.  The days of drafting a basic run stopping linebacker are over.  Now’adays  if you dont run a 4.5 forty yard dash you wont make it in this league as a linebacker.  Michael Vick has paved the way for players such as Cam Newton, Colin Kapernick, Tyrod Taylor and many more.  When does a player realize it’s time to hang’em up? Well thats up to the player, but as a die hard fan the truth hurts and regardless of the players decision as a fan I’ll be their rooting rather good or bad. 

Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday Night Recap

Mike Vick scrambles during the Thursday night loss to the Ravens

Thursday night football game had many story lines going into last night. Mainly if you watched any of the pregame coverage it was hard not to notice that Michael Vick was the main topic for discussion both before and after the game. As a disclaimer I am a huge Michael Vick fan simply because of what I have seen him do in person down here in Atlanta. 

I thought Michael Vick given the circumstances of having one full day of practice with the starters for the Steelers he played pretty good. I thought the offensive coordinator and head coach approached the game a little too conservatively early on and subsequently got a little too cute late in the game where they should have played conservative. Mainly going forward that last 4th down play with the out rout to Brown vs. handing it off to Bell who was averaging almost 6 yards per carry . 

Now don't get me wrong Antonio Brown was wide open and Mike Vick simply missed the throw, but take into account that you have a quarterback who has had little work with the ones and it's over time - in my opinion you have to go with a chance to win it with the field goal. Worst case scenario is that your field goal kicker misses that kick and at least you know you gave yourself a chance to win..  

The first two quarters were pretty much pathetic for the Baltimore Ravens. Theres no wonder that the Ravens were 0 - 3 based on the first 2 quarters. Bell proved that he is a top three running back in the league, and we saw that Michael Vick still has a strong arm and at least a 4.5 speed. We also saw that so far Antonio Brown is missing Ben Roethlisberger and it's possible that his production will suffer until Ben returns. Michael Vick historically has been a quarterback that leans on the running back as well as the tight end very heavily; reference Algae Crumpler and his career statistics as well as Brent Celek in Philadelphia, Vick normally either throws deep, checks down to a tight end, or simply scrambles. Going forward the schedule gets much harder for the Steelers, Michael Vick will need to play similar as he did Thursday night where he's taking what the defense is giving him and he plays smart taking the easy throws and running out of bounds. If Vick does play in control the Steelers have a chance win a few games until Ben returns.