Chris Collinsworth Said It Best

Following Atlanta's 20-6 victory over Carolina on Sunday, football analyst Chris Collinsworth ripped a piece of paper, saying something along the lines of, "You know how people criticize Michael Vick because of his numbers. They just don't matter with him. The guy was only 10 for 22, but carried his team on his back the entire game and got the victory. The guy wins."

Last year, some were critical of Vick's Pro Bowl selection, as his quarterback rating was average, in the mid 70s. Vick's quarterback rating on Sunday was in the mid 90s, yet his critics refused to look at that and instead looked at his completion percentage. If it's not one thing, it's another with these people.

Collinsworth is right. Sports analysts and "experts" are obsessed with numbers. One can't measure Vick's performance through those numbers. He wins. He leads and manages the team. His numbers are shown through his teammates. How do I mean? What, do you think that Warrick Dunn, T.J. Duckett, and an average offensive line were the main reasons for Atlanta leading the league in rushing for the past couple seasons and off to a great start this year in that category? Would Atlanta have that same kind of success running the football if Kurt Warner was their quarterback?

The Carolina Panthers, who are know to have a tough and stingy defense are now 2-6 against the Falcons when Vick starts. The Panthers also hold three additional meetings in a week that they face the Falcons. What do these meetings consist of? How to contain and defend Michael Vick. One of the best defenses in the NFL only holds three extra meetings when they're about to go up against Vick and the Falcons. Even though his completion percentage and touchdowns to interception ratio have been average in his three starting seasons, he's been selected to go to the Pro Bowl in all three.

Vick gives defenses something they don't see out of any other quarterback in the league. As the Panthers can attest to in Sunday's game, even when all their players played their assignments properly and played everything correctly by the book, Vick was able to do something that no other quarterback would have been able to do and make something out of nothing. He did this when he ran for +24 yards after he was pressured from both sides of the Panther defense. He did it again scrambling around and then finding Warrick Dunn for a 15 yard gain. He did it on the Falcons' first touchdown of the game, scrambling to his left and throwing a dart to Michael Jenkins for a 34-yard score.

Michael Vick opens up the running game and along with the offensive line's blocking, Vick's mere presence opens holes for the likes of Dunn, Norwood, Griffith, etc. This is especially the case when he hands the ball off and then makes like he's about to run a bootleg, because the Falcons call that play, as was seen on Sunday. This freezes the defense. There will usually be a spy on Vick anyway, but when he takes off on what appears to be a bootleg, that will freeze at least two, if not three or sometimes even four players on defense. With that, the likes of Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood have lots of room to run.

Some may complain that Vick is likely to get tired after all his running around in a game. Well, how do you think the defense feels after chasing Vick around all game? Yeah, they're pretty darn tired. Atlanta held the ball for almost 40 minutes on Sunday and racked up 252 rushing yards against the Panthers. After a while of chasing Vick around and attempting to tackle he, Dunn, Norwood, and Griffith, that defense will be tired and beat up.

Chris Collinsworth is right. One can't measure Michael Vick in numbers, such as quarterback rating and completion percentage. One only has to watch a Falcons game from beginning to end in order to see his value to the Falcons. That or the fact that they went from 9-6-1 and a playoff team with him to 2-10 without him to 11-5 and a NFC Championship-caliber club with him. If one wants to look at numbers, those are the most important right there.