Mel, Jaws...

The NFL draft is taking place at this current juncture, as we just started round 6. They just devoted an entire session on Michael Vick. Out of Mel "look at my hair" Kiper, Ron "I wish I were Randall Cunningham" Jaworski, and Chris Mortensen, only Mort defended the Atlanta quarterback.

Look, I'm sick of hearing Vick's name in the news. But, unlike a lot of people in the media or people at home, I believe in one being innocent until proven guilty. Vick's little airport run-in earlier this year garnered more media attention at the time than the Iraq war. The reports were all speculatory. There were no hard facts. There was no concrete evidence. It was all speculation. The testing came back and guess what? No drugs were found. Now, in a home that Vick hasn't been to for I don't know how long, where some friends and family reside, some neglected dogs were found. There also seemed to be some proof of organized dog fighting at the home, as well. Do I like hearing this news? No, of course not. First off, I love dogs. I have two of my own, have had three in my life, and I'm sure I'll own more in the future. It saddens me to hear such stories, even though I know it goes on in certain areas of the country and especially in some parts outside the country. I truly hope that Vick is not involved in any way and it'll be difficult for me to pull for him anymore if I find out that he is involved, but why do we jump the gun so quickly?

First off, Kiper and Jaws both commented on Matt Schaub being the better quarterback in Houston that Vick in Atlanta. Schaub is a guy who has started two NFL games in his career and has lost both of them. He has a total of 6 touchdown passes and 6 interceptions in his career and a completion percentage right around 50%. Obviously, what Mel and Jaws like about Schaub is what they don't know, because there's no possible way they can legitimately state that based on what the two quarterbacks have done throughout their careers on the field, Schaub is the better of the two.

Secondly, Jaws scowled as he said that he's fed up with the excuses, that Vick needs to be devoted to football 365 days of the year, 24 hours in every day, and that he needs to take responsibility of all those in his life (friends and family). How is this possible? If Vick wasn't involved with the dog fighting and what he said was true, that he bought the house for his cousin and other family members and that he never goes there, how is he supposed to try to provide opportunities for friends and family, babysit them, and devote himself to football every day of the year? How's that possible Jaws? If my father buys me a car and I use it to intentionally run another off the road, how is my father responsible? If my father paid me to do that, then yeah, he's partly responsible, but if he lives on the other side of the country and knew nothing about it, then how can he be held responsible? It's almost a no-win situation. If my friends and family had always been poor and I experienced that right alongside them when I was growing up, it'd be very difficult for me not to provide more opportunities for them with my wealth, if I was selected first in the NFL draft, like Vick. I mean, what's the parents job? To do all they can with what they know to prepare their child for a healthy personal and professional life? But, once the child leaves home, it's up to them to make their own decisions and the responsibilites now lie on their shoulders. The parents may feel some guilt if their child gets into trouble with the law, asking themselves the questions, "What did we do to provoke this? Could we have done anything better?" But, from a legal standpoint, the court is not going to send the folks to jail for their child's wrongdoing. If what Vick said is true, was he not attempting to play the role of a parent, providing opportunities for those closest to him? If what he said is true, how can he be held responsible for his adult children who are on their own and old enough to make mature, responsible decisions on their own?

In regard to the excuses, I don't really know what Jaws is talking about. I hear/read a lot of Falcons/Vick fans making excuses, but I haven't heard many coming from Vick's mouth directly. Jaws commented that the entire offense under the Mora regime revolved around Vick. Let me comment on these notions.

I don't know how in the world Jaws can say the Mora regime's offense was revolvant around Vick's talents. Immediately, when I heard that Mora and Knapp were installing the West Coast offense, I commented to friends and family that it wasn't going to be very effective. I heard the coaches claim that Vick would thrive in such an offense and that it would compliment his special talents. Right from the outset, before a game was played by the Falcons in the West Coast offense, I knew it wasn't going to be very efficient and I can't, for one second, understand why Jaws or anyone else would believe that it was based on Vick's talents. Quick, short passes, a precision passing game, a small offensive line to aid the zone-blocking scheme, do not provide for a winning formula if you're a Falcons fan. Vick has always been a much better intermediate and deep passer than he's been with his short passes or dump-offs. Because of that, he needs time in the pocket to allow the receivers to run their routes and get open. His height is also a factor in this, as Vick is just over six feet tall. The passes are much more apt to being batted down in the quick and short passing game (ala, the West Coast offense) than with his intermediate throws or the deep routes. Vick has one of the strongest arms in the league and the Falcons have underutilized that throughout his career. All around, Vick's best passing year was his first year starting under Dan Reeves, where the line was larger and Vick was allowed to throw the intermediate and deep routes at an equal or greater clip to the short dump-offs. If anything, the West Coast offense under Mora and Knapp went directly the opposite route of playing to Vick's strengths, as it limited them quite a bit, especially in the passing game.

Jaws has always had a problem with Vick, even though he claims to like and route for him. Jaws was replaced by a dual-threat quarterback in Randall Cunningham when he was with the Eagles. It seems that he doesn't much care for those dual-threat QB's.

Frankly, I'm sick of hearing about Vick, especially off-the-field. When's the last time we heard or even talked about the Falcons as a team? It seems to only be about Vick. Will he ever be able to lead the Falcons to a Super Bowl? Has he lived up to the hype? If not, will he? How can his skills be utilized most effectively? Should they give Schaub a chance? Is his job in jeopardy? Does he run too much? Does he throw too much? What can he do to improve his game? Does he limit the offense any? Is he too quick to pull the ball down and rush? What about the rest of the team? The Falcons have some pretty solid players elsewhere: Warrick Dunn, Jerious Norwood, Joe Horn, Alge Crumpler, John Abraham, Keith Brooking, DeAngelo Hall, Lawyer Milloy, Allen Rossum, etc. This is a team game if there ever was one. The talk, the chatter, the discussion, should not all revolve around Vick. These are the Atlanta Falcons, which Vick is a part of, not the Michael Vick Falcons, which the rest of the Atlanta players are a part of.