I am a fan of honesty. Plain and simple, if you have a great performance, be happy about it, if you have a lousy one, admit it. The NFL encourages this through sportsmanship, and Football fans and statisticians everywhere keep players honest by pointing out where they are prone to success and failure. Until now, that is. In a week where the Buffalo Bills outscored the Chiefs, Steelers, Colts, and Falcons (all playoff teams in 2010)… COMBINED, it is no surprise that NFL Analysts are being kept busy, but one story is more perplexing than others.
Michael Vick, who is not particularly known for his honesty anyway (insert your own dog reference here), has passed beyond incredulity into insanity.
The goal of this article is to point out that for one week anyway, “Lights-Out” is delusional.
Week one saw 32 starting quarterbacks. Vick’s completion percentage was lower than McNabb’s 39 yard day. But it did not. He should have a higher percentage than rookie Andy Dalton, or Cam Newton, but he did not. Vick, the reality is you sound crazier than a mad cow with syphilis.
“Okay Nate, we get it, the percentage was low, but his QB rating had to have been spectacular.” Nope, it wasn’t. Better than the atrocity of dead last in the league, but Vick managed to move from atrocious to merely dismal here. Vick’s QB rating was 20th. Of 32 teams, Vick could not even manage the middle of the road. Not the middle of the pack, the glass is half empty, whatever term you want to use, feel free. On second thought, don’t. Some of you will lust after Vick until he joins all the dogs in heaven, and it’s damn irritating to those of us that live in … reality.
“But the legs, man, the legs, look at him RUN!” When a grown man talks about legs, I always hope he’s referring to wine or women, not a quarterback. Yes, Vick is a threat-and-a-half, with running ability being the main threat and the only part of his game that defenses should worry about right now.
But there is only one man on the field at a time who is allowed to throw the ball forward. Uno. That’s it. And you tell me it’s that man’s running ability that matters? Escaping tacklers I get, but there is a position designed for running the football. They are called Running Backs. When a quarterback runs, he turns Running backs into blockers, wide receivers into useless objects, and becomes so self-involved that he may be delusional.
Because Vick, this is a team game. And though Vick is an exciting player to watch, he does not elevate anyone’s play but his own, and that is the worst charge I can lay into him. Not understanding the basics any middle-school football player should know.