On the field, there was little Vick couldn't do (except pass...HI-YO!!!). He had arguably the strongest arm in the NFL, threw a beatiful ball, and was the scariest open-field sight to any defender. Sure, his passing was erratic at best, but when you have three clueless coaches over the course of 5 years, with 4 different offensive coordinators and a completely different blocking scheme developed halfway through your career, yea, you're probably going to struggle. The bottom line is the Falcons completely wasted one of the greatest players in the game, because they're simply a horrendous example of what an NFL franchise should be.
The Falcons have never been good. In fact, they've been an eyesore for most of their tenure as the Arizona Cardinals Southeast. They play in an arena that wholly disregards any aesthetic values, their uniforms are straight out of the arena league, their owner has a mustache that Hitler would be ashamed of and, despite having one of the most unique gems in the NFL universe, they INSISTED on running conventional sets.
How would I, a superior mind, have used Vick? Easy. GET HIM OUTSIDE THE POCKET CLOSE TO THE FUCKING LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. How many times did you see this staple of the Falcons' offense...Vick basically runs straight back, feigning play action, and next thing you know, he's scrambling 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Awesome. Let's instill some more of these 11 step drops because Vick gets there so fast.
You get this guy near the line of scrimmage and all of the sudden, defenses are clueless. Is he going to run? Is he going to pass? Who the fuck knows? Choose one option he does the other. He wasn't the greatest passer in the world, but given a window, and proper coaching and recievers who could catch and run routes, he would have succeeded.
That's the thing that irritates the shit out of me. I was watching part of the Monday Night game, and I had to turn it off. The Saints, not a very good team, completely annihilated the Falcons. How can the loss of ONE GUY turn a franchise from perennial competence to utter crap in less than 2 months? Yea, Vick got a lot of flack for not being the best passer in the world, yet he still ran for over 1,000 yards and was a pain in the ass for a defense to try and stop. There was always that threat that he was going to burst one at any time, and because of that, he opened up shit downfield occasionally. Plus, because of his running, he opened EVERYTHING up for their two running backs who were perfectly suited for that style of running.
The Falcons did a great job with that aspect, granted. But at the same time...they could have done such a better job. A team doesn't fall to this level by losing one guy. Sure, they might not be as good and still lose a ton, but they shouldn't have turned into absolute garbage. And, you look at the roster they have, and you think, "how the hell did Vick win with this group?" That's the thing...Vick never got enough credit for being such a great football player. He was always knocked for not winning enough and failing to get his team over the hump. He brought this AWFUL team to the NFC championship game and almost beat one of the best teams of the early 21st century, SINGLEHANDEDLY. If the Falcons had given Vick even a modicrum of NFL talent, they would have been in the Super Bowl.
Vick was a John Elway-esque talent, a guy who could transcend sub-par teammates with ridiculous performances. And that's exactly what he did. Yet, while the Broncos were insistent on getting complimentary players and developing a consistent offensive scheme while building the foundation of both lines and a strong defense, the Falcons did none of this. The Falcons' offensive line is easily the worst in the NFL, and it looks like they have no idea what the hell is going on. Sure, they had injuries, but you don't get this awful by having years of smart talent evaluation. We're Browns fans here, we know all about how to build a terrible O-line.
The recievers they got were HORRENDOUS. Roddy White is turning into a solid pro, but he picked the worst year to show that he isn't horrible. Michael Jenkins...man, he was awesome for the Buckeyes and it hurts to say this...might be the worst starting WR in the NFL. I can't think of anyone worse. How did he get this slow? Well, it's not that he's slow, it's just that he has no idea how to run a route, has no idea how to use his body to shield defenders, has no idea how to catch the ball with his hands and basically couldn't get open even if Jason David was covering him all night. Wait...Jason David was covering him all night? Well FUCK. Alge Crumpler...good TE? Really? Coulda sworn he was an overrated fat fuck who was a barely competent posession reciever and one of the slowest blockers off the point of attack at the TE position. He makes Kyle Brady look like a speed demon.
Vick was supposed to succeed with this assortment of shit? Wait...he did?!?!!? Holy crap.
Listen, he fought dogs and gambled and got caught. That sucks. It's his own fault and he lost a shit-ton of money and mortgaged his future. But I'm not here to debate the morality of his transgressions. I'm here to say that Michael Vick was one of the most talented individuals ever to step foot on an NFL field, someone who could have been legendary, a revolutionary. Instead, his team let him down. Had he been in an environment where he was held accountable, where he was given room to grow and wasn't the only legitimate NFL starter on a team, he would have succeeded, and probably stayed away from dogfighting. Had he been in a situation that bred success, that cultivated team unity, he might have devoted his entire efforts into football.
Instead he was stuck with an awful organization that mismanaged him to a laughable degree, and in the process, drove him to other avenues of entertainment, as a means of escaping the dregs of being assocaited with the Atlanta Falcons and Arthur Blank. He was given a free pass for everything, even football, and because of that, we as NFL fans were robbed of one of the greatest players in history. While Vick certainly is to blame, I believe this whole scandal would have been avoided if Mike Vick had landed in a good football environment rather than the festering hole they call the Atlanta Falcons.
No comments:
Post a Comment