The First Vick Mention In Months

by Dave Choate on Nov 28, 2007 11:26 AM EST in Angry Rant

ESPN put together its power rankings today, putting the Falcons just above the Jets and the Dolphins. There's one gem in here that I'd like to note:

TE Alge Crumpler tells the J-C that "it just puzzles me that we can't score points." But is it really puzzling that Atlanta's averaging four points less than last season? Mike Vick's absence accounts for at least that much, if not more.

Oh, this is rich. Take a lot at a Len Pasquarelli column from the offseason:

Want to examine those numbers closer? In his six NFL seasons, Vick has been healthy in four. In those four years, 47 quarterbacks threw 20 or more touchdown passes. It has become the equivalent of hitting 30 home runs, a much discussed but overblown stat. As for the 1,000 rushing yards, well, what did they net the Falcons, who aren't in the playoffs? In the seven games this season in which Vick led Atlanta in rushing, the Falcons were 0-7.

I put these side by side not because I don't believe the Falcons would score more points with Vick (though with this scheme, they might not), but because I'm pretty sure Pasquarelli has a heavy hand in writing these Power Rankings comments. You can't be part of a hard-nosed journalistic team that continually tells your readers that Vick is overrated and then, when that same team struggles without him, turn around and act like he's the difference.

The point is that it's impossible to say whether he would be or not. This has been a frustrating season by any measure, but Vick is simply not a part of this team anymore. I think the lack of scoring might have plenty to do with having Harrington or Leftwich at QB, but it also has to do with Norwood not getting any carries, an extremely conservative gameplan and an injured and ineffective offensive line. It's unfair--and typical--for ESPN to reverse course like this, even if it is a Power Rankings comment.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

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Len Pasquarelli

is a blithering idiot. And ESPN sucks.

by Sunil @ The Falcoholic on Nov 28, 2007 11:14 PM EST reply actions

Pasquarelli

I concur, for as long as I can remember, Pasquarelli has had it in for the Falcons. I can clearly recall that ONCE, ONE TIME, he said something positive about the dirty birds, otherwise its all been negative.

As far as speculating as to whether or not having Vick would have resulted in scoring more points this season, I think the obvious answer is yes, they would have.

Say what you will about his passing ability, but Vick suceeded in tossing the ball around under Coach Reeves. While I won't dare mention Pet Rhino in the same stratosphere of coaching as Dan, I will pose that his offensive "scheme" is somewhat similar to Dans, with a strong emphasis placed on throwing the ball vertically, something Vick did extremely well. Although Dan used 5 and 7 step drops, which I rarely see Joey Joe Joe do, but thats mostly due to the lack of time the offensive line provides him. Byron did take a few deeper drops, but he usually ended up gettign dropped himself, as his looping delivery takes TWICE AS LONG as a normal qbs...(It kills me that during Byrons last start Roddy was wide open in deep on BOTH of the sack/batted passes at the line that ended up being ints.)

I always wanted to see what Mike could do with a top tier WR, and while Roddy isn't there yet, I have to beleive his emergence has more to do with the fact that he is taking football seriously, and has learned to read defenses and adjust his routes accordingly, then the fact that he has a new QB.

Anyhow, with Vick under center the team wouldve definetly been more succesful running the ball, which would potentially allow Norwood to get more carries, impossible to say that Pet Rhino would actually give him the ball tho...

Oh well.

by Hamburger on Nov 29, 2007 7:32 AM EST reply actions