The Atlanta Falcons Cut Ties With QB Michael Vick

by Dave Choate on Jun 12, 2009 11:34 AM EDT

Now that the Falcons have finally released Vick, I find myself thinking back on his years with the team.

Thanks for FrankyWren for breaking the news, first off. What Vick represented for the first few years he joined the franchise was hope based on his draft position and powerful throwing arm, insane athleticism and nearly constant frustration. The Vick quarterback many of us thought he would or could be never materialized for more than a few games at a time, such as his 2006 dismantling of the Cincinnati Bengals. During those moments, there simply wasn't a more exciting player to watch in the NFL. Unfortunately, then would come games where he foolishly ran where he shouldn't have, turned the ball over and cost the Falcons scores or even games. The divide between what Arthur Blank and Jim Mora told us Vick was going to be and what he actually was--an average quarterback--became wider.

Then came the legal issues, whispered at first and eventually becoming the full-blown fiasco of the dog fighting ring. I had never felt worse about the team than that year, and it became clear in my mind that no matter what happened in the years ahead, this was to be Vick's lasting legacy with the Falcons. The man with the once in a generation rushing talent and the marketable smile was to be the man who buried an entire franchise because of a loathsome hobby. I can and did accept his play on the field, knowing that the Falcons had to try to get him more help, a coach who knew how to use him, and come down harder on him in an effort to draw out his true potential. I will never fully be able to let go of what his arrest, conviction and suspension did to a team I've followed with bright-eyed enthusiasm since the late 1980's. I'm not a perfect person, and forgiveness is not something I can haul out of my personal well at every occasion.

But now it's over, friends. I had hoped to get something in return for Vick, but this gives him a chance to seek his new life. Despite my anger over what happened, I'll repeat what I've said for a long time now. He served his prison sentence and he's not done nothing since he came out to suggest that he'll fall back into old habits. No matter how ardently you hate him for what he did, I hope you can at least pull for his change. If he's come out of this a better, wiser person and can become an asset to an NFL team again, the very least I can do is hope he's successful. Sometimes we come out of our most transformative periods as unrecognizable people, and the grudge I hold against the old Vick isn't necessarily how I feel about the (hopefully) new one. The success of our new franchise quarterback and the team in general makes it easier to say that, I expect.

The $7 million cap hit will come this year, and then the team will erase the last vestiges of Michael Vick's stay on this team. He will always be a part of our history for better or worse, but now he'll have a chance to revive his career somewhere else, and we'll have a chance to bury the hellish mess that was the 2007 season. The future is a brilliant horizon for we Falcons fans, and I'm only too ready to embrace it.

Because I'm an English major, I have to leave you with a quote:

"We need not destroy the past. It is gone." --John Cage

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Comments

Good Riddance

To bad Rubbish!

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Jun 12, 2009 11:41 AM EDT reply actions

I still have 3 Vick jersey's for sale if anyone is interested...

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Jun 12, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions

Size? Cost?

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 12, 2009 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Well

Im a big guy. they are 54 or XXL at least. I have the on field red vick with the screened on letters and numbers (reebok), I have the supposed first season throwback long sleeve black which I think is all sewn on… dont recall for sure and I have the new black which has all numbers and letters stiched on the jersey (official reebok). Make me an offer, please!!!

Life is a garden. Dig it!

by Hardcore Falcon on Jun 15, 2009 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Whats the cap situation then?

go hard or go home

by TO falcon on Jun 12, 2009 11:54 AM EDT reply actions

$7 million hit

Which still leaves us with enough cap space to make some signings, and it’s a one year type of deal. I don’t think the Falcons intended to spend $10+ million this year anyways.

by Dave Choate on Jun 12, 2009 11:55 AM EDT up reply actions

I hope he does well too....

… just not against the Falcons in any way. I don’t mind Vick highlights again, even if on another team… I just don’t want those highlights coming from the Dome.

by NCFalconFan on Jun 12, 2009 12:10 PM EDT reply actions

just imagine

the media hype the first time he does come to the Dome. When we finally get the opportunity to prove to whatever team that he is on how much better off we are without him. Personally, I look forward to it.

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 12, 2009 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions

oh and... uh...

welcome to the site :)

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 12, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

A big welcome

And I couldn’t agree more. I’m not willing to have his success extend against us.

by Dave Choate on Jun 12, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

So

Are you planning on jumping the fence to tackle him if he starts juking our defenders all over the field like he did when he played for us? You will has no bearing on it, haha, but it’s funny thinking about someone doing that and not just because it’s Vick. I think that would be funny in general I suppose because you rarely see fans on the fields these days.

"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments

by Jesse28 on Jun 12, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

The only thing Vick will see before he hits the ground is...

John Abraham’s gaping maw.

You have opinions. Share them.

by Adam Schultz on Jun 13, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions

Well said Dave

While I don’t “hate” kciV, I really don’t care if he plays in the NFL, the UFL, or nowhere at all – I don’t want to watch him, and I’m just glad to be rid of him and finally completely close out that chapter in the Falcon’s history book…

And I wasn’t around here back then, but that was a great post in 2007, too – so much unfulfilled promise… and apparently Hamburger (1st reply) can see into the future:

the best we as fans can hope for is a high draft pick who is capable of taking the weight of one of the leagues most over looked and beleaguered franchises on his shoulders, withstand the pressure, and finally deliver the franchise and its loyal followers a few years in the lime light.

by orang3b on Jun 12, 2009 12:37 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

if Hamburger ever starts showing his face around here regularly again

I will never take anything he has to say lightly

“predict away, oh great one”

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 12, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks for that

And Hamburger was oddly prophetic more than once, if I recall. I wonder where he is…

by Dave Choate on Jun 12, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

Definitely more than once. I remember us having a conversation about it.

by Jesse28 on Jun 12, 2009 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Managing the Falcons.

TD in disguise!

You have opinions. Share them.

by Adam Schultz on Jun 13, 2009 12:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Finally, it's over...

"We're not maxed out, ... The best is still ahead of us."

Bobby Bowden

by NaGaNole on Jun 12, 2009 1:15 PM EDT reply actions

hmmmm...

it’s tough to know how to feel about this. i’m glad he’s not part of the team anymore, but there is this bit of sentimentality there that I can’t ignore. after having this player be the focal point of Sunday after Sunday, going to games just to see him, watching him perform miracles right in front of me… it’s hard for me to just say “Yeah, screw you, good riddance”. I guess I feel a little sad. I’d never want to keep him, i don’t want him on my team because I LOVE the direction we’re going in now… so I guess that sadness just comes from wishing things could have been different and that he could have become what we thought he would become.

as someone who is a huge fan of any team with “Atlanta” before their name, my biggest frustration is just that he put an already suffering fan base through hell. It’s like he walked into town and just said “You guys thought you’d suffered? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”. so what frustrates me so much about Vick – beyond the ethical horrors of what he did, and the illegality of it, and everything else that has been rehashed a million times – is that he reopened the wounds that Atlanta fans already have plenty of. I’ve had to watch the Braves break my heart repeatedly, i’ve had to watch the Hawks flounder in mediocrity since I was a toddler, the Thrashers have become a complete disaster… then finally there is this ray of light named “Mike Vick” that comes through, and, well, maybe we’re finally possibly gonna…. NOPE, he’s worse than any of them.

it’s hard to hear other cities whine about their teams being cursed when you’re an Atlanta fan and ALL your teams are cursed. Vick just added another chapter to an already depressing book.

by cheshire falcon on Jun 12, 2009 1:55 PM EDT reply actions

wow, leave it to MV's departure

to stur up new members

welcome to the site. Your views on the whole Vick situation are very similar to mine. Vick is what made me an Atlanta Falcons fan. I guess I can attribute his departure and the upcoming of Matt Ryan that turned me into the fan I am today though… so all is well that ends well right? I really do hope though that this new chapter in the Falcons franchise can be the shifting point of “Atlanta sports” and we can once again get recognition as something more than the “black sheep” of the sports community. It would be nice to no longer be a “surprise team” or a team that occasionally “upsets” a predicted winner

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 12, 2009 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Meh

I have a lot of things swirling around in my mind right that is causing me to be at a loss as to where to begin. This could end up being rather long winded so bare with me. Also, this isn’t directed towards anyone in particular, on these forums or elsewhere. It’s just my thoughts on everything that I’ve talked about, read, or watched regarding the Vick episode.

My overall arching feeling about the entire Vick case is, well….meh. I am not angry with him or hate him or in love with him or blind to him. I just happen to look at it like ‘it is what it is and nothing more’. It was probably going to happen regardless so there’s no point in getting bent over it. And now that the team has taken the steps needed to move on, there’s no point in rehasing it. I was over it way before this point anyways.

I take issue with a lot of people’s stances on Vick because I think a lot of people are being hypocritical or too personal with it. I really don’t understand the thought that Vick came to Atlanta looking to embarrass the franchise. That’s completely illogical. Vick most definitely did not have some master plan in place before getting drafted that he was going to try to crush the fans of whichever city he got drafted by. And as for those fans, I really find it convenient that so many people are acting holier than thou about Vick now when every last one of us were screaming at our friends and co-workers how amazing he was only months before. We supported everything that was Vick over the years then turned on him so quickly without ever once thinking about any mistake we made in our lives and considering what it might have been like if our parents and loved ones completely dumped on us instead of supporting us. That’s not to say that we should have been clamoring for his successful return to our team, I’m just a little taken aback by how so many people speak vilely about him as a player because of his incident, instead of about how great of a player he is regardless of his personal life.

If you want to hate the guy because you are an avid dog/animal lover and you disagree with what he did, fine. Do it for that reason and discuss it in that context. If you feel betrayed by him as a fan, then fine, I respect that as a fellow fan, but don’t do it without remembering everything he did for this franchise first. But everyone should really put this in a little more perspective. There are far worse people in this league who have done far worse things than what Vick did, and not only that, but they also got away with it.

If Vick had rolled on the other people involved first and gotten a no jail time deal, no one would even be talking about it, much like how little media attention the Leonard Little deal got. Vick would still be playing for the Falcons and we would all still be screaming at our buddies about how much better he is than anyone on their teams every Sunday. But instead he got rolled on and some local guy wanted to try and make a name for himself in the national media to help prop up his political campaign, and because it was Vick who just got the largest QB deal i the NFL, this thing blew up way more than I think it ever should have.

Now, I’m not saying I agree with what he did, because I don’t. It is a stupid thing that I don’t see the point in. If I’m going to stage any kind of fighting, it’s going to involve lots and lots of Jell-O(which on a side note, is also my solution to world conflicts, but that’s another topic for another day). And even if I agreed with it, it wouldn’t matter because by the law it’s illegal and by that account he was tried, convicted, and has since served his time. By the book, he is now ready to get his next chance at being a good little sheep like the rest of us. What I am saying though, is I just don’t feel that grand level of animosity towards him that some people do. Vick made us better, as a team, as a franchise, as fans. We set records in attendance and sold out every home game for just about every season he played. If he was in, there wasn’t a single team in the league that you could be confident in to beat us. He gave us all something to cheer for, to hope on, to enjoy, and I’m not going to let his non-football related incident ruin the good memories I have of our “team” during those years.

Sure, he wasn’t the epitomy of a pocket passer. Sure, he made some bad decisions on the field from time to time. But what player hasn’t? I’m a Vick fan and I can’t wait for him to be back in the league. I can’t wait to watch him play again. I have no desire for him to be a Falcon, but it’s more because I don’t believe in keeping players who can’t stay out of trouble of the field not because of what he did. It could have been anything at all, but if you are found guilty of whatever you got arrested for, then you’re off my team.

So, because I have no anger towards him nor any desire to have him on my Falcons, I guess I just feel meh about the whole thing. It is what it is; I’ve moved on, the team has moved on, and so should the fanbase.

by Jesse28 on Jun 12, 2009 3:20 PM EDT reply actions

well

i think you’re responding specifically to what I said in my post about Vick screwing Atlanta fans over. obviously i don’t think (nor did I assert) that Vick had some master plan to screw the citizens of Atlanta over and send himself to prison just to make us all miserable. my point is just that whenever someone or something adds to my misery as an Atlanta sports fan, i tend to take it harder and harder each time. that doesn’t mean that the person involved orchestrated the event just to personally piss me off. yes, that would obviously be illogical.

my point in saying all of that is simply that the focus of this entire story up to this point has been around Vick, his personal life, the dogs, the crime, etc. And that’s what the story should be – there are much bigger things at stake here than sports fans. But there is an element of this story for me personally, regardless of how trivial it might be compared to everything else, that is just a constant thorn in my side as a suffering Atlanta fan.

by cheshire falcon on Jun 12, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Not you specifically

Because you aren’t the first one I’ve hear casually say something like that. I understood what you were getting at. Like I said, these were my thoughts, as I was thinking them that very moment, of everything I have heard people say back home in Atlanta as well as here in J-Ville. There are people who put more conviction in their words and actually believe these wild things.

I don’t take anything a sports team or player does personally, unless of course it is made personal. I want the players on my favorite sports team to perform on the field, period. What they do off the field is between them and the law/god/allah/whatever you want to put here. That’s not to say I agree with what they do off the field, just that I’m not the kind of person that gets worked up about it. I don’t get my info from TMZ. If they break the law and are found guilty, drop them from the team and move on. I don’t want my sports teams wasting time, effort, and more importantly, money on them after that.

by Jesse28 on Jun 15, 2009 7:37 AM EDT up reply actions

Ugh

Don’t remind me about Leonard Little…

by orang3b on Jun 12, 2009 8:40 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m going to stage any kind of fighting, it’s going to involve lots and lots of Jell-O(which on a side note, is also my solution to world conflicts, but that’s another topic for another day).

Ridiculous. Go write a book already. Your stuff cracks me up.

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 14, 2009 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions

Working on it.

Been writing ACC football write-ups for a few years now and distributing it amongst friends and I’m currently trying to decide if I want to do a full-time ACC/GT blog. It’s part a time issue, and part a courage issue, but hopefully I will be doing it befor this upcoming football season starts. I’ve also been writing shorts for a long time, but nothing serious. We’ll see.

But speaking of it, just think about it. Who doesn’t like a little Jell-O? Nothing puts a smile on an angry powerful country leader’s face like a little Jell-O.

by Jesse28 on Jun 15, 2009 7:45 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm happy it all happened

i haven’t been this excited about Falcon football since the Dirty Birds magical season, yes vick was exciting but i never thought he was the QB to take us to the next level
but i’ll will admit 2007 was one of the worst times in my life

by gritzblitz on Jun 12, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

Still an MV fan

I’m glad he’s no longer with us but seriously I grew up in the south and dogfighting is prevalent. It’s tradition here. People in the NFL have been charged with attempted murder and got less flak than Vick did over dogs. Vick was one of the most dynamic players in the league in a long time. Just think back to the Superman dive to score the TD against the kitty cats( my panther friends still claim he was down) and all of the other awesome plays he made over his career. I wish it hadn’t ended the way it did but I’m happy with what we’ve got now.

If I had a nickel for everytime someone told me I should shutup, I'd probably have 5 or 6 bucks.

by pchaucer on Jun 12, 2009 8:11 PM EDT reply actions

he wasn't down

by gritzblitz on Jun 13, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Not the most PC perspective ever ...

But I’ll say this: I kinda agree w/ you.

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 14, 2009 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions

This.

This is why I said in a previous post about where Vick might land that people here in J-Ville wouldn’t be turned away if the Jags ended up with Vick. I’ve driven down roads and seen it happening in backyards, and not just in J-Ville. You’re right, it isn’t the most PC, but it’s the truth.

by Jesse28 on Jun 15, 2009 7:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Live and let live.

When he gets out, he will have paid his debt to society. Don’t like what he did, but dude has just as much right as any other man to make a living the best way he knows how.

In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.

by runningback on Jun 14, 2009 3:27 AM EDT reply actions