As Michael Vick gets ready to return to the NFL, either this coming season or the one after if he's suspended by Roger Goodell, there's has been and will be a great deal of chatter over who should take a chance on him, who shouldn't, and what role he will play. And a lot of that will hinge on perception of just how good Vick was as a QB before he got in trouble. The battle lines have seemingly been drawn already; Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio is on the side of those who think Vick should settle for nothing less than a full time quarterback slot for an NFL team while ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd can be counted among those who believe that Vick wasn't very good before and shouldn't be given anything more than a limited role when he comes back. So what's the truth here? Was Vick a great QB or an average one? Or neither? Is his past perfromance worthy of an eventual starting gig, or should he be permanently relegated to a Wildcat role? (I will be so glad when that offense is out of style; I hate hearing stupid radio people talk about it. It's up there with 'bling bling' right now for me). What does the evidence say?
Vick played four full seasons as a starter; in that time he threw for 10,135 yards at a 54.7% completion rate (830 completions out of 1,517 attempts), 65 touchdowns and 46 interceptions. He also ran for 3,315 yards and 19 touchdowns. He had a won-loss record of 34-26-1. In the postseason he started four games, wining two. Over those games he threw for 609 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions at a 56.3% completion rate (58 for 103). He also ran for 239 yards. So what all does that mean? It means he's an average passer at best. His completion percentage is terrible for the modern era, and his average yards per game is a pedestrian 166. Those aren't elite by any measure. He averaged 24 passes per game, which is pretty low. This is plenty of fuel for his detractors; after all, the primary task of the quarterback in today's NFL is to throw the ball well.
There are some disturbing trends at work here, too,with a few positives sprinkled in. He had his highest touchdown pass total in his last season playing, a respectable 20. His interception percentage is pretty low as well, so for all the flak he gets for not being good in the passing game it's fair to say that he doesn't make too many mistakes. But the completion percentage was in decline, going from 56 to 55 to 52 in three years. This is a definite eyebrow raiser, especially since his attempts were going up at the same time. It implies that he was getting less accurate as he went on, and that more attempts brought on diminishing returns. And his won-loss record declined as well, going from 11-4 in 2004 to 8-7 in 2005 to 7-9 in 2006. That doesn't add up to a pretty picture at all. An easy conclusion is that the opposition figured him out, took advantage, and was able to beat him more frequently as a result.
Now what about the running? Does it make up for the shortcomings in the passing game? In a word, no. Vick ran for 902 yards in 2004 and 1,039 yards in 2006. Pretty damn impressive for a quarterback, right? Well, look at these numbers from Randall Cunningham in 1990: 942 yards rushing along with 3,466 yards passing and 30 touchdowns. I watched Randall at his best, and he did everything Vick did with his legs while throwing like a Pro Bowler as well. And with Vick, the rushing attempts went up as everything else went down, so it's not like it was helping the team win. So we have the negative trend again. In yet another category, more attempts result in lesser results. No matter what you think about Vick, that's difficult to explain away.
So the final verdict isn't a good one, in my book. Vick was exciting to watch, but that's about it. The more work he got, the worse the results. He's the Sarah Palin of quarterbacks in that he has rabid supporters, generates a lot of interest, and has a highlight reel that obscures a lot of things but ultimately fails to deliver when it's time to actually go to work and gets worse and worse the more you see him. And like with Palin, his supporters won't accept the truth no matter how you spell it out for them. The much ballyhooed 2003 playoff win in Green Bay is like Palin's acceptance speech at the Republican Convention in that supporters use it as proof of the greatness that the rest of us can't see, but under closer scrutiny it just doesn't hold up. Green Bay had never lost a playoff game at home in their history; if it weren't for that the win wouldn't have been very significant at all. Vick's Falcons would get thumped the very next week as badly as Palin and John McCain got thumped in the election.
And now that I've pissed off half the country, I'll wrap things up saying that Vick just isn't that good. Let the buyer beware.
What a dumb post. Vick never played behind a good offensive line nor did he have the same coaches for his whole career or HOF receivers catching his passes (ala Manning and Brady). The year Vick threw 20 TD's it should have been 28, but the receivers that year dropped 8 TD's. If they dropped 8 TD's how many regular passes you think they dropped? There goes your completion percentage and passer rating. Roddy White is a beast now, but he was playing nowhere near the level he is playing now when Vick was the QB. I'll sum up Vick's career in Atlanta on this one play. The Falcons were playing the Giants and Lavar Arrington came in untouched (with the Falcons O- line this happened alot when Vick was QB), Vick makes him miss of course, gets to the outside and fires a 70 yard missile down the field which hits Michael Jenkins who had 4 steps on the DB perfectly in the hands for a TD, of course Jenkins drops it. Bottom line put Vick with a stable coach, a good offensive line and some receivers that will catch the ball and he will become the 3,000-4000 yards passing, 700-1000 yards rushing, 25 passing TD's and 8 rushing TD's all in one season beast he is destined to be.
Allow me to make some comparisons:
John Elway had a crap offensive line and crap receivers and led the Denver Broncos to THREE super bowls. No they didn't win any of them but he got them there pretty much on his own.
Jason Campbell has had seven different offenses over the last eight years and yet he throws the ball better than Vick ever did.
I posted the Randall Cunningham stats from 1990 already. Randall's line in Philly was garbage, and he even admitted himself that their offense basically consisted of him improvising off of whatever the coaches called.
Donovan McNabb has had mediocre receivers for all but one year and yet was able to put up good passing numbers and take his team to five NFC Championship games.
Would you like some more examples? And by the way, what does it say when Roddy White wasn't much good with Vick but became a Pro Bowler immediately after Vick leaves? And one other thing, if the receivers caught those 8 touchdown passes you're claiming they dropped, that still wouldn't have upped his completion percentage that much. Instead of 52 it goes to 54 or 55, which still sucks.
Elway had Shanahan that whole time as an OC and OB coach then he took over as HC, got Davis and the rest is history, try again. McNabb has been with Reid his whole career, try again. When Campbell leads his team to a playoff victory then he can mentioned with Vick, try again. Did you know that fool Knapp wouldn't even let Vick audible, but I guess it's just a coincidence that Roddy White became a good receiver after Mora and Knapp left too...hmmm. All your points have been destroyed and you're reduced to an idiot who is doing nothing but a bunch of hating. You belong on ESPN with the rest of the idiots. Good day to you idiot.
@Let Vick Play...Elway did NOT have Mike Shanahan for his entire career. Elway did in fact play behind a mediocre O-Line with middling receivers. He finally won a Super Bowl after Shanahan checked his ego at the door and allowed Terrell Davis to shine.
Bonnette came up with stats and facts to back up his position while you're making yourself sound like one of the drunk fans in the cheap seats crying about how you believe Vick is better than what he is/was. You posted fantasy stats based on what-ifs and blamed everyone but Vick for his lack of success. Maybe you should go try to catch 30 balls from Vick and then you can come back and tell us how many were catch-able.
Now I will agree with you on one thing. I don't think Jim Mora did much to help Vick become a better QB. I think it was a tremendous mistake for the Falcons to have fired Dan Reeves who was Vick's biggest advocate (you could also say enabler) in ATL.
john elway..randal cunningham and mcnabb r all time greats no way is vick comparable to them..but vick would be an improvement over several starting qbs in the nfl and should deserve a chance...just off the top of my head...jamarcus russel..i do think hes better than campbell..garrard..whoever the jets pik..jake delhomme..and whoever the 49ers or bucs pik
Frank White you're an idiot too if you're cosigning any of this hate Bonnette has for Vick. Elway had the SAME HEAD COACH for all those Super Bowls he went too and lost (He had the same coach for the SB's he won, the same coach who was his OC and QB coach years before). I refuse to listen to idiots like you and Bonnette tell me anything about Vick when I (a Falcon fan since Bartkowski and White Shoes Johnson) watched the O-line not block, watched receivers drop passes hitting them in the hands and watched the Mora/Knapp debacle, yet despite all of this Vick was still able to accomplish things in the league. Just discount Vick leading the Falcons to the NFC championship game and forget about the playoff games they won with him as the starting QB, as a Falcon fan I won't. I know first hand what this dude is capable off.
I said it when he was having his best year and I'm sticking by it now; Vick is a great athlete but he will never be a great QB. He just never really learned to play that position from the pocket because he relied too much on his legs. People want to point the finger in other directions like the offensive line or the wide receivers but QBs better than Vick were in the same situation and still flourished. None of Tom Brady's receivers were very dominant and neither were Drew Brees' but they still ripped defenses. Even if Vick was on track to being great , his time out of football will definitely affect him so we may never know what he could have accomplished, and nobody can take the blame for that except Michael Vick.
@Let Vick Play - What's up with the name calling? There's no hate for Vick here... All the hate seems to be coming from you because, as a Falcon fan since the 70's-80's, you're too close to the team to be objective. There's no way around the fact that his passing stats are below average, especially for a franchise QB. Feelings aside, the fact is that Vick is a career 54% passer who's been out of the league for 2 seasons. How long will it take for him to get his life together? To get readjusted to the speed and structure of the NFL? To learn a new offense? Is he still the elite athlete he was before he left? I believe he has the right to compete for a QB position so he can answer these questions for us, but anyone who looks objectively at his track record shouldn't expect a ton. If he ends up proving us wrong, I'd be thrilled for him and it would make for a great comeback story. It's easy to wonder how a below-average passer would be with "a stable coach, a good offensive line and some receivers that will catch the ball," but a franchise QB (who happened to receive a $22.5M signing bonus) needs to be able to elevate the people around him, not have excuses made for him. By the way, your team is probably better off with Matt Ryan anyway.
I see right now I'm arguing with a bunch of idiots. No wonder alot of people aren't commenting on this stupidity and to believe I actually had this blog bookmarked. This article is filled with hate and so are the idiotic comments. You don't have to worry about me making another comment after this or reading the bullshit in this blog. I'm out. Enjoy your hatred of Mike Vick...idiots!!!
@Let Vick Play...i must disagree with you. this article is filled with facts. offering possible explanations as to why those facts 'aren't accurate' does not make them wrong. and it hardly wipes out someones argument, unless your name is O.J. and you're on trial for murder. keep trying though. i'm enjoying your rants.
Thanks for the comments all, including Let Vick Play. I'm not saying that Vick shouldn't be an NFL quarterback. In fact, despite all the things I said in the piece I would still rate him ahead of every backup in the league and even some starters. But he's not elite by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't think he's a 16 game starter for a Super Bowl team.
Is the judgment on Michael Vick based on numbers (stats) or gameplay (helping a team to win)?
The article seems dependent on statistics, but Michael Vick was never a statistical threat. Even with those poor passing numbers, he was a one man team, who opponents hated to face. He did not get his huge contract because of his QB rating, but he earned it by helping the franchise compete and win games.
So the article is biased.
Vick led weak teams to the playoffs and even won a couple playoff games. I bet a good number of starting QBs have never even won a playoff game. Also, many starting QBs are not the best players on their own team. Most believe that when Vick joined the Falcons, he was the best player on his team. Elite quarterbacks are always considered as the best or one of the ebst players on the team. For example, Manning, Brady, Palmer, Brees, and maybe Romo. But not many others.
Vick was obviously a great quarterback and was on the verge of being considered elite before what happened
The stats don't lie in this instance, though. Vick couldn't even surpass regular numbers for run of the mill 16 game starters. I don't expect everyone to pass for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns but anyone who starts 15 or 16 games should be able to throw for 3,000 yards. Yet Vick couldn't do it once in four full seasons.
rob stats u r right stats dont lie..i looked it up..in his last season vick had 20 td passes and 13 ints and..mcnabb had 23&11 last year..and his passer rating of 75.7 was better than eli mannings the year he won the superbowl..vick still the potential to be a great qb and has the ability to possibly pass for 3k+ and run for 1k i would take that..i would take him
So what makes anyone think he'll throw for 3,000 yards in a season seeing as how he has yet to do it? And don't say better receivers; you don't need pro bowl receivers to throw for 3,000 yards. Chad Pennington with his popgun arm had 3,600 yards throwing to Ted Ginn and Greg Camarillo. Jason Campbell threw for 3,200 despite having a bunch of smurfs and ill prepared rookies at the WR spots. 3,000 yards is not a huge accomplishment by any means, but Vick couldn't do it in four different tries. What magic is going to occur that will suddenly turn him into a prolific passer?