The resurrection of Michael Vick’s professional football career seems to reach new levels of amazement with each week.
About a month ago, Vick put on a Monday night performance of the ages in leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a victory over the Washington Redskins. In that game, Vick accounted for six touchdowns in the first half in a breathtaking display.
Vick may have topped that performance last Sunday, when he led the Eagles to a thrilling come-from-behind 38-31 victory over the New York Giants in a NFC East showdown in New Jersey. The Desean Jackson punt return for a touchdown at the end of the game grabbed most of the headlines, but it was Vick who engineered an improbable rally from a 28-7 deficit in the second half.
Since coming back from his two-year prison term for his dog-fighting escapades, Vick is playing quarterback at an even higher level than during his days as an Atlanta Falcon when he briefly became the face of the NFL with the “Michael Vick Experience.” He is a candidate for the league’s Most Valuable Player award and the leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl.
How is this all possible? For one thing, Vick admits that he is taking his craft more seriously.
The other factor which cannot be denied is that for the first time in his career, Vick has a stable of big-play offensive weapons to play with. He has two prime-time young receivers in Jackson and former Mizzou star St. Louisan Jeremy Maclin, plus a top young running back in Lesean McCoy. You combine that with Vick’s exciting and creative style, and you have one of the league’s most explosive offensive units.
The fact that Vick has enjoyed this much success with all of these weapons at his disposal has proven a point that I’ve been harping on for years about gifted African-American quarterbacks.
For years, we’ve seen these gifted brothers such as Vick, Donovan McNabb, Randall Cunningham, the late Steve McNair and Vince Young have to do it alone. All of these guys are spectacular game-breaking quarterbacks who can make plays as runners as well as passers.
Because of their ability to make spectacular plays and improvise on offense, their respective organizations would do very little in the way of getting them some top players to play with. Everyone marvels so much at their ability to make remarkable plays with their legs that they figure they do not need too much help for the team to win.
In turn, I think these men would get short-changed in terms of respect and perception around the league as to how good they really were. That’s really bad. You could name the number of All-Pro caliber receivers these quarterbacks have had to throw to through the bulk of their careers on one hand, combined.
However, when allowed to have a top receiver (or two) at their disposal, these men flourished. Cunningham was the whole show for much his time in Philly. When he was a veteran reserve quarterback in Minnesota in 1998, he took over for an injured Brad Johnson. The Vikings’ offense had multiple stars such as receivers Cris Carter, Randy Moss, Jake Reed and a great running back in Robert Smith. After being out of football two years earlier, Cunningham enjoyed his best season, with 34 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a passer rating of 106.0. He led Minnesota to a 15-1 record and a then-record 556 points scored.
For years, McNabb had to toil in Philadelphia as the sole source of offense. When the Eagles would always fall one game short of the Super Bowl, McNabb took all of the criticism. The one year McNabb had an All-Pro in Terrell Owens to throw to, he set new career-highs and the Eagles went to the Super Bowl. McNabb threw for 3,875 yards, 31 touchdowns and only eight interceptions with a passer rating of 104.7. Had T.O. not been such a fool and gotten himself run out of town, there’s no telling the damage they would have done together as a combo.
Now, you see Vick enjoying the same success. He has thrown for 2,755 yards with 20 touchdowns and only five picks. He can still make those great individual plays, like he did in Atlanta. The difference now is that he can do those things when he wants to, not because he has to. In Atlanta, all he had basically was a tight end in Algee Crumpler. It’s a little different now in Philly.
Young is having similar issues in Tennessee, although some of his are self-inflicted. Had the Titans brass found him a couple of big-time receivers to throw to, we probably wouldn’t be having all of these problems.
It goes to show, when given the offensive weapons around them, these black quarterbacks are just as capable of putting up the same numbers as the Tom Bradys, Peyton Mannings, Kurt Warners and Drew Breeses of the world.
The next great one on the horizon is Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton of Auburn. He is sure to be a high pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. Hopefully, when he gets his chance at the next level, he will have guys at his disposal to help him shine and not just have himself to rely on like his predecessors.
