Michael Vick as a Falcon: Some brief shining moments …
I remember how it was that Saturday in 2001. I remember so many folks descending on Falcons headquarters for a scheduled draft-day celebration that traffic backed up for miles and even Hall County police couldn’t sort it out. I remember what Dan Reeves said about driving to work that giddy day: “People were pulling up beside me and giving me the thumbs-up. Usually they give me some other sign.”
I remember how thrilled we all were that Michael Vick was a Falcon. I remember Jamal Anderson — not Jamaal, but Jamal — saying how heady it felt to be part of an organization that traded up to make such a wonderful thing happen. I remember the feeling that a door to the future had been flung wide open, and that ahead was nothing but seashells and balloons.
I remember waiting for his apprenticeship to end, and I remember the giddiness over the opening game of the 2002 season and how splendid he was in an overtime loss at Lambeau Field. (He would soon revisit the scene to even greater effect.) I remember watching him grow week by week, from the breathless tie forged in Pittsburgh to the overtime wonder wrought in the Metrodome, and I remember thinking Jeff Hullinger said it perfectly on Falcons radio, that this was indeed “the incomparable Michael Vick.”
I remember the thrall in which we approached the 2003 season, with Vick and the Falcons coming off the playoff win in Green Bay and a Super Bowl seeming near at hand, and the utter deflation that accompanied his broken leg that Saturday night against Baltimore. And even then what I remember about that season isn’t all those Vick-less losses but the moment in Houston when he trotted on the field and even the opposing Texans were yelling to one another: “Vick’s in the game! Vick’s in the game!”
I remember 2004, the apex of his career, the DVD backfield and the stomping of the Rams on a Saturday night in the playoffs, and how headed for Philadelphia and the NFC title game it seemed fully possible Vick could contrive to beat a better team in the chill and the snow. And when he couldn’t quite, it figured to be no big deal. He and his team would be back soon enough.
But they weren’t. And what I remember about those next few years is of a career unraveling and a franchise imploding and the layers of a famous person being peeled back until we weren’t sure this was the same guy. We don’t need a recitation of all the incidents at this late date, for we know them all by heart. And indeed, that’s what the decline and fall of Michael Dwayne Vick did to us all: It hit us in the heart. It broke our hearts.
And now he’s a Falcon no longer. We’ve known for almost two years the day was coming, but still it arrived with a thud. He was once the best reason, often the only reason, to watch the Atlanta Falcons play, and it wasn’t only Atlantans who felt that way. I remember the Christmas when my wife had to go find a No. 7 jersey to take back to Northern Kentucky because our little niece had asked Santa for one.
I remember seeing him in his glory, orchestrating the fourth-quarter comeback against San Diego in 2004 and throwing the ball so expertly in Cincinnati in 2006, and I remember talking with him and feeling — every single time I walked away — that he was a good guy with a good heart. And now, when I remember the sobering spring of 2007 and everything thereafter, I feel only sadness.
He was the biggest athlete this city has ever seen. As much happiness as he brought us, he could and should have done so much more.
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258 comments Add your comment
Keeping It Real
June 12th, 2009
12:48 pm
Fighting dawgs was never the issue. Race was and is the defining factor. We all know it yet we continue to hide behind the computer screens. MV7 was just the catylst to bring it out in the open. Hank Aaron did the same but made better decisions. Vick and Aaron are still the most exciting athletes to ever hit this City.
Good luck MV and have a good life.
North GA Nole
June 12th, 2009
12:48 pm
Interesting….2 seasons ago Roddy needed to be run out of town for failure at the WR position. 2 years later, he’s a Pro Bowler. What changed? QB and better coaching.
John OTC
June 12th, 2009
12:51 pm
“He was the biggest athlete this city has ever seen.”
Really? How about HANK AARON? I think he was the biggest athlete this city has even seen.
Naydean
June 12th, 2009
12:51 pm
Well done article. I live in New York and only became a fan because of Mike Vick. Keep your head up # 7 because from your current position you can only go up. You will rise again.
Stephen
June 12th, 2009
12:53 pm
NEWSFLASH: The HEART of the Atlanta Falcons IS NOT GONE. The Falcons will be just fine and the REAL fans will continue to be supportive of the team win or lose. THAT IS WHAT “REAL” FANS DO!!!
GO 2009-2010 ATLANTA FALCONS!!!!
AND…I agree with the other bloggers who have stated that Henry Aaron is without a doubt the GREATEST ATHLETE to ever play at a professional level in the ATL (Neon Deion will be in the NFL Hall of Fame as a Falcon before Vick).
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
12:54 pm
North GA Nole: “Interesting….2 seasons ago Roddy needed to be run out of town for failure at the WR position. 2 years later, he’s a Pro Bowler. What changed? QB and better coaching.”
I find it interesting that Roddy himself stated that he let Vick down as a WR and that he didn’t really learn how to have success (catch the football for once) until 2007. Of course you don’t remember that. You just like the sound of Roddy “becoming better,LMAO” after Vick left. Thats totally untrue. If Roddy truly felt that he got better with Ryan, he wouldn’t even attempt to defend Vick in the press, communicate with him while he was in jail, say anything negative about him as far a football, and support his comeback. Of course you don’t remember that either
Falcons Diva
June 12th, 2009
12:54 pm
@ Vick Supporter
We can all tell by your angry, sub-articulate posts that you are an angry, rage-filled jerk and not a very nice person.
No one called you any ugly names, but you still lashed out at “George” just for asking you a simple question which held you accountable for your own commentary. He never used that “T” word, yet you accused him of it and insulted him. You own him an apology.
We don’t need monsters like you here in Atlanta, GA, Vick Supporter.
Why don’t you move to some other “Better City” that you desire so much, Loser?
Buzz Capra
June 12th, 2009
12:55 pm
Mr Bradley: Regarding your recent post about Raul Ibanez and the steroid issue, dumping on Selig is an easy cop-out for the ill-informed..you are better than that. The MLBPA is 100% to blame for the steroid mess, not MLB. Fehr would never agree to drug-testing in any form and Selig would have had to shut down the game and break the union in order to start a drug-testing program. The MLBPA’s membership were the cheaters/users and their union protected them from detection until the scandal broke and they had to agree to the current testing program under extreme public and congressional pressure.
Ibanez might be clean and could be being unfairly scrutinized but I don’t feel sorry for him one bit. He should have been one of the many clean players in the steroid era (assuming there were some) who demanded that their union protect the clean players, not the cheaters, by demanding a vigorous drug testing program from day one. This is the price you pay for not standing up and demanding that the union look out for all of its members and not just the guys hitting 75 homeruns per year while losing their hair and sporting acne all over their backs.
Put the blame where it belongs: On the players and their union. If Raul Ibanez is really PO’d, he should not blame some blogger who is making a natural point about a 37 year old who is having a career year in the steroid era. He should go find Donald Fehr and punch him in the face!
Selig has actually done quite a masterful job of generating public pressure on the issue and then using that to extract drug-testing-concessions from the union. The Mitchell Report was 100% his idea and he was smart enough to realize that, even though it would generate bad publicity for his beloved sport, it was the only way he could get the leverage necessary to clean up this major problem long-term.
And when is someone with some common sense going to do a story on the rampant HGH use in the NFL? Does anybody with a brain really think that baseball players are the only ones who use PED’s? How do you think those guys get to be so much bigger and faster and stronger than the players who were in the NFL say 20 years ago?
Blake
June 12th, 2009
12:57 pm
Mr. Vick Supporter,
This is with all due respect, but, Michael Vick “single handedly” resurrected the franchise? Maybe, but he also tore it down to nothing, “single handedly.” You do remember 2007, don’t you. However, Arthur Blank, Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith, Matt Ryan, and the rest of the entire Falcons TEAM are bringing this franchise out of the Vick induced nightmare. THAT, my friend, is the difference. Team effort versus ME effort.
Having said that, I think Vick will play again. What he needs is a coach like Mike Singletary who will not only help him as a football player, but more importantly, help him to become a real man.
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
12:57 pm
Falcons Diva, trust me, I’m not angry. i happy that this day has finally come. Why don’t you mind your own business? If i was “attacking” Curious George, it would be alot worse.
Vick 09. Redemption time is here.
The Real Fan
June 12th, 2009
12:59 pm
When I see all the hateful comments I wonder if those are season ticket holders.
From a strictly business side this makes no sense:
1.Vick was never going to play for the Falcons again. We all get that, but we should have gotten something for him even a 7th round draft pick.
2.All cap money is money to being used on active players or picks.
3. The Falcons had a waiting list for season tickets and are now running specials to sell tickets. Wonder why?
4. Vick has a winning record as a starter.
All those are facts. There are those of us who are true fans of the Falcons and we want to win. Then there are the others who are just whiners and poser fans. Bandwagon. There is no better feeling than to be at a Falcons game with full stands causing the opposing team to jump off sides from the noise. (We use to lead the league in false starts).
It’s a new season. Stop the foolish hating and move on. We had enough hating this week in D.C.
modrod
June 12th, 2009
1:01 pm
Well said Beautiful Monte. It is mindblowing how and why people want to continue to make excuses for MV and not call him out and say what he really is. He only cared about one thing, and that was himself. Anybody that would want to continue to wear that jacka**** jersey and “support” him needs to be committed. I say good riddance. I have never been prouder to be a Falcon fan than today. To bad Blank cannot recoup the money he gave that assh***.
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:02 pm
@Blake
You are right about one thing, the Falcons did bring in the right people to form a “team”. To bad they didn’t try this 7 years ago. They got caught up in Vick’s mesmerizing ability just like the rest of us and they rode it into the ground by putting sub-par players around him and having him carry the team on too many occasions. You don’t see Ryan carrying ANYTHING, and he shouldn’t, because you can never truly win like that. It’s to bad the Falcons management thought Vick could do it alone. Good that the Falcons brass learned their lesson
Terrell
June 12th, 2009
1:03 pm
Curious George, I don’t know what they will do. You want a banana to think it over george?
BossLady
June 12th, 2009
1:04 pm
It is sad to see a young talented man ruin his life so badly. As a parent it is quite disappointing. He had all the potential to have
done so well in life.
Pi$$onaDAWG
June 12th, 2009
1:05 pm
the Biggest Atlanta Sports Figures were in the NWA with Gordon Souly as the “PLAY-by-Play” guy on TBS in the 70’s. Abdula the Butcher, Andre the Giant, the 4 Horsemanand, the Minnosota Wrecking Crew, and Mr. Wrestling # II just to name a few. A Pro from GEORGIA I will go with WILD BILL from DAWSONWILLE ELLIOT. 212.86 mph in a stock car and the first $1 million dollar race winner.
David C
June 12th, 2009
1:06 pm
Hey Mark..I was giddy that Saturday too. I live 3 miles from the training facility. I heard about the draft party on AJC and drove over. Stood in line not knowing it was for season ticket holders only and when I got to the front two cheerleaders asked if I had my ticket.. I said No…they looked puzzled..guess they don’t hear No too often..shrugged and waved me in..This is a sad day. But the dead money does get us closer to the cap floor if not over it. Its just accounting. Good luck Vick. Hope you have your life together. There will be no third chance.
What!!!
June 12th, 2009
1:09 pm
Vick Supporter………..Vick almost single handedly destroyed this franchise…come back and dominate again?….what was his last two seasons like?…don’t want that kind of domination in Atlanta again…..better team because of Vick….again go back to his last two seasons.
His only season starting every game w/o injury was 2006 and the team went to a grand record of 7-9!
No vick Supporter, the Falcons are better off with out Vick!!
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:13 pm
@What!!!
We shall see….. That’s why they play the games. How about blaming the ENTIRE TEAM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM instead of one player (on the field). I assume Vick missed tackles and field goals too, right?
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:15 pm
One thing i do know…..if the team fails this year, Ryan won’t recieve any of the blame……
Lynn
June 12th, 2009
1:18 pm
What…..there still seems to be a problem on the Falcons store’s website. Look at the best sellers.
http://store.falcons365.com/store/
Is that right? What’s the problem? How come you and your friends won’t support the Falcons financially? Dont blame the economy, the Saints did just fine with their ticket sales.
modrod
June 12th, 2009
1:20 pm
Vick Supporter, what a fitting name. There is a MV jock for sale on Ebay. Why don’t you buy it to sniff it.
At least we have a QB now that doesn’t refer to himself in third person.
BRAVESHATER
June 12th, 2009
1:20 pm
GOODBYE FALCONS! ITS BACK TO OLD DAYS.
BRAVESHATER
June 12th, 2009
1:21 pm
YOU ALSO HAVE A QB THAT CANT THROW 50 YARDS.
BRAVESHATER
June 12th, 2009
1:22 pm
BUT THATS WHAT U CRACKERS LIKE SINCE ALL OF YOU ARE UNATHLETIC AND NEED STERIOS TO GAIN STRENGTH.
Mac
June 12th, 2009
1:26 pm
Bradley wrote: He was the biggest athlete this city has ever seen.
You really shouldn’t insult Hank Aaron like that. Maybe the biggest athlete since you’re been here is more accurate. And, even then, there was ‘Nique.
Jerome
June 12th, 2009
1:26 pm
Once again we see there are still some true white trash hicks in GA.
rte2
June 12th, 2009
1:27 pm
Nice lie Stricker..you coward
What!!!
June 12th, 2009
1:36 pm
Vick Supporter….No Vick did not miss field goals but he did miss alot of tackles when he would fumble the ball.
He went through 3 Coaches. Blank and the GM did everything they could to help Vick be successful. I mean come on, trying to teach a runningback how to be a quarterback is like trying to teach a rock how to float on water.
Again look at the over all facts. We all can see this one trick pony was figured out and again his last two seasons proved it!
I’m glad for one thing and that’s Vick getting caught. The Faclons team have been 100% better because of it.
No team is shaking in their shoe because Vick “MAY” come back. Heck alot of defenses just see him as a tackling dumby coming back!
IDC
June 12th, 2009
1:37 pm
Braveshater, you might want to tell Barry Bonds he’s a cracker.
Keeping It Real
June 12th, 2009
1:37 pm
Mac,
I saw Hank, Nique and MV7 play. Vick was the best athlete to play here because he did not have good players around him. He carried the team on his back every Sunday.
Dawg4Life
June 12th, 2009
1:38 pm
I was out at a restauraunt up at Lake Lanier, and sitting outside was the entire Falcons Oline and sitting right in the middle of them was Matt Ryan. VIck would have never done that. What Vick did here was great, but it was always about him and the other poo stains on the team like D Hall. Then you had Jim Mora Jr. letting these guys get away with murder. He has no team concept. It was always about him taking off running. Matt Ryan is 10 times the QB that Vick ever was or will ever be. All you people that are saying that the Falcons have set themselves back by releasing them are downright ignorant.
Whatever
June 12th, 2009
1:38 pm
To BRAVE SHATER…you are really troubled, are’nt you? Running from blog to blog to spill nothing but hate and vile. Suggestion to you my friend: GROW UP, move out of your mom’s house and get a job. You really need some serious help….how pathetic.
Barry
June 12th, 2009
1:40 pm
Hey Y’all:
Vick will always be a Falcon legend. One day, he will return with all the “old guys” he played with during his six years in Atlanta. I am more than confident he knows he ended his career here due to his lack of judgement, not for anthing he done on the football field. And that alone is what is going to “reignite” his career: What he does on the football field. We pray that he is a better man now due to he has rid himself of all those insane, negative, so called friends he had. I know he feels better just in that regard. So let the man go on with his career, but to a lot of folks around here, he will always be a FALCON. But right now , our FAclcons are too busy building
“NEW LEGENDS” that will call the GEORGIA DOME home.
Good luck Vick. We will see you on the field one day to play the game the “NEW ATLANTA FALCONS” way and that’s in “ONE HEARTBEAT!!!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
This is a SECRET from a FALCON FAN. TELL EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
…………………………”ONE HEARTBEAT, BABY!!!………………
aj
June 12th, 2009
1:43 pm
Good!! let him go work in a chicken processing plant like the rest of the felons out there. If this was anyone else do think they would be givin a chance to make that kind of money? Heck No!
midnite
June 12th, 2009
1:44 pm
There is no way that Vick will be able to stay clean for 3 years. He has not quit smoking marijuana you can bet on that. He will violate his parole in less than a year. Plus he is fat and so out of shape no team will take a flyer on him. Might ought to hold on to that $10.00 per hour construction job Mikey.
Petrino Hater
June 12th, 2009
1:44 pm
@ Vick Supporter and the rest of us. You have to place blame for the team from 01 – 07 first and foremost on Rich McKay. He didn’t draft one OL worth a lick and made bad move after bad move to kill the locker room with guys on the team and no one, not McKay, not Blank, not anyone on the team during that time held Vick accountable.
If we had the structure we have now 6-7 years ago a lot of things would be different…but you can’t live in the “what if.” Vick brought this downfall onto himself and never surrounded him with the right people off the field. Too bad McKay never surrouned him with the right coaches/players on the field either.
I truly thought we were turning the corner to greatness after the loss in Philly in the NFC Championship game, but that was Reeves’ last team that Mora got to coach. 80% of the moves after that failed and hence the blow up of the front office, coaches and players the past 2-3 years.
It will always be unfortunate that Dimitroff and Vick never worked together. I think he could actually assemble the right team around him. This is a big part why Ryan will be successful this year and for a lot of years ahead. He has a great GM, and a true NFL guy at head coach who can relate.
Daniel
June 12th, 2009
1:46 pm
Bad News: Vick owes lots of money to all his creditors.
Bad News: Vick’s salary in the CFL won’t even make a dent in this debt.
Good News: Vick has the chance to take his CFL team “to the next level”.
Enjoy the snow in Canada, MV7. Just don’t go buying no dogsled to gallant through the snow.
Mac
June 12th, 2009
1:48 pm
Yeah, he carried them to a 15-18 record his past two seasons. Hank Aaron is the best professional athlete Atlanta has ever seen. That’s what’s real.
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:50 pm
Great point Petrino Hater. Too rest of the city can’t see the big picture.
Pi$$onaDAWG
June 12th, 2009
1:50 pm
THE VICK BOYS are “GETTO TRASH” and don’t even try to say they are not. You are right “Vick Supporter” I hate NIG$#rs just ask my black employees. Yes, I did say BLACK because that is what they tell me to refer to as not Afreak’n Mericans. Vick was a cute expirement but that was all it was. Vick is a POT SMOKING GETTO NI**ER and he will continue to prove that fact.
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:51 pm
@Mac
Let’s see Ryan carry a team by himself. Whoops!!!! I forgot. We already did. ONE AND DONE…..Arm looked like a noodle by week 10. It was obvious.
FalconFan60
June 12th, 2009
1:52 pm
mountain_jim you need to research your comments a little better before you type. After Vick was convicted I looked on the internet and found a dogfighting case in North Carolina in which a WHITE man (non-celebrity) was convicted of eight cases of dogfighting and given 5 years for each charge. 40 years is a helluva lot more than 23 silly months. The bottom line is he was guilty. He lied to everyone about everything and listened to that idiot attorney who said he would be found innocent. Don’t forget him flipping off fans after a WR was ripped for dropping easily caught passes. Yes, he may deserve another chance but he also should be suspended until the 2010 season. That moron Adam Jones was suspended and he wasn’t even convicted. Vick is a remarkable athlete and that’s it. He’s not a QB and never will be.
Mark Bradley
June 12th, 2009
1:55 pm
By “biggest” I meant as a personality, not as a performer. Obviously Hank Aaron was a better baseball player than Vick is a football player, but Aaron did not dominate this city’s discussion of sports the way Vick has (and still does). Aaron did not energize the Braves in the same way Vick rejuvenated the Falcons.
What!!!
June 12th, 2009
1:57 pm
There’s not an o-line in the league that could block for Vick. A d-lineman would fart and Vick would take off running.
Once Vick was figured out he couldn’t do a darn thing!! WHY? Because he was not a true QB when all was said and done!
Let him go and play with all the college and NFL rejects. He will look like a superstar in the UFL or CFL. Good luck and good bye Vick!
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:57 pm
FalconsFan60: “He’s not a QB and never will be.”
What a f-ing idiot statement. How in the hell do you be a starting qb in the NFL for 7 YEARS and not be a QB? Since anyone can do it, why not make all RBs be QBs then? How in the hell would he learn how to run plays at the NFL level if he wasn’t a QB? Why don’t you go to a hunting blog or something and blog about something you know, because football isn’t your strong point, if you have one
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
1:59 pm
@What!!!
You really need some mental help, woman.
What!!!
June 12th, 2009
2:02 pm
BWAA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! Team fans vs Vick fans. Team wins every time. Cutting Vick…….just the biggest part of the process!!
Hey Vick Supporter after you get through watching the UFL we Falcon fan will let you back on the bandwagon to watch Matt take the team to the superbowl!!
Vick Supporter
June 12th, 2009
2:05 pm
@What!!!
Sorry, woman. I’ll never cheer for this team again…the fans here caused me to lose interest in the team. Not that it matters to you people anyways…..Who cares
Zoomie
June 12th, 2009
2:12 pm
Very well put, Mark. Your article accurately reflects my Michael Vick experience. Lots of hope, some confusion, then ending with a feeling of heartbreak for MV and the Falcons organization. I told my sports-fan friends and family repeatedly over the MV years that the Falcons organization completely lacked any semblance of leadership at any level. That really killed any potential MV had.
I don’t dispute MV lacked apparent leadership characteristics; I don’t dispute that he was maddeningly inconsistent as a passer; I don’t dispute that he often looked confused in the heat of play; I readily acknowledge that each time he took off holding the football in his left hand, I responded with a gutteral “Oh s__t!” knowing that a fumble was likely. I will say this: I watched, in its entirety, the game after which MV flipped off fans in the Dome. In that game, though a bit out of the norm for the team at that time, MV was the ONLY Falcons player who, during that game, played his guts out from start to finish. What he did was unjustifiable, but understandable. (Wasn’t that the game where Roddy White, at a dead stand-still facing the quarterback, dropped a beautiful pass lobbed into his hands when there wasn’t a defender within 15 yards of him; a guranteed TD that would’ve won the game?)
I don’t want him back on the Falcons. I’m glad he didn’t get a pass for his transgressions, but he’s paid the price we, though our legislative representatives, deem appropriate for his crimes. I hope he can play again and I wish him the best. At the same time, I’m a Falcons fan first, so let’s close the MV chapter and move on to bigger and better accomplishments!