The Falcons’ partnership that never was: Vick and Petrino
Not exactly what he had in mind: Petrino eyes Joey Harrington. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
It’s a great Atlanta sports imponderable, occupying the same shelf as, “What if the Braves had signed Barry Bonds in 1992?” and “What if the Hawks had drafted a point guard instead of a guy named Marvin?” This one is especially excruciating because the principals were actually in place. But reality, as we know, interceded.
In January 2007 the Falcons hired Bobby Petrino as coach. Chief among Petrino’s reasons for leaving Louisville, which he had just directed to an Orange Bowl victory, was his desire to coach a player who, after six NFL seasons, was still the essence of talent untapped. In a conversation his first week in Flowery Branch, Petrino recalled how he and Dom Capers would sit together on team flights when both were Jacksonville assistants and say, “What would you do with Michael Vick?”
And now Petrino would have his chance. Or so he thought.
The first time the new coach met his quarterback-to-be, the issue wasn’t how Vick might fit into Petrino’s system but the strange doings involving the trick water bottle at the Miami airport. When nothing came of that investigation, the two began the process of bonding.
Petrino got the job because he was everything Jim Mora hadn’t been. The previous coach, a defensive man by trade, had hired his pal Greg Knapp to implement the West Coast Offense, the basis of which is short passes delivered quickly. Essentially Mora/Knapp wanted the NFL’s most dangerous man with the ball in his hands to get rid of the ball, which never made a lick of sense then and makes less now.
In 2002, his first season as a pro starter, Vick under Dan Reeves had thrown for 2,936 yards and had a passer rating of 81.6. In three seasons under Mora/Knapp he never threw for even 2,500 yards and didn’t achieve a rating higher than 78.1. At a time when Vick should have become a full-blown quarterback, his lack of coaching reduced him to being a glorified tailback.
Vick has since admitted he didn’t work as hard at his craft as he should have, but part of that might be traced to the realization that he was, at least as a passer, being misused. He had an uncommonly precise game at Miami in 2005 when the he’s-not-really-a-quarterback chorus was in full cry, and afterward he vented to me: “People forget I threw for nearly 3,000 yards in ‘02.”
Petrino should have been the man to make Vick a quarterback. Say what you will about this coach — yes, he’s a shameless job-hopper — but he’s among the best offensive minds in the business. (Note that Arkansas, in Year 3 under Bobby P., just finished second in the cutthroat SEC West and will grace the Sugar Bowl.)
With Petrino as his tutor, Vick was rededicating himself to football. He viewed this as his chance to shut everybody up, and Petrino, who’s famously difficult to please, liked what he saw. He told one associate: “We’re going to average 30 points a game.” (Note: Only one NFL team — New England — is averaging 30 points a game.)
Then it all turned to dust. Vick was indicted on the eve of training camp, which began with the quarterback in court in Richmond, Va., and a plane flying above the Falcons’ practice field bearing a streamer: “New Team Name — Dog Killers.” On Dec. 10, 2007, Vick would be sentenced to 23 months in a jail; hours later the Falcons would lose to New Orleans to fall to 3-10. The next night Petrino was gone to Fayetteville, Ark., where he could be seen calling the Hogs on live TV.
So: It didn’t happen here. But it’s happening in Philadelphia. If we wonder what Vick might have been under Petrino, we need only look at what he has become under Andy Reid. His quarterback rating is 104.3, trailing only Tom Brady. He averages 8.55 yards per pass, second to Philip Rivers. His completion percentage, never higher than 56.4 as a Falcon, is 63.6.
Yeah, he’s a Real Quarterback. The sad part is that he shouldn’t have had to go to Philly to become one. He finally had the right coach here. The right coach, alas, at the wrong time.
Oh, and one thing more: The 2010 Eagles are averaging 28.8 points. Almost the 30 Bobby Petrino had, back in 2007, forecast for a team led by Michael Vick.
By Mark Bradley
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235 comments Add your comment
Joycee Banicheck
December 15th, 2010
3:04 pm
Dan, you sir are an idiot. Nice post ya moron…
observer
December 15th, 2010
3:08 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention: When he throws it to them, they catch it.
GSU Eagle
December 15th, 2010
3:09 pm
Vick will flame out in Philly just like he did his last two years here.
ben pines
December 15th, 2010
3:10 pm
what if Mark Bradley was a girl maybe he would be in Playboy Magazine. My point is Mark? Who cares. Please talk about something relevent. Petrino is gone, Vick is gone. Please talk about now. They are 11-2 that in itself is a great story. You are the Mike Hampton of sportswriters.
Mr. Turnip-Green Jeans
December 15th, 2010
3:10 pm
Mark, I’ve enjoyed reading you for many years. You’re one of my all-time favorites.
With that said, I agree with those who believe a column on our present Falcons to be a better use of time and bandwidth.
The Vick era here is long over, time to move on, we (The Atlanta Falcons) are ELEVEN AND TWO, for Christ’s sake..
Was SO disappointed, as soon as I saw the title of the piece..
SawThat1nce
December 15th, 2010
3:14 pm
Vick will be out of the game in 3 yrs. or less, and the only thing that he will be remembered for, is being incredibly stupid enough to blow a fortune, and his cruelty to animals.
Just when you think that the subject matter of this article has been worked to death, someone with an apparent case of writer’s block, resurrects it for the umpteenth time, can’t you think of anything relevant to write about.
Who cares about Vick and Petrino, their departures were the best things to ever happen to the Falcons.
Mr. Turnip-Green Jeans
December 15th, 2010
3:18 pm
SawThat1nce: “Who cares about Vick and Petrino, their departures were the best things to ever happen to the Falcons.”
I can’t overstate how thoroughly I agree.
Enemas for Christmas
December 15th, 2010
3:23 pm
If not for Petrino screwing this team, there never would have been a Matt Ryan/Mike Smith/Thomas Dimtroff combination that now has this team headed to post season play.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
3:25 pm
U have 2 admit Vick was the best QB so far.
THE LAST THUG OF KRYPTON
December 15th, 2010
3:29 pm
MIKE VICK IS BETTER THAN THIS WORTHLESS TOWN FULL OF HATERS DESERVE.
YOU ALL KNOW YOU WANT MV7 AUTOGRAPH TOO!
YOU GO MIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
KimZ'spackage lover
December 15th, 2010
3:31 pm
Vick now says he wants a DOG. HAHAHA. Never you POS Ghetto Thug.
PAY all your debts first because I am sure those people want their money more than you want a dog. I am sure Child Molesters want to be around children too, but that ain’t going to happen either. You want some dogs, then buy and pay for the years of training for a Service dogs for the Handicap. You can go visit them with their owners there.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
3:35 pm
Vick said he wood take care of this dog cuz his kids want 1. A fater should be able to buy his kids a pet.
GTJeff
December 15th, 2010
3:37 pm
I don’t care if Vick has a career 156 passer rating, wins 10 Super Bowls & passes for 700 TDs in his career. What he did to those innocent animals will ALWAYS be horrific. He is and always will be a monster. I was one of his biggest fans back in the day & thought he was the greatest. After I found out what a deplorable human being he really was, I burned every Vick Jersey I had.
We have a BETTER TEAM & ORGANIZATION without those two clowns (Pukterno & the Dog Murderer) in there.
GO FALCONS!
GO JACKETS!
KimZ'spackage lover
December 15th, 2010
3:39 pm
Last Thug of Kryton
Yes I want a MV7 autograph. I want him to sign my Akita’s Collar. All I want is MV7 in the pen, with a sharpie, and the collar on my dog. Mike can sign it while it is on my Akita’s neck or he can try to get the collar off. I don’t care. He just doesn’t get to come out of the pen until the Autograph is done or Mike is done. Either way I don’t care because MV7 will never play football after this autograph session.
james g
December 15th, 2010
3:39 pm
Mark, please let this go. I was and remain a fan of the gifts and talants of MV7. However, his departure was a result of his actions and he appears to have moved on. I am a falcon fan and have been one since my childhood and the days of Zook,Humphery and Nobis. I love THIS falcon team and THIS quarterback, Matt Ryan. Just like we had to move past the Danny White for the injured Rojer Staubach. The “we have reached a platou” Leeman Bennet decision. Vick is gone. Move on!!
Edd
December 15th, 2010
3:40 pm
Dan Reeves had him on right track but EVERBODY wanted a coach who could let Mike run run run. Dan was making him a qb, Mora let him do what he wanted, not practice, be lazy. Authur Blank and a lot of fans and the media’s fault for letting Dan go and letting Vick lose years of real coaching. Now Andy is picking up where Dan left off. Go Vick, we love ya, what a talent to watch but now I am a Matty Ice fan. Hope you don’t bit us in the butt, so to speak, go Falcons !!!!!!!!
5150 P.O.A.D.
December 15th, 2010
3:41 pm
WHO cares. VICK has nothing to do with the ATLANTA FALCONS anymore. Please stop writing about the waste of human life. We will see after a long time if MV7 has really changed.
GTJeff
December 15th, 2010
3:44 pm
If Mike Prick were a serial child rapist, bruthas like LAST THUG OF KRYPTON would still defend him to the end. Pathetic.
GTJeff
December 15th, 2010
3:45 pm
Edd your an idiot. Move up to Philly & cheer that thug all you want up there.
Ken Pate
December 15th, 2010
3:52 pm
I have looked at Petrino’s coaching record and the “only” time one could say he was a “shameless job hopper” would be when he left the Atlanta Falcons midseason.
It would only be natural that a coach would want to coach in the SEC and I do not understand the finger pointing when he sought the Auburn job. The ship was sinking at Atlanta and Petrino had an out and he took it. Just as Lou (the doctor) Holtz jumped ship thirty three years ago.
I hope that he has a long and successful career at Arkansas, but I doubt that it will stop the perjoratives from being thrown his way.
Just sayin'
December 15th, 2010
3:56 pm
Mike Vick wants a dog. He must be hungry.
moorman
December 15th, 2010
3:57 pm
I DONT GET IT. mark bradley wasnt trying to stoke no racial fires or anything, the man is reporting on a QUARTERBACK and how he finally realized his potential, and how that potential couldve and shouldve been realized in atlanta. if anything, if the falcons hadnt got rid of dan reeves, who vick seemed to listen to, he wouldve realized his potential even BEFORE petrino. this was a FOOTBALL TOPIC, not all the other garbage brought into the conversation.
Mave2124
December 15th, 2010
3:58 pm
Good post…thank goodness we have a good squad with Ryan and Smith that we don’t have to dwell on this too much…at least until the Eagles come to the GA Dome for the NFC championship game, LOL
Buckeye
December 15th, 2010
4:14 pm
Petrini is scum. Pure and simple. Tressel will prepare well and take the quiter down.
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:31 pm
Joe Tess/FALCONS SORRY/Etc…= bag o’ hammers.
hind tit
December 15th, 2010
4:33 pm
Anybody got pitbull for sale?
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:34 pm
@ MWC……You wanna go pal? Any palce any time!
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:34 pm
There is no way, on this earth that you can be that stupid.
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:35 pm
What’s a palce idiot.
Jelly Sandwich Meat
December 15th, 2010
4:37 pm
The scenario for this blog:
Bradley thinks to himself….It’s been over a week since I wrote about the Falcons….Is the season still going?……Don’t know….I could look it up, or I could just ramble on about Vick, an idiot who has not been a member of the team since 2007…..Yeah….Through some Petrino in there…..That ought to get a couple hundred responses……Damn this job is hard, but I am a genius.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:37 pm
Why must U call me names?
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:40 pm
shoe fits… another question?
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:40 pm
Why come U smell like kitty litter? HAHAHAHAHA
GTBob
December 15th, 2010
4:41 pm
Vick getting arrested and Petrino leaving was a painful but needed event in Falcons history. We are better off for it. We have a great team now with a great quarterback and most of all, a very respectable group of guys. Its hard to imagine anyone wishing that Vick was the face of their franchise instead of Matt Ryan. Vick is having a good year but who knows how long that will last or how long he will stay out of trouble. The guy is a cancer that we are lucky we got rid of.
Tough guy MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:42 pm
I’m only 5′4″ tall but I am an internet tough guy. I got a small willy too.
The Walrus
December 15th, 2010
4:45 pm
I said from day one that Petrino was not going to work out as a head coach. The absence of Vick is not what did Petrino in. Petrino did himself in. He’s not NFL material. Never has been, never will be. Even if Vick had been around, Petrino never garnered the respect from the players. He was unapproachable, threw himself around like a tyrant and treated grown men like they were redshirt freshmen.
I was shocked, but glad, when he turned his back on this team, and I’m thankful every day.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:45 pm
Flacons turned there back on Vick.
PMC
December 15th, 2010
4:47 pm
Really Joe? Turned their back? THey turned their back on 25 million dollars that he owes them and Arther Blank still calls him and wrote him in prison.
Turned thier back? Mike Vick disrespected everything they ever did for him and the FALCONS are to blame?
Really?
Where do you guys come up with your opinions?
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:49 pm
They did not try 2 defend him, the let him go 2 jail and they did not try to sigh him once he got out. He is leeding vote getter for pro bowel now and he is on anoter team.
They tuned there backs on Vick.
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
Joe,
Don’t miss the short bus in the morning…
If you get to school, try looking at a dictionary.
BTW, #7 is gone. Get over it.
PMC
December 15th, 2010
4:50 pm
I’d like to, I don’t hate you guys, I just don’t understand for the life of me why you continue to think Michael Vick was done some kind of injustice in this town. It never happened.
This is not a remotely rational viewpoint.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:51 pm
Raven help defend Ray lewis and he kilt a guy. For Vick it was just a few dogs……Just dogs. Falcons did nuttin 4 Vick
MWC
December 15th, 2010
4:52 pm
Vick going to the pro bowel…Joe said something right for a change.
Joe Tess Fish House
December 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
Vick brought the team up from nuttin peeople were finaly payin attenton 2 the Falcons cuz of Vick. He gets in a litle truble and they dont try 2 help him. 4 all he did for this city it sad
Camaro Bob
December 15th, 2010
4:53 pm
Not shure why sum of U cant see that Vick was good 4 this city.
It's Dark Where I Work
December 15th, 2010
4:54 pm
Scrote
Escaped from Email Purgatory
December 15th, 2010
4:55 pm
Interesting to wonder what might have been – a motivated Mike Vick and a coach hand-picked to develop his talents.
But looking back now, I think Vick had to hit rock bottom before he was gonna wake up. We’re all familiar with Vick’s rock bottom because in a smaller way, as Falcon fans, we all experienced it too (that’s a great pic at top of the blog where Petrino woefully beholds his new starting QB, Joey Freaking Harrington).
Things worked out the way they did because things worked out the way they did. MV7 wouldn’t be the QB he is now if he had stayed here – dog fighting or no.
He paid a helluva price for his transgressions. He’s taken his punishment like a man. I don’t think the redeemed man and NFL QB we see today could have happened in Atlanta as a Falcon – regardless to who was coaching him up.
DirtyBird80
December 15th, 2010
4:55 pm
What happened that year was the best thing for the Falcons. Vick was gone and Petrino left like the coward he is, and the Falcons drafted Matty Ice, acquired Turner, and brought in Mike Smith. The Falcons have only had three straight winning seasons and have a great chance to play in the Super Bowl this year. I actually like Vick now, but jail changed him for the better and he’s a much smarter QB and more hard working now than he ever was in Atlanta. Petrino is just a D Bag that I have no respect for. Quit in your 1st year before the season is over??? He should never be allowed to coach in the NFL again!
Patrick
December 15th, 2010
4:56 pm
FALCONS SORRY…You’re an idiot!
Joey Harrington
December 15th, 2010
4:56 pm
Petrino ruined my career.