Putrid Performance in Blowout Loss Proves Mike Vick Revival a Farce

The New York Jets' blowout loss to the Buffalo Bills may wind up costing the jobs of a lot of powerful decision-makers in the Jets' organization, but those coaches and front office executives will not be the only ones to pay for what occurred in Detroit on Monday night. 

Just a few solid stars away from a second chance at getting one of 32 starting NFL quarterback gigs, Michael Vick's chances of ever being anything more than an emergency backup have all but evaporated after his heinous performance. 

Vick's 7-of-19, 76-yard performance (that included an interception) put him on the bench by the third quarter, but his brutal statistics cannot even depict how inept he looked. 

In many ways, Vick was a mirror image of the player he replaced, Geno Smith, the last time the Jets encountered the Bills. He was predetermining his reads, forcing passes to receivers that had no business being involved in the play. When he did find open receivers, he overthrew them by comical lengths. 

When things have gone wrong for Vick throughout his career, he has always been able to lean on his rare mobility. A 280-pound Mario Williams chasing him down on a first-quarter scramble was the first sign that Vick's days as an NFL starter are all but over. 

Prior to this game, Vick was set up to enjoy a nice career rebirth, even at age 34 (including two years out of the league). Prior to the season, Vick made it clear that he was destined for the bench at the start of the season, regardless of his performance. After he got the Jets their first win since their Week 1 bout with the Oakland Raiders, it appeared as if the Jets had the wrong quarterback in the lineup the whole time—hardly a first for this franchise. 

An onlooking team in the market for a veteran passer (or perhaps even the Jets themselves) would have been enticed to capitalize on the Jets' mistake and sign him as its starter next season—as long as he continued to play efficiently.

After all, if the long-forgotten Josh McCown could rise from the pits of the Chicago Bears' depth chart to land a starting gig with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at age 35, why couldn't Vick do the same with another franchise?

After watching Vick and the Jets sputter against a Bills team that spent more time shoveling snow than preparing for the game, no sane general manager would bother bringing in Vick as a serious contender to start. 

On-field performance will not be the only factor that will keep Vick on the bench for the remainder of his career. Some head-scratching comments he has made to the media in regard to his preparation will force teams to look elsewhere for veteran help at the position. 

If Vick needs to be given a real chance to start to put forth a professional effort, why bother bringing him in as a backup?

No one could have expected the 2010 version of Vick to rise from the ashes and dominate the league once again, but the idea of the mature and seasoned version of the former Philadelphia Eagles star still being capable of winning games was more than reasonable.

After all, while his physical skills were somewhat dulled, he seemed to be turning a corner in the mental aspect of the game: In his two starts, the Jets committed zero turnovers. 

In a matter of minutes, it became clear that the spark Vick provided the Jets offense was just that—a spark. 

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While he did play well in relief of Smith, he was not the only factor to give the Jets offense a boost of energy. Adding Percy Harvin to the lineup threw a wrench into opposing defensive game plans (at least for two weeks). The Bills found a solution for Harvin (one catch, two yards), and the remaining embers from Vick's "spark" blew out. 

At this point in his career, Vick should be regarded as nothing more than a relief pitcher, capable of getting a team out of a game in extreme circumstances. Leave him in long enough and the same old turnover-prone, injury-ravaged quarterback will rear its ugly head, especially with his mobility and accuracy diminishing by the week. 

Regardless of how the final month of the season plays out for the Jets, massive changes are inevitable for this dreadful team.

Just days ago, there was an argument to be made to have Vick as the Jets' starter in 2015. Ideally, Vick would be able to keep the Jets competitive (surely a welcome change for Jets fans), stabilizing the position while the front office hunts down the ever-so-elusive long-term franchise player to groom behind the curtain. 

Now, there is no way general manager John Idzik—or whoever is making such personnel decisions for the Jets this offseason—can watch Monday night's debacle and think Vick can be an asset to the team's rebuilding process. 

This is not quite the end of the road for Vick, but he has certainly burned through a lot of gas as he tries to squeeze out as much of himself as possible before his time in the NFL is over.

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