Despite Late-Game Heroics, Mike Vick's Limitations Apparent in Steelers Win

It took until there were eight minutes left in the game on Monday night for Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mike Vick to make a big play—a 72-yard touchdown strike to receiver Markus Wheaton that led the Steelers to tie the San Diego Chargers at 17 points.

It took until the next drive for Vick to make his second—a 24-yard run that set up a pitch-and-catch to tight end Heath Miller that left Miller at the Chargers' one-yard line. One play later, Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell took the direct snap and scored a touchdown as regulation expired, leading the Steelers to a 24-20 win that brought their record to 3-2 on the year.

Vick was under center because of the knee injury starter Ben Roethlisberger suffered in Week 3. And though Vick had 10 days to prepare—or six more days than he had when he started in Week 4 against the Baltimore Ravens—to say he struggled would have been an understatement.

In the first half, Vick completed only seven of his 13 pass attempts, for 83 yards, with one interception thrown and two sacks taken. Take away a 39-yard catch by Steelers receiver Antonio Brown, and the stat line dips to six-of-12 for 44 yards.

	Atts.	Comp.	Comp.%	Yds.	TD	INT	Sack
1st Half	13	7	53.8%	83	0	1	2
Minus AB Play	12	6	50.0%	44	0	1	2
Total	26	13	50.0%	203	1	1	3
Total, Minus AB/MW Plays	24	11	45.8%	82	1	1	3

Vick ended the day with 13 completions on 26 attempts, for 203 yards, a score, the interception and three sacks taken, but again, subtract the big Brown and Wheaton plays and that takes his numbers down to 11-of-24 for 82 yards. It wasn't the best day at the office, even if the Steelers got what they came for—a win.

It was obvious that things would be different with Vick on the field in Roethlisberger's place. He's left-handed, for one. He also has a much slower delivery than Roethlisberger and, even with the extra preparation time between Weeks 4 and 5, has nowhere near the comfort level with Pittsburgh's offense and his teammates as Roethlisberger.

The playbook—and even the field itself—needed to be shrunk to fit Vick's skill set and knowledge. It's a reason why the luminaries in Pittsburgh's passing offense didn't have great nights.

Brown saw six targets but had only three catches totaling 45 yards, the majority of which came on one first-half play. Wheaton's only catch came on the fourth-quarter touchdown. Miller caught all three passes thrown his way, but Vick favorite, Darrius Heyward-Bey, ended the day with only two catches for 24 yards on his six targets.

Instead, the offense ran through Bell—literally. The back totaled 21 carries on the night, for 111 yards, which included a long run of 32 yards and the game-winning score. While it may have been more wise for Steelers coordinator Todd Haley to let Vick be Vick—that is, throw a few more deep passes to showcase an arm that is still big—it was obvious that Pittsburgh's coaches did not have much confidence in Vick passing the football regularly.

While Pittsburgh won, in ways both because of and in spite of Vick, the narrowing of the playbook with Vick as the starter narrows Pittsburgh's entire offense. Vick will get increasingly more comfortable as he continues to practice with the starters and get playing time, but it's hard to imagine things opening up in Roethlisberger-like ways in the few weeks ahead that Roethlisberger is expected to be sidelined.

Donald Miralle/Getty Images

The takeaway from Monday night is this: Don't have high expectations for Vick to light up the field the way that Roethlisberger did with the prodigious offensive talent the Steelers possess. It's just not in his wheelhouse at this point in his career, especially given that he's not even been in Pittsburgh for two months. 

The Steelers and Haley did as much as they could to work with Vick's limitations, to minimize them as much as possible. But those limitations were very apparent on Monday night, and they are ones the Steelers will continue to have to work with and around to continue to earn wins while Roethlisberger recovers from his knee injury. 

If one thing is certain, though, it's this: The Steelers would gladly have a limited Vick on the field and win than to lose with even Roethlisberger under center. And the fact that they can and did win is a sign that the Steelers aren't as doomed as they could have been with Roethlisberger watching from the sideline.