Michael Vick Will Always Have Critics No Matter How Well He Plays

Over the past couple of years or so, I have written several articles detailing the Michael Vick saga from greatness to the dumps in retrospect of his career and legal troubles.  Vick has been flying the straight and narrow road, keeping his professional life focused on football and his personal life focused on family and redemption. 

Two years ago, many people said that Vick's career was finished and at worst he should be happy to get an opportunity to be a ball boy on some high school team. Surely he should not look to get an opportunity to play on the highest level of football.  The Philadelphia Eagles and Head Coach Andy Reid decided to take a chance on the former No. 1 draft pick and signed him to a one-year deal with a leash as short as a broken pencil lead. 

Last year Vick played sparingly throughout the year in what’s called “the wildcat formation,” coming into the game on short yardage plays and sporadically throughout the game as a change-of-pace guy.  During the offseason the team decided to trade its franchise quarterback in Donovan McNabb and awarded backup quarterback Kevin Kolb the number one spot with Michael Vick as the backup. 

Fast forward to Week 1 of the NFL season, and after a devastating hit Kolb was out and Vick was in.  Since that game, Vick has played lights out, putting up the best passing numbers so far in his career and seemingly always finding ways to win. 

At the beginning of last season with Vick fresh out of jail and in the headlines, animal rights protesters came out in full force to show their disgust of Vick's cruel acts.  Even a sports bar in the Midwest made national attention when it announced that it would refuse to show any Eagles games due to the Vick signing.  

Since that time, Vick has stayed true to his commitments to being an animal rights advocate, speaking against dog fighting. He has become the most popular player in the NFL on the field once again. 

Winning has a way of silencing some critics, but not all.  I recently read an open letter to NFL fans and media from rock star Nils Lofgren.  Mr. Lofgren voiced his displeasure with Michael Vick being allowed to play in the NFL again, stating how disappointed he is with the media for praising Vick's play on the field. 

There are millions of people who have a similar view on Michael Vick's resurgence into NFL stardom, and it makes me think if Vick would have come back and become a third string clipboard holder, all would be right in the world and somehow karma worked its magic. 

Vick has received a second chance on a short leash, and he has decided to take full advantage of it the right way.  As written in "The Reporter", a Northern Pennsylvania opinion column, some people feel that Michael Vick is not truly remorseful of his past actions that resulted in incarceration. 

The fact is that if you are a religious believer, then only God has the right to judge a man. We can only respond to actions, and thus far Vick has done the right things on and off the field.