Michael Vick Needs to Finally Play to Potential

Forget the dog fighting issue that will forever be draped around Michael Vick. Forget the fact that Vick missed two seasons while he was imprisoned. Forget that Vick left last night's game with a concussion which may keep him sidelined for a few weeks. Forget all of that.

At some point Vick will come back healthy, and when he does it's going to be about time he started to play like the quarterback we have all been told repeatedly he could be for 10 years now. 

Ten Years? Yes, 10 years. It's actually more like 11 or even 12 when you factor in his decorated Virginia Tech career. Vick has been, and still is, the guy with limitless "potential." We all know that word is loaded. One of the most loaded in all of sports. Most players can only survive on potential for so long before unrealized potential becomes an actual shortcoming. 

Vick has been on the receiving end of some nice compliments over the years. "Most talented athlete on the field." "The potential to be unstoppable." He's heard it all. Those labels are correct also. Michael Vick is an absolutely jaw-dropping, eye-popping athlete; a quarterback that simultaneously possesses one of the NFL's strongest arms, and one of the fastest athletes in a league that has an amazing assortment of fast players. 

All of that talent can create problems, though. Vick is beginning to take on the aura of one of those highly touted pitchers that seem to never quite make it in baseball. You know those guys. Think Daisuke Matsuzaka—a pitcher who showed up in the majors with five pitches he could throw for strikes and a 95 mile per hour fastball.

One problem though: Dice-K never really could figure out when to throw each of his pitches. They weren't always strikes either, and when he fell behind in the count the hitters didn't care what his "potential" was. All they knew was that on a 3-1 count they could wait for their pitch and drive it or take a walk, and that's exactly what they did. 

Vick has a bit of this problem as well. Blessed with his speed and his arm, on any given play he really could probably run for 10 yards or pass for 20. The only problem is that he can only do one of those things. He can't try both and then retroactively see which one worked and go with that. So Vick still has to make a decision on each snap, and that's where the problems begin to emerge.

When Vick gets it right he's amazing. When he has those games where he consistently gets it right, he looks like one of the greatest to ever play. Think last season's Monday Night matchup against Washington or that Sunday in Jersey where he seemed like a superhuman in leading his team to a memorable fourth-quarter comeback.

Those games are great, but they don't make for a complete season or even a complete career. Vick has a total of 97 touchdown passes and 32 rushing touchdowns for his career, which is now in its ninth season. He also has 59 interceptions and 69 fumbles.

His career has been marked by some amazing wins but also a number of losses. He's led his teams into the postseason a few times but has come up short. Last season, which was probably his best ever, ended with Vick playing a far from spectacular playoff game at home.

The issue isn't so much the numbers Vick put up as much as the result. It was a loss. The NFL is very unforgiving when it comes to winning and losing. Tom Brady has put up the best numbers of his career over the past four seasons, but if one were to ask Brady or most fans when his best years were they'd probably reference his earlier and less statistically dominating Super Bowl seasons.

Vick doesn't need to win a Super Bowl to be great. He does need to start to play with more consistency. Last night the Eagles lost a tough game on the road to a good Atlanta Falcons team. Vick's defenders are going to say that the Eagles would have probably won that game had Vick not been injured with two minutes left in the third quarter. I'm not so sure about that.

Vick had flashes of brilliance last night for sure, but he also had a nice run which ended with a fumble when he carelessly exposed the ball and had it jarred loose from behind. Vick threw an interception which was the result of a poor read made under pressure.

That game in the Meadowlands last season is always remembered for the amazing comeback and the punt return that the Eagles would eventually win it on. I've got a feeling defensive coordinators around the league remember it for something else: the total shutdown of Vick for three quarters by the Giants defense.

With eight minutes remaining that game it was 31-10 Giants. Total domination. The Giants did that by using a disciplined defensive attack which used multiple defensive backs in the first three quarters paired with a pass rush that placed an emphasis on containing rather than sacking Vick. The results were that Vick didn't feel comfortable running or passing and the Eagles offense was rendered almost non-existent.

The answer as to why the Giants decided to pass rush aggressively in the fourth quarter is one Giants fans will ask for an eternity, but the answer as to how to defend Vick can be found in the first three quarters of that game: force Vick to make tough decisions. In Vick's case, more time doesn't always mean better results. Allowing Vick to move around, but not out of, the pocket almost seems to make him uneasy, and the results are not always good for him.

Vick got a $100 million contract in the offseason from the Eagles, and $40 million of that was guaranteed. That type of deal ups the expectations for a player who still hasn't won a playoff game since January 15, 2005. How much longer can Vick survive in the NFL as the "Wait until this guy learns his position, he's going to be amazing" player? How much longer will teams invest tons of money on a guy who seems to only have the "potential" to be one of the greatest ever?

Vick, who suffered a concussion last night, is likely to miss a game at least. When he comes back, Eagles fans will all be anxiously waiting for him to show more of that fourth-quarter magic he showed against the Giants last season. Can he do that for more than just one or two games, or can he be great week-in and week-out? When will NFL fans and executives get sick of asking that question?