What they're saying about Vick
Should the Eagles cut ties with Michael Vick? Here's a roundup of what writers around the country are saying about the Birds and their backup quarterback.
What they're saying about Vick
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
If you go to any national sports site today, you're going to see at least one headline about Michael Vick.
During the slow portion of the NFL calendar, Vick is one of the more talked-about topics around the league as we kill time before the start of training camp (only 21 days away).
The most recent item in the Vick saga concerns a party he was scheduled to host in D.C. Sunday night. As first pointed out by Robert Littal of Black Sports Online, The Park at 14th, a club in Washington, was promoting Michael Vick's All-White Affair, a party hosted by Vick and celebrity friends on the Fourth of July.
Pro Football Talk is told Michael Vick was not there.
Littal reports that Michael Vick's brother, Marcus, was in attendance.
A new Vick story seems to surface pretty much every day. Earlier in the weekend, the Eagles released a statement refuting an AP report that the team was strongly considering releasing Vick.
I just want training camp to start so we can get back to talking about football, but in the meantime, here are some links and opinions from writers around the country about Vick, and what the Eagles should do with him:
SI.com's Peter King thinks the Eagles would be more likely to consider cutting Vick if they had a better backup quarterback situation:
So now what does Philly do? There's little doubt in my mind that, in the wake of the shooting of Vick's former co-defendant at his birthday party last week in Virginia, the Eagles will consider cutting ties with Vick. I doubt they will, in part because of NFL reality -- it exposes the Eagles to a very thin quarterback situation three weeks before training camp. The only other quarterback aside from starter Kevin Kolb on the roster is Mike Kafka, the rookie from Northwestern, and the Eagles will surely second-guess themselves now for not being more involved in the Marc Bulger derby before he signed with the Ravens.
I've heard this argument used pretty frequently during the lasat week, and I'm not sure I totally buy it. Are we sure that the Eagles would face a significant downgrade at backup QB going from Vick to a veteran who they would have to add if they cut him? I'm not.
Besides, this season is about Kevin Kolb. If he happens to go down for a significant amount of time, the Eagles will continue to push forward, but in reality, the season will be pretty much lost anyway.
Meanwhile, in a Sporting News article, Mike Florio argues that Vick is one of seven big-name players who should be cut:
The Eagles need a quality backup for starting quarterback Kevin Kolb. The Eagles don't need a season-long sideshow from a wildcat gimmick who simply isn't prepared to serve as Kolb's understudy. So the Eagles should seize on the recent controversy involving Vick to close the door on the failed one-year experiment with him. Even if Vick stays in Philadelphia, the Eagles need a competent veteran backup with experience in the West Coast offense. So they should just dump Vick now, sign Jeff Garcia and move on. Pride and ego could get in the way. The Eagles went out on a limb last year to sign Vick, and cutting him now amounts to an admission that they never should have signed him in the first place. By the way, they never should have signed him in the first place.
Jason Whitlock of FoxSports.com says the Eagles are getting what they deserve and can't figure out why Vick is more embraced than Donovan McNabb in the black community:
NFL commissioner/top cop Roger Goodell should not bail out the Philadelphia Eagles by taking action against the Avon Barksdale of football. The more appropriate punishment would be to leave Vick’s cancerous carcass inside the Philly locker room, a fitting payback for the way the organization treated classy QB Donovan McNabb.
McNabb has spent more than a decade in the league focused on doing the things necessary to become a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. He’s never been properly appreciated by the people his conduct directly benefits. The NAACP in Philadelphia criticized McNabb for transitioning into a dropback passer. Philly deserves Michael Vick. The city had one of the league’s best for 11 years and never demanded that Eagles management consistently support him with top-flight personnel. And maybe we (black folks) deserve Vick, too. We shower him with undying loyalty even though his actions undermine our progress.
Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com says Vick needs to embrace a more low-key approach if he wants to have a career in the NFL:
Some of Vick's diehard supporters are claiming the media is on a witch hunt. We're supposedly persecuting Vick and holding him to different standards than we do other dog-killing felons, though he's the only dog-killing felon I've ever met. All I'm doing is asking Vick to be smart. Have a party in your house, Mike. Hang out with the family. Spend time with the kids. Nothing wrong with that, is it? Is it? Those are far better options than having someone shot at your own party.
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Jason Whitlock needs to keep his big mouth shut and not open it when he don't know what he is talking about. If he has such man love for McNabb then get a room. Pillowbiter. Vick's actions undermine his people's progress? Jason should know, it's the drugs and shootings that undermine 'his' people's progress not Mike Vick's crime, that he paid his dues. What a maroon. Jason Whitlock the weasel of the week.— rockinrob- "The city never demanded that Eagles management consistently support McNabb with top-flight personnel.."?!!!! Really Jason? Have you spent 1 day in Philly during the last few years? He should really do more research before making statements like that. This is bad fiction.— awl
Comment removed.- Vick for President in 2012— aman1711
- Comment removed.
Despite what credentials Mike Florio might or might not have, he said it best. Vick is a 'maroon' (LOL) for not keeping his nose clean and having not the slightest bit of common sense. (no really, *maroon*?)- Comment removed.
One of the strangest moves in recent NFL history, dumping McNabb in favor of Vick. Just ming bogglingly insipid and will come back to bite Reid in that big backside of his.
Have to wait to hear all the facts about this shooting before passing judgment, but there are things that don't add up. We'll see...besides this incident, I think it makes sense for the Eagles to release Vick. It doesn't seem like this is a good fit for him, the team and the city itself. He did campaign in the off-season to other teams to trade for him because he wants to start, which is not happening in Philly. Just think it would be wise for everybody cut ties and move on from this...- What is dumb to me is that these reporters continue to report information based on nothing but pure speculation. I guess when Vick didn't fail this past year the way you people had hoped he would, you have taken it into your own hands to report without having facts. You reported just yesturday about this party that was scheduled for the 4th of July, when it more than obvious this party (if there was one) was something that had been planned weeks before the incident in VA. What you are doing is trying to get him off the team and out of the NFl. And yes, CleanupPhilly, he did "pay his dues" and if you feel he should have paid more that is truly your own personal problem, there have been cases involving animal cruelty and dogfighting (and they always include gambling) in which the individuals didn't serve anytime, and paid a lot less than Vick. You are the types of people who send toxic messages about black men. This reporting on this man for no reason is nothing more than what you people would have done years ago and you still be doing it now, if you thought for a moment you could get away with (as some did back then, which is lynching, this is nothing more than a modern day lynching, you people are pathetic.— charmaine
- Wait.....people take the likes of Fatlock and Perez Florio seriously? BWA HAHAHAHAHA! Fatlock is one biscuit away from death and Florio is battling that demon in the closet. Please...who takes THOSE TWO SERIOUSLY? LOL— mlr710
- vegas_limodriver and CleanupPhilly: "What a maroon" is not an error--it's an intentionally humorous play on "What a moron." More specifically, it's a quote from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Kh7nLplWo
- Sheil, I think you're underrating Vick as a backup. And you always have to have a good backup, unless you want to go 7-1, have the starter go down, and then go 2-6. Ignoring Vick's stuff off the field, he is not an ideal starter because his passing is suspect and his leadership isn't there. On the other hand, he can move an offense, can keep a defense off balance, can make the throws, and knows the Eagles' offense now. Guys would rally round him in an injury situation. The Eagles could potentially go 5-3 with Vick if Kolb went down mid-season, and you can't say that about many 2nd stringers or guys waiting for a phone call. This season is not about Kolb, it's about the Eagles, and we have to be a legitimate 2-deep at every person. That said, I'm not arguing Vick should be kept if it's said he violated probation. Just saying Peter King is on target. Kafka isn't ready this year. Backup QB may be the 2nd most important position in the NFL.— tacklinjoe
- Lurie stated that Vick got his 2nd chance only because he agreed to be held to a higher standard. The Eagles are in the process of turning over the roster to a younger group. They are always bragging about how they want their teams to be competitive every year. They claim they always take the long view. Unless they really think keeping Michael Vick gets them to the Super Bowl, then the Eagles need to release Vick simply because they need to set the standard for these younger guys in how they are to comport themselves throughout their Eagles' career. Keeping him sends the wrong message to the very group with whom they're trying to build a future.— yobill626
- Biggest mistake the eagle ownership could do would be to have Vick on the team when training camp starts, the third alltime mistake was stealing T.O. away from Baltimore back then, the second alltime blunder was keeping McNabb 3-4 years past his prime & usefulness.— jwatson
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