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Vick admits he was lazy

Just finished watching Michael Vick's interview on 60 Minutes.

It was the second time he spoke at length since being released from prison. The interview was taped prior to the Eagles signing Vick. He spoke to the media in Philadelphia Friday.

It's clear that the fan base here is divided on the addition. And so it's probably pointless to discuss how believable Vick sounded tonight. It doesn't really matter whether he seems truly remorseful for what he did to the dogs, whether he's been humbled by what happened to his career, or neither.

The truth is that there will be an answer to all these questions about second chances, guilt and remorse. But it probably won't come any time soon. Down the road, we'll be able to tell, but it won't be after listening to Vick speak. It will be after seeing what he does the rest of his career, and really, the rest of his life.

Vick didn't really speak much about his playing days with the Falcons when he addressed the media in Philly, but he did talk about his work ethic as a quarterback with James Brown.

Here's the exchange that I found interesting:

Brown: You know what your reputation was like when you were playing?

Vick: Yeah.

Brown: What was it?

Vick: That I was lazy, last guy in the building, first guy out. I know that. And I hear everything that people say. And that hurt me when I heard that, but I knew it was true.

Brown: It was true?

Vick: It was true.

Tony Dungy was also part of the interview, and he said he talked to Vick about his work ethic with the Falcons.

"I think everyone looked at it that way," Dungy said. "Tremendous athlete. Tremendous talent. Very, very gifted guy who relies on his natural ability. He was exciting and probably didn't scratch the surface of his potential. And he and I talked about that for a long time in Leavenworth. He talked about not working out, not training, not studying, kind of taking things for granted, the gifts that the Lord had given him, just really living on that and not working at it."

When you consider who's talking, the words take on even greater meaning. Dungy spent seven seasons with the Colts and Peyton Manning, the guy who's obsessed with football, the guy who is always praised for his hard work and study habits.

If you're willing to give Vick a chance as a member of the Eagles, Dungy's words should excite you a little bit. Vick has to work here. Nothing's going to be handed to him. That's not how things work with Andy Reid and company. In Atlanta, the Falcons needed Vick. He could do whatever he wanted, and he was still going to be the quarterback. Especially since he won games. But probably even if he lost games. Because he made the Falcons relevant and was the face of the franchise.

Here, Vick needs the Eagles. If he doesn't work hard, it reflects badly on Reid. It reflects badly on Jeffrey Lurie. It reflects badly on Dungy.

And most importantly, it reflects badly on Vick, which could mean the end of his career.

A clip from the interview is embedded below.

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** Nice job by JB on the interview. He pressed Vick on a number of topics. He asked whether he was sorry about what happened to the dogs, or what happened to his career.

** He told Vick that people would question him when he said he's found the Lord.

** And Brown asked him if he was really talking to Vick, or if he was just talking to a guy who was delivering answers that were prepared by his team of attorneys and public relations advisors.

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I know some of you are already tired of reading anything with Vick's name in the headline so earlier I wrote about the positive things we saw from Thursday night's preseason game.