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Monday, April 24, 2006
Vick’s legacy to Vince: Scrutiny
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Let’s say it’s April 2003. Let’s say Michael Vick is coming off his dauntless 2002 season and hasn’t yet become the unsure quarterback the West Coast offense has rendered him. Were that the case, would there be any disagreement about where Vince Young should be drafted? Wouldn’t there be only a rousing consensus?
Three years beyond those heady days when it seemed Vick would reconfigure if not revolutionize his sport, the growing belief is he needs to reconfigure himself to become a truly effective quarterback: He needs to run less, complete more passes, etc. Because Young’s skill set bears some similarity to Vick’s, the belief here is that the transcendent Texan is being hit with the sort of skepticism that has sprung up around the Falcons’ man.
Three years ago, every NFL team wanted a Vick. Today, the feeling in some sectors is that Vick isn’t as good as advertised and might well have topped out. And that disparaging sentiment surely contributes to the wild variances regarding Young’s potential.
Some mock drafts have him going No. 3 overall, while others have him lasting beyond the 10th pick. By rights he should be no worse than No. 2 depending on what you think of Reggie Bush, and if you’re of the mind that a guy who’ll touch the ball on every snap is more valuable than someone who’ll handle it 15 times a game, Young should be your No. 1 pick overall.
First off, Vince is not Vick. Young finished third among Division I-A quarterbacks in passing efficiency last season, completing 65.2 percent. (Jay Cutler, whom some myopic scouts prefer to Young, completed 59.1.) In three collegiate seasons, Young’s worst completion percentage (58.7 as a freshman) was only slightly less than Vick’s best (59.2, also as a freshman) as either a collegian or a professional.
There’s also an inherent difference in style. Vick’s greatest college game was against Florida State in the 2000 Sugar Bowl, and even on that luminous night he completed barely half of his passes. Young completed 30 of 40 against Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl, and his four touchdown runs were a function not of raw speed but of a defense spread thin due to the threat of the pass. Young is fast, but he isn’t as fast as Vick. Vick can throw, but he can’t throw like Young.
Which isn’t to say Vick can’t beat people with his passing. He can and has. (Remember the Miami game, where he made a conscious effort to operate only in dropback mode?) The reason Vick hasn’t progressed in Greg Knapp’s offense is that it isn’t suited for Vick, who has surely come to realize as much. Why should a player so dangerous with the ball in his hands be concerned with getting rid of the ball? Why should a guy who can throw it 70 yards be asked to author 7-yard dinks instead?
Two other issues need mentioning. Vick and Young are black, and even at this late date the watching world still isn’t sure what to make of black quarterbacks. Just last season we heard the bizarre contention – made by the president of the NAACP’s Philadelphia chapter – that Donovan McNabb had disappointed his constituency by becoming a pocket passer. Being an NFL starting quarterback is the most difficult job in pro sports, and if you’re black, it’s exponentially harder. But McNabb, the classiest man in the game, has handled it. Steve McNair has handled it. Vick has handled it. Young, who as the leader of the Longhorns was subjected to as much scrutiny as any professional, can handle it.
There’s also the matter of Young’s Wonderlic score – either 6 or 16 (of 50), depending on the source. But the IQ test isn’t necessarily an indication of future greatness. Brett Favre is believed to have scored a 22, the legendary Cade McNown a 28. (Vick is thought to have scored a 20.) As Sean Jones of Oakland’s personnel department told the Houston Chronicle: “I don’t care what [Young’s] Wonderlic score is. The only score I care about is 41-38.”
That was the score on the night Young became the greatest college player of the new millennium, the night he should have stamped himself as the man to draft come April 29. Instead, he has been nitpicked to death — is his throwing motion odder than, say, Philip Rivers? — and there’s a chance he’ll slide from the top five Saturday. But Vince Young isn’t Michael Vick, who for all his detractors has done enough to make three Pro Bowls.
When he’s not being overcoached, Vick is really good. Young has the capacity to be even better.
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