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Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Let Vick improvise more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
If you are standing in a dirt lot and you’re choosing up sides, you want Michael Vick as your quarterback. Existing doubts about his NFL future notwithstanding, Vick’s strengths remain unchanged: his ability to move, to improvise, to be the X-factor, to create chances when most others can’t. Let him draw it up in the dirt and run down to the Chevy.
Then there’s the other side of Vick.
As he said Wednesday when recalling a touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins last week: “It was a laser, and I was glad I was able to put the ball in a tight spot. Most of the time when I throw the ball with everything I got, it doesn’t go to the right place.”
So one week the man is feeling the weight of a crumbling franchise and hostile fan base on his shoulders, and the next week he’s practicing self-deprecating humor. Amazing what a successful improvisation will do for a man and team’s spirits.
The Falcons are 6-6. By all logic, they should be sipping an embalming smoothie. Fortunately, they play in the NFC, professional sports’ new standard for mediocrity, so they’re still twitching in a wild-card race.
To make it there, Vick needs to be the difference, just as he was in bringing the Falcons back from down 14 points down to a 24-14 win in Washington. He needs to be, on occasion, unscripted. The go-ahead touchdown against the Redskins was a 22-yard pass from Vick to Jenkins, on a play only those two knew about. Vick faked a screen to the left, and then fired to Jenkins, who ran to the post and got inside position on a startled Washington safety.
Vick is at his best without handcuffs. It’s not just that he is more entertaining, he also is more dangerous. Greg Knapp, the team’s maligned offensive coordinator, admitted earlier this season that trying to fit Vick into an offensive system was more difficult than he anticipated. So maybe the system has too much framework.
“I would never want to hinder a quarterback and say, ‘Here’s what the rules are,’?” Knapp said Wednesday. “It certainly opens some thing up. I encourage the play-action stuff. I want him to stay creative in the passing game.”
Asked Wednesday about possibly doing more free-lancing, Vick chose to play the role of responsible quarterback: “You can’t do that in this league. Defenses are too good. You could, to a certain degree. But you would be totally dishonoring your own system by doing your own thing and free-lancing.”
OK, well, we’re only talking “to a certain degree” here. As to the system, what is it exactly? There are several reasons for this season’s problems — drops, misfires, poor protection — but the biggest is an ever-mutating game plan. The offense has no identity.
To Knapp’s credit, the touchdown to Jenkins stemmed in part from what Vick has been told: don’t be afraid to create. After the Redskins game, Vick said, “Sometimes you’ve got to overcome coaching.” Some took that as a slap at his coaches. Others assumed it was a tongue-in-cheek remark. In reality, it was neither.
“I knew that quote was going to be perceived as, ‘See, the coaches don’t know what they’re doing,’?” Knapp said. “That’s something we throw at them in meetings: ‘Hey, sometimes you’ve got to overcome coaching.’ We can’t coach every scenario up. Maybe there weren’t enough reps [in practice]. Maybe the defense is giving a different look than we expected.”
Vick is known for two things: 1) Making something out of nothing; 2) Making nothing out of something. But Knapp doesn’t want to give his quarterback too much freedom. He doesn’t like audibles. He prefers to have something “built in,” adding, “That way, there’s less communicating going on just before the ball is being snapped. I was with Steve Young for six years and I probably can count on two hands the amount of time he audibled. And he’s a lawyer.”
Vick said he would like to audiblize more “down the road.” Any quarterback would. It’s his show. This team’s success always will hinge on Vick’s ability to create and make plays. Drawing something up in the dirt only plays to his strengths.
Permalink | Comments (120) | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Jeff Schultz
Tide should call on Croom
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
This is no surprise: Although West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez is sort of listening to the Crimson Tide folks (mostly to get a tighter hug from his Mountaineer folks), nobody wishes to coach football at the University of Alabama.
I mean, what highly competent coach in his right mind would choose to battle the eternal shadows of The Bear in Tuscaloosa?
Only Sylvester Croom.
Oh, that’s right. The Crimson Tide folks didn’t want him.
This is the same Croom who was born and raised in Tuscaloosa and won SEC championships as an All-America player under The Bear. This is the same Croom who spent much of his 11 years as an assistant coach at Alabama under the Bear. This is the same Croom whose father was team chaplain under The Bear.
This also is the same Croom who watched Alabama’s athletics department name a yearly commitment to excellence award in his honor nearly two decades ago to commemorate the values that Croom learned under The Bear.
If all of that wasn’t enough, this is the same Croom who was an accomplished NFL assistant coach for 17 years when he applied for the Alabama head job in 2003.
Croom didn’t get it, and the Crimson Tide folks said that it wasn’t because Croom was darker than The Bear. The Crimson Tide folks said that it was because Croom lacked head coaching experience. The Crimson Tide folks gave the job to Mike Shula, and in case you’re wondering, he also lacked head coaching experience.
This is the same Shula who isn’t darker than The Bear and who recently was fired after three non-winning seasons during his four years on campus. Among Shula’s slew of ugly losses was the one this year to rival Mississippi State.
You know, the SEC team coached by Croom.
Permalink | Comments (205) | Categories: Quick Hit, Terence Moore
