AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > September > 02 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USPetrino’s here, Vick’s gone — bad timing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Say what you will about Michael Vick the person — by now, pretty much everybody has said pretty much everything — but no one can dispute that Michael Vick the player is a singular talent. And those who think quarterback Joey Harrington will offset Vick’s loss are living in the land of make-believe.
Reality check: Vick’s record as an NFL starter is 38-28-1; Harrington’s is 23-43. Vick has been to three Pro Bowls, Harrington to none. Vick has presided over two playoff victories; Harrington hasn’t yet reached the postseason.
As smart as head coach Bobby Petrino is, he cannot turn Joey Harrington into Michael Vick. And Petrino, we should remember, never bought into that Vick-isn’t-a-real-quarterback rot. On the week he took the job, Petrino’s first words to this correspondent about coaching Vick were, “That’s why we’re here.”
To be precise, Petrino is here because Jim Mora failed to maximize what Arthur Blank and Rich McKay believed, correctly, to be a gifted roster. But a disproportionate chunk of that talent was housed in No. 7, who’s now a Falcons player in name only. Minus Vick, this team looks infinitely less imposing. Minus Vick, there are only three or four difference-makers on the roster, and that’s too few to make an aggregate difference.
It would have been nice to see what Petrino could have made of Vick, and it’s reasonable to assume this coach will make the most of Harrington. Alas, there’s not much to be made. Harrington throws the ball to the wrong people too often — he has 77 career interceptions against 72 touchdowns. (Vick’s ratio, since you asked, is 52 interceptions to 71 touchdowns.) The Falcons won’t lead the league in rushing again because Harrington won’t gain 100 yards. (Vick, as we know, had 1,039 in 2006.)
The guess is that Petrino will do his absolute best with what he has, but in the end he won’t have nearly enough. Jerious Norwood could and maybe should emerge as the new Warrick Dunn, which isn’t to say the old Warrick Dunn is anywhere near finished, but Alge Crumpler’s knee might not hold up and the wide receivers are still nothing special. The play-calling will be upgraded, but it won’t take long to grasp that Greg Knapp, for all his limitations, was operating with better players.
When all else failed for Knapp, as it often did, there was still the possibility that No. 7 would do something sublime simply because he (and only he) was Michael Vick. Harrington, who wears the unlucky No. 13, cannot approximate such capability. Harrington can only hope to manage a game and hope the defense will hold up its end, and this defense, with injuries along the front and uncertainty at the back, isn’t ready to bear such a load.
The guess is that Petrino will coach well enough to give his team a chance in almost every game, but ultimately his team, through lack of manpower, will flub most of those chances. It’s weird how things work out: Mora had enough players but didn’t know how to deploy them; Petrino, who would have known, doesn’t yet have enough players.
After the (mis)doings of the spring and summer, it would be easy for the Falcons to fall to pieces come the fall. Petrino won’t let that happen. His team will go 5-11, but it will be an honorable 5-11. They’ll play hard and they’ll be resourceful and they’ll give every indication that, given another good draft and a new franchise quarterback, they’ll know what to do when the requisite resources arrive.
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