Vick regrets dogfighting, accepts full responsibility

By MARCUS K. GARNER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Michael Vick takes sole responsibility for not ending the illegal dog-fighting ring that led to his apparent fall from grace.

“I wasn’t a leader,” the beleaguered NFL quarterback, told CBS sports analyst James Brown in a prerecorded interview to be aired Sunday on 60 Minutes.

“I should have took the initiative to stop it all ... I didn’t. I didn’t step up.”

In 2007, Vick pleaded guilty to bankrolling, and being part of, an elaborate illegal dog-fighting operation in which he admitted to killing pit bulls that didn’t perform well.

As a result, he was suspended from the league, and sentenced to 23 months in federal prison.

The interview, which will air at 7 p.m. on WGCL, features the reformed signal caller discussing his time in jail in Fort Levenworth, Kansas, and how he misses football.

But the highlight is his Mea Culpa, one which Brown said in a later interview aired Thursday on 790 The Zone that he believed.

“I think he is sincere,” Brown said in the recording of Vick.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has granted Vick a conditional reinstatement, that will resume after week six.

And former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who has taken on the mantle of advisor to the troubled quarterback, has predicted a team will sign Vick by the end of the week.