Falcons offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said he and Michael Vick have a solid relationship and the quarterback's concerns about last season's offensive inconsistency were an offshoot of system-wide breakdowns.

"I don't think we need to sit down and talk about it," Knapp said Thursday in reference to the offensive philosophy Vick questioned in an interview with the Journal-Constitution earlier this month. "It's already understood that we will always try to create situations for Mike to succeed.

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"Given the fact that we had two young receivers last year that Michael didn't really work much in the offseason with because Peerless Price and Dez White were the starters, we went through some growing pains. We still made improvements, but from a Michael Vick standpoint, everything comes down on him. That's what makes it frustrating for him."

Vick said in Thursday's USA Today that Knapp "needs to know exactly what type of talent he's working with. . . . You've got to be creative. There's no reason I should be passing for only 2,300 yards for the season. My passing attempts per game [2/4.2] are not even that high. I hope it's not that they don't believe in me, because I believe in me."

Knapp, in his second season as Atlanta's offensive coordinator, said he read the remarks but attributed them to Vick constantly being asked about his production and the team's offensive struggles late in the 8-8, nonplayoff season.

Knapp added that he does not feel Vick is driven by stats or passer ratings, which he said would always be skewed because Vick runs the ball so much and is asked to make a lot of plays while rolling out.

"It's hard on Mike," Knapp said in a telephone interview from Indianapolis, where he's attending the NFL scouting combine. "He's constantly being compared to guys who play his position, who have been in the same offense, with the same coaching staff for five, six, seven years. Mike made progress. Our offense made progress, and I'm very comfortable saying we're on track to be better next year.

"I think it's a good thing Mike's got this edge. It shows he wants to improve as an offense and he wants to improve as a player. I'm not worried about the numbers. We're going to base what we do on wins and losses. It's not just our quarterback. We had some growing pains that we've got to fight through. That so much comes down on Mike is the nature of the beast of playing quarterback.

"Sometimes we get too much credit, sometimes we get too much blame."