the obligatory Vick-bashing post! yeah!

The Atlanta Falcons were 8-8 this year, and I'm not sure who to blame.

I want to blame Michael Vick.

I know it's not entirely his fault. Why T.J. Duckett got all those carries is too much for anyone to understand. Why the Falcons' defense fell apart is also beyond anyone's capacity to understand.

But we have to start thinking about Michael Vick and his receivers.

Atlanta has drafted receivers with its last two first-round picks. This attempt to upgrade talent has yielded one decent guy (Michael Jenkins) who is rather explosive and doesn't necessarily get the ball too much, and one guy (Roddy White) who's sort of unproven. Now, Peerless Price was a bit of a bust, but he did have success at Buffalo.

None of these three guys have succeeded in Atlanta. It could be their fault; but it could be Mike Vick's...

Brian Finneran, a Ricky Proehl impersonator, has succeeded, mainly because he knows how to get open when Vick inevitably breaks off his routes. So has Alge Crumpler, a big tight end who likes running the ten to fifteen yard routes that Vick is best at.

But Vick hasn't managed to learn how to throw downfield, and teams figured that out pretty quickly this year. Case and point: the Chicago Bears, who basically blitzed Vick at will, knowing he wouldn't be able to burn them deep.

Though the signs are there, Vick and the Falcons have remained unwilling to address the problem, because Vick is a great talent and is so unstoppable as a running QB. Many defenses, however, have started to figure out that covering the receivers downfield isn't a priority. They can contain Vick, because Vick helps contain himself by stubbornly refusing to use all his weapons. And he's still young, at the peak of his athleticism... what happens when he gets older?

Let's not forget the original Vick: Randall Cunningham. Statistically, Vick hasn't come close to approaching Cunningham, who always remembered how important it was to be a passer first. Now, Vick's not running out of time, and he's substantially more athletic. But he has to learn, and he won't see better results no matter how many receivers he has. And that's his fault.

Now, here's my idea: throw T.O. down there, and see what happens. T.O. would actually have a right to whine... and Vick might feel the heat to learn how to play QB, cause T.O. will come "get him some" if necessary. Let's call it like that.