Michael Vick for MVP ?

[EazyRoc]

The Eagles have been playing absolutely outstanding with him at the helm. He's completely transformed his game and has shown he can play the quarterback position how it's meant to be played. He's thrown for 10+ touchdowns and ran for 4 more. He's done all this while throwing absolutely NO interceptions. I know he's missed a few games, but I think he is having the best year amongst all the quarterbacks. What do you all think ?

[jy23]

It hurts me to say but you really could put him in the discussion....I've always hoped that he landed on his feet and played well somewhere and I'm glad that he's doing so well but everytime I see him playing like this it just hurts my fellings lol......I mean think how good we could have been if this guy had just been focused when he was here with us, I'm happy with where our team is now but I still always just wonder

[lethalweapon3]

I misplaced my earlier post... a bit premature, yes, but how about Eagles-Falcons at the Dome for the NFC title? Ya think that might sell out the Dome, maybe? That would be absolute craziness.

~lw3

[WakaFlocka]

I'm with jy21 here. I've always liked Vick and am happy to finally see him living up to his potential. Imagine if he'd worked this hard and played this well with the legs he had 5+ years ago for the Falcons... Talk about unstoppable.

[EazyRoc]

I misplaced my earlier post... a bit premature, yes, but how about Eagles-Falcons at the Dome for the NFC title? Ya think that might sell out the Dome, maybe? That would be absolute craziness.

~lw3

I would spend a whole check to get a ticket to that game :lol6:. But seriously though, I pray we don't play the Eagles in the NFC title game. They have ALOT of speed with their offense.

I agree with you too jy21. If he had matured like this in Atlanta, can you imagine where we could have been ? It's so disappointing, but as a fan of the player I love to see him succeed with another team. I've always said that Michael Vick would be a great quarterback one day, and if he can finish off this season like he's been playing he'll deserve that MVP trophy.

[CBAreject]

Why are you guys fans of Mike Vick? He sand-bagged with a 130 million dollar contract in Atlanta, spent more time drowning dogs than practicing, and flipped off the crowd when he played like complete sh--. Now that he's broke, he's playing lights-out for a new team that gave him nothing after all we invested in him? Forgive me for not finding this a heart-warming tale. It would seem to be our luck that he owns us in the NFC title game, but if that is our fate, I'll say in advance that it couldn't happen to a worse guy.

BTW, I can't believe you guys think he "matured" suddenly. What, in prison? Vick always had this potential. Take his 8 figure contract away, and he'll play up to it.

[EazyRoc]

Why are you guys fans of Mike Vick? He sand-bagged with a 130 million dollar contract in Atlanta, spent more time drowning dogs than practicing, and flipped off the crowd when he played like complete sh--. Now that he's broke, he's playing lights-out for a new team that gave him nothing after all we invested in him? Forgive me for not finding this a heart-warming tale. It would seem to be our luck that he owns us in the NFC title game, but if that is our fate, I'll say in advance that it couldn't happen to a worse guy.

BTW, I can't believe you guys think he "matured" suddenly. What, in prison? Vick always had this potential. Take his 8 figure contract away, and he'll play up to it.

It's much easier to forgive, than to hate or dislike.

I've always enjoyed watching Mike Vick play and was disappointed when he was convicted of his crime. The last couple of years have been a humbling experience for him. It would be for most people. He was the most popular player in the league and the highest paid. He went from that and coupled with a lot of thinking time in the penitentiary, of course he matures. He's not the pompous, but lazy player he once was. You can see that he's worked on his game and everything that comes out of his mouth shows how much these last 3 years or so have changed him. However, I don't think any of that matters to you because you've made up in your mind that you are going to cling to the past and hate the guy. I also hope that your opinion (and my response) on Michael Vick doesn't completely derail the intentions of this topic.

But besides all that, How do you feel about his chances for winning the MVP award ?

Edited November 16, 2010 by EazyRoc

[lethalweapon3]

Why are you guys fans of Mike Vick? He sand-bagged with a 130 million dollar contract in Atlanta, spent more time drowning dogs than practicing, and flipped off the crowd when he played like complete sh--. Now that he's broke, he's playing lights-out for a new team that gave him nothing after all we invested in him? Forgive me for not finding this a heart-warming tale. It would seem to be our luck that he owns us in the NFC title game, but if that is our fate, I'll say in advance that it couldn't happen to a worse guy.

BTW, I can't believe you guys think he "matured" suddenly. What, in prison? Vick always had this potential. Take his 8 figure contract away, and he'll play up to it.

No need for forgiveness, CBA. You have every right to feel continued disdain for Vick, and no one needs to convince you or anyone else otherwise. The inhumane atrocities committed by himself and the accomplices he sustained, together with the mountain of lies he offered to this organization to sustain his devious operations and the blatant, wholly unprofessional attytood he presented to NFL fans, brought forth legions of unforgiving, unforgetting people, millions of whom could care less about football. Vick understands that these are his permanent scars, his crosses to bear, and no tonnage of yards gained and avoided tackles can do anything to remove that.

That said, as a Falcon fan, imagine for a moment that Vick fumbled and stumbled through his megabucks Falcon contract for several more years to become 80 percent of the player we witnessed last night (I don't think we ever had the personnel to make him any better than that). The Falcons finally achieve NFC prominence and are well on their way to the Super Bowl... and THEN Vick's insidiously crafted house of cards collapses with the dogfighting allegations. Sure, it would have been better to have been addressed earlier (like, in college? high school?), but if you accept that Vick's brash, ignorant self was headed for an inevitable fall, the timing could have been much more disastrous (for scores of animals, much less the Falcons and their fans) had it gone on any longer. Vick's resurgence and emergence above his earlier years is palatable to Falcons fans only because the Falcons pulled a Gloria Gaynor, making enough wise moves to recover in just a couple of seasons.

Many of us believed the jailers should have thrown away the key, that his crimes and his attitudes toward them were worthy of lifetime sentencing. But Vick served the time he was given, has been following (with at least one significant birthday slip-up) the terms of his release and probation, and has earned in the eyes of our judicial system an opportunity (one not granted to just anybody) to.make something productive out of his freedom. So far, he is doing just that. Let's all hope he keeps it up, whether or not we believe he will.

Whether he has significantly matured as a human being is still an open book being written. Purely from a football perspective, however, his poise, dedication, responsiveness, and focus are at levels we have not seen before, and I don't think we would ever have seen anything approaching his current play in a Falcons uniform had he continued being saddled with his demons. Undoubtedly, the adversity of losing and injuries will come, and we will all see whether his character (on and off the field) has developed in the face of such adversity. We also remember how Vick was before, and after, his first mega-contract from Arthur Blank. Following what is shaping up to be The Decision 2011 and the next big payday, we will see whether he continues to strive for personal improvement.

As I mention often, I'm a poorly-closeted Philly sports fan as well. I recall being floored when it was announced that the Eagles, of all teams, signed Vick. I was loaded with doubts (How does this work with McNabb looking over his shoulder? What about Kolb? Are we making him a receiver? After the T.O. saga, can Reid even coach this guy? He couldn't graciously handle fickle Atlanta fans, so what will he do with the original BooBirds?) But I also recognized that joining the Eagles put Vick in a low-pressure situation where he didn't have to put his tattered Superman cape back on right away, where he would have ample time to get his **** together off the field and learn how to improve as a reliable pocket QB on the field. So far, it's working, and my hat's off to the Eagles' brass and coaching staff for the guts to try and make it work.

In Atlanta, it's a bit frustrating, because you always have the yahoos who are more fanboys for star players than fans for teams. They're at the stadium, in the bars, on sports talk radio. The red #7 jerseys are back on the streets en masse, and I can swear you can smell the mothballs on them. My Falcons #7 jerseys met the untimely demise of the trash bin after his selfish and murderous actions nearly crippled this franchise. But I hope everyone recognizes that Red #7 is not the Vick jersey to wear. Because it is clear he is not THAT player anymore. And while it remains to be seen, it is becoming clearer he is not THAT man anymore, either.

~lw3

[coachx]

That was the best individual offensive performance that I have ever seen on a NFL football field.

The wrong guy got the contract extension last night.

His only question mark is if he can stay healthy. He has missed 3 full games and 3 quarters of another. If he stays healthy the rest of the season he still has a good shot at MVP. He still has to face the Giants defense twice. If he shreads them too it will show how unstoppable he has become.

Edited November 16, 2010 by coachx

[HawkItus]

Yeah, Vick looks amazing. But, the Elephant in the Room is his health and what happens when faces a team like Pittsburgh who won't leave the receivers wide open. I'm not rooting for or against him. Once he took of the red and black he became Brett Farve to me...a player interesting history for my team, but the enemy none the less.

[lethalweapon3]

MVP-wise, he stepped in for an injured Kevin Kolb and outscored what was then a popular pick for the NFC title in the second half, became the Offensive Player of the Month, then got injured diving for the end zone one quarter into a loss to the Redskins, making amends with an epic performance against the Skins last night. Everything else in between has looked pretty darn good so far. He has the league's highest passer rating, no interceptions through four complete games, no lost fumbles, and the highest per-rush average of anyone with more than 10 rushes. The Eagles' offense doesn't need to dominate every week, but he, DeSean Jackson, and LeSean McCoy need to keep winning (11-5 or better) and stay healthy.

~lw3

[Wurider05]

I have never been the biggest Vick fan but this shows you how great he can be when he doesn't have to run for his life every play. Its water under the bridge now but we never surrounded him with players they have in Philly. If it comes down to Philly vs. Atlanta for the NFC championship in Atlanta that will be the hottest ticket in the history of this city. Nosebleeds will probably run you 500.00 bucks.

[HawksFan87]

I agree with Coach, that was the most impressive game I have ever seen played by an NFL QB. He was unstoppable last night. As long as he continues to stay healthy, and make the right decisions. He could win the MVP...

[capstone21]

I hate that this scumball dirtbag is contending for MVP. How quickly people can forget and forgive him. I can't.

This article from the LA times is really good:

http://www.latimes.c...,5163298.column

Dog owner can't forgive Michael Vick

Mel, a black pit bull, cowers to the corner while another dog, Pumpkin, shields him. Mel was one of the 47 pit bulls in Michael Vick's interstate dogfighting ring. (Richard Hunter / November 16, 2010)

Quarterback shows greatness on the field, but evidence of former cruelty remains.

By Bill Plaschke November 16, 2010|8:27 p.m.

While Michael Vick was screaming toward the sky, a black pit bull named Mel was standing quietly by a door.

On this night, like many other nights, Mel was waiting for his owners to take him outside, but he couldn't alert them with a bark. He doesn't bark. He won't bark. The bark has been beaten out of him.

While Michael Vick was running for glory, Mel was cowering toward a wall.

Every time the 4-year-old dog meets a stranger, he goes into convulsions. He staggers back into a wall for protection. He lowers his face and tries to hide. New faces are not new friends, but old terrors.

While Michael Vick was officially outracing his past Monday night, one of the dogs he abused cannot.

"Some people wonder, are we ever going to let Michael Vick get beyond all this?" said Richard Hunter, who owns Mel. "I tell them, let's let Mel decide that. When he stops shaking, maybe then we can talk."

I know, I know, this is a cheap and easy column, right? One day after the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback officially becomes an American hero again, just call the owner of one of the dogs who endured Vick's unspeakable abuse and let the shaming begin.

Compare Vick's 413 total yards, four touchdown passes and two rushing touchdowns against the Washington Redskins to the 47 pit bulls who were seized from Bad Newz Kennels, his interstate dogfighting ring. Contrast one of the best three hours by a quarterback ever to the 21 months he spent in prison.

Cheap and easy, right? Not so fast. Vick's success is raising one of the most potentially costly and difficult perceptual questions in the history of American sports.

If he continues playing this well, he could end up as the league's most valuable player. In six games, he has thrown for 11 touchdowns, run for four more touchdowns, committed zero turnovers and produced nearly 300 total yards per game. Heck, at this rate, with his Eagles inspired by his touch, he could even win a Super Bowl, one of the greatest achievements by an American sportsman.

And yet a large percentage of the population will still think Michael Vick is a sociopath. Many people will never get over Vick's own admissions of unthinkable cruelty to his pit bulls — the strangling, the drowning, the electrocutions, the removal of all the teeth of female dogs who would fight back during mating.

Some believe that because Vick served his time in prison, he should be beyond reproach for his former actions. Many others believe that cruelty to animals isn't something somebody does, it's something somebody is.

Essentially, an ex-convict is dominating America's most popular sport while victims of his previous crime continue to live with the brutality of that crime, and has that ever happened before?

Do you cheer the player and boo the man? Can you cheer the comeback while loathing the actions that necessitated the comeback? And how can you do any of this while not knowing if Vick has truly discovered morality or simply rediscovered the pocket?

If you are Richard Hunter, you just don't watch football.

"When you look at Mel," said Hunter, a radio personality from Dallas, "you just don't think about how Michael Vick is a great football player."

A couple of years ago, Hunter and his wife Sunny were watching a documentary on Best Friends Animal Society, the Utah sanctuary where the court sent 22 of Vick's 44 seized dogs. It was after 1 a.m. when the show featured a Vick victim that had been so badly abused, it refused to move, behaving as if paralyzed.

"My wife said, 'Get out of bed, get on the computer and e-mail those people, I want one of those dogs,' " Hunter recalled.

Nearly 18 months later, they became one of six people to adopt one of the dogs. The process included a home visit by caseworkers, an extended visit to the southwest Utah sanctuary, home monitoring by a dog trainer and a six-month probation period.

"These dogs were scarred in many ways both emotional and physical," said John Polis, Best Friends spokesman. "It was something we had never really seen before."

Hunter and his wife quickly saw Mel's scars. The dog wouldn't bark, wouldn't show affection, and would spend nearly an hour shaking with each new person who tried to touch him.

It turns out that Mel had been a bait dog, thrown into the ring as a sort of sparring partner for the tougher dogs, sometimes even muzzled so he wouldn't fight back, beaten daily to sap his will. Mel was under constant attack, and couldn't fight back, and the deep cuts were visible on more than just his fur.

"You could see that Michael Vick went to a lot of trouble to make Mel this way," Hunter said. "When people pet him, I tell them, pet him from under his chin, not over his head. He lives in fear of someone putting their hand over his head."

On Monday night, no, Mel was not hanging out by the televised football game. He was hanging on his owner's bed as they watched something on HBO.

"How can you support football when you know one of their stars did this to a dog?" Hunter said. "If more people saw Mel at the same time as they saw Michael Vick, he wouldn't be so lauded."

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the lessons learned from Vick's crimes were on display in a postgame quote from Eagles star receiver DeSean Jackson.

"We were like pit bulls ready to get out of the cage," he told reporters.

Cheap and easy, huh

Edited November 19, 2010 by capstone21

[lethalweapon3]

This pales in comparison to the undoubtedly hundreds of actual scars he and his posse inflicted on other creatures, but part of the "scar" Mike must bear is that with every successful moment he has in life, from here to eternity, our media will ensure, in the supposed interest of being "fair and balanced," someone will seek out those living with the Vick-tims of his shameful past.

He stands on the sidelines with a clipboard for the remainder of his career, or winds up with a Vinny Testaverde-style career, and his past becomes not much more than a footnote in the eyes of the media. If he leads a team into the playoffs, wins an MVP, gets his team into a Super Bowl, garners a big offseason payday contract, shatters an NFL record, winds up in Canton, at every step along the way, articles like the above and "TV specials" will appear in earnest. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and he understands that this is his life going forward.

The silver lining is, as Mike strives for and achieves success, it produces the secondary effect through our media of keeping animal cruelty (a global societal problem that neither began nor will end with Vick's saga) at the forefront of our collective consciousness.

~lw3

[coachx]

How quickly people can forget and forgive him. I can't.

Let me just say that I do not root for Vick but I believe in forgiveness.

I have been a dog owner my whole life. B/c of that I really dislike him as a human being. Just b/c you forgive a person does not mean you must like them.

That being said............his Monday Night performance was legendary and the best offensive performance that I have ever seen in the NFL. I was actually pulling for McNabb to make a game out of it.

[EazyRoc]

Let me just say that I do not root for Vick but I believe in forgiveness.

I have been a dog owner my whole life. B/c of that I really dislike him as a human being. Just b/c you forgive a person does not mean you must like them.

That being said............his Monday Night performance was legendary and the best offensive performance that I have ever seen in the NFL. I was actually pulling for McNabb to make a game out of it.

For those of us that actually believe in God (not to derail the topic), It's healthier to forgive than to hate and dislike.

[Swatguy]

For those of us that actually believe in God (not to derail the topic), It's healthier to forgive than to hate and dislike.

"healthier" ? That's an understatement. It is written, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

[Swatguy]

Vick is clearly the MVP right now?

[EazyRoc]

"healthier" ? That's an understatement. It is written, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Yes it was. Mea culpa.

But I think Vick is 3rd in the MVP running thus far. He's behind Tom Brady and Philip Rivers. Honestly, I don't see the NFL allowing him to win the MVP award without overwhelming performances for the rest of the season. There's just too many people who despise the man.