The Vick Experience Reload: The Evolution of 7
Some players are just generational talents.
For decades guys meant to bring change to the game in some way, shape, or form have flooded your brains and televisions with some of the most memorable moments in NFL history.
It’s no different in today’s games, just look no further than Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Coming off a stellar sophomore campaign in which he led his team to the number one seed in the AFC, while winning MVP of the league. Jackson’s video game-like numbers left the league buzzing in a way almost never seen before. The keyword, almost. See despite how revolutionary Jackson will be for the game of football as the old saying goes, in order for him to walk someone had to crawl.
That someone was a 6’0/210 pound young man from Newport News, Virginia who took the game by storm. Honestly, you could say he essentially changed the way that the quarterback position is played until this day. With his game-breaking runs, lighting quick moves, and his innovative offensive abilities to match the cannon attached to his shoulder, he became a human highlight reel from the moment he touched the field. Children inspired to be him, the defensive coordinator had nightmares thinking about him, and to an extent the football world needed him.
At what many thoughts was the height of his powers there was essentially nothing you could do to stop him. In 2004, EA Sports released that year’s edition of Madden trying to portray his abilities and came pretty close, but soon found out there is only one Michael Vick Experience.
What exactly is the Michael Vick Experience?
Well to some people it’s this.
However, for one to understand all that goes into what created the Michael Vick we all know and love, one must know that behind every luxurious story is a struggle.
The Beginning
Growing up in Newport News, Virginia, Vick’s parents often looked for ways to keep him and his sisters active. This is why by the age of seven Vick’s mother signed him up to play football at the local Boys and Girls club. In the seventh grade, Vick met Tommy Reamon, his future high school coach, and an instrumental part in Vick’s early development. It was obvious from the beginning that Vick admired Reamon from the work he had done with former Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks back during his time at Warwick high school. Under Warwick’s guidance, Vick became the second-ranked quarterback in the state of Virginia, racking up numerous scholarships in the process. While Syracuse pushed hard for Vick to become Donavan McNabb’s successor (boy does the universe have a funny way of working, but we’ll touch on that later). Vick instead chose to carve his own path in Blacksburg.
Now that Vick was returning to his home state, the next task at hand was to make a name for himself. While Vick redshirted his freshman year, the next season the world was formally introduced to Michael Vick. At 19 years old, Vick led the Hokies to an undefeated record, finishing third in Heisman voting, en route to the 1999-2000 National Championship performance for the ages. While Virginia Tech fell just short, Vick almost single-handedly lifted the team ahead in only the 12th game of collegiate career his 225 yards in the air to match the 97 on the ground. With the world in his hands and one season of eligibility left at his disposal, Michael Vick scrambled his way all the way into the first overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. The league had seen the immaculate reception, “The Drive” (hello John Elway), and “The Catch” (rest in peace Dwight Clark), but now it was time for the league to meet “The Guy”.
The Experience
“We have a trade! The Atlanta Falcons have traded the fifth pick, the 68th pick, and a second-round pick in the 2002 NFL Draft to the San Diego Chargers, in exchange for the first pick. With the first pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons select Michael Vick. Quarterback, Virginia Tech.”
Despite playing sparingly as a rookie, it was at this very moment a city that would soon become the face of the music industry, now had a face of its own. Captivating an entire culture with his play on the field and his swagger off it, even Lil Wayne once said “If you didn’t have a cameo of Michael Vick in your music video, your video probably wasn’t that cool.” Once Vick took over the starting job full time during the 2002 season, the experience had officially made its way into the NFL. It didn’t take long for Vick to pick up where he left off at Virginia Tech as a Falcon. In his first year as the starter, Vick led the Falcons to their first playoff berth their Super Bowl loss in 1998 and handed the Green Bay Packers their first-ever home playoff loss in since the NFL began the postseason in 1933, all by the age of 22.
While Vick’s 2003 season was shortened to just five games with a broken leg suffered in the pre-season, the 2004 season saw Vick back in prime form. Running circles around defenses, while Vick finished the season with only 2,313 passing yards and 14 passing touchdown. On the ground Vick was a different beast, finishing the season just short of 1,000 yards (902) and three touchdowns. This was the closest Vick ever got to a Super Bowl, as Atlanta made it all the way to the NFC championship game, but lost their second straight playoff matchup against the Eagles (ones again funny how the universe works but we still aren’t quite there.) Remember when we mentioned how Vick finished just shy of 1,000 yards rushing during the 2004 season? Well in 2006 Vick had a chance at redemption *remember that word*, in a season that saw him set what at the time was a career-high in passing yards with 2,474 yards, while also becoming the first quarterback in league history to eclipse 1,000 yards (1,039).
Humbling Retribution, Redemption
After the 2006 season, however, is where things take a startling turn for Vick. As we know, with great power comes great responsibility, and while it’s not abnormal for at 21-year-old to make mistakes. Considering the fact Vick had signed the richest contract for a rookie in league history up to that point, and he mentioned the “Bad Newz Kennels” operation began in 2001 (the year Vick was drafted).
It’s never a good thing when large sums of money and the wrong crowd are involved in the same sequence. On April 20, 2007, Vick’s cousin Davon Boddie was arrested in what was thought to be an ordinary drug charge. However, when state police obtained a search warrant to search what was thought to be Boddie’s home it was known to be a property owned by Vick. What they found opened up a more significant can of worms.
Despite denying involvement during a meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in early 2007 after word broke of an alleged dogfighting ring. Vick soon began to admit full involvement between the months of August and October of 2007 and was suspended indefinitely by the league. To make matters worse, on December 10, 2007, Vick was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution and sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in the ring.
“Going to prison was probably the toughest thing I’ve had to do in my life. Actually the toughest thing. You know, leaving my family behind, football leaving football, leaving my friends, my loved ones. And you know going to be confined behind bars, with just idle time. And it’s very hard to explain but you know I know being in that moment being in that situation was so surreal for me, because I knew what I had done and what I had worked for really didn’t matter anymore. And being a part of the prison system, you almost feel like you’re nobody, you don’t have any existence to the world at all. You’re just a guy with a name and a number.” –Michael Vick
With football, family, and everything he had worked for taken from him in the blink of an eye. Vick knew it was up to him to rebuild his image and it started with him taking acceptance of his responsibilities.
Once Vick got out of prison, football seemed like nothing more than an afterthought. That was until he spoke with an old friend in Donovan McNabb.
“What if I talked to Andy about bringing you back in. Getting back on your feet, learning the game how to be a professional, and let’s see what happens. He stopped and was like you would do that? I said why not? I take care of my brother.”
Reloaded
Not too long after McNabb and Vick had that conversation, Vick signed a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. So now we can address the elephant in the room. How the universe seemed to come full circle for Vick is amazing to say the least. Isn’t it funny how the same person who felt it was destined for Vick to be his successor in college, is the same person responsible for helping launch Vick’s second act in the league.
“I want to send a special thanks to Donovan McNabb. He’s a great friend. For reaching out to Andy, and giving him a time to think about the decision he made bringing me in. I now know that playing in the NFL is a privilege and not a right. And I want to do whatever’s necessary and become the best ambassador for the NFL and the community.” Michael Vick
It’s also funny how the same team that was responsible for ending both of Vick’s playoff appearance in his career up until that post was the same team who would need Vick to save their season at some point. But given how the circumstances have played out up until this point it was only fitting that Vick trip to the end zone happened during the Eagles trip to, you guessed it. Atlanta! Talk about full circle. To call it a homecoming would probably be an understatement as Vick scored twice (once in the air and a second on the ground) and even the fans in the Georgia Dome couldn’t help but cheer as a man who was once the face of the city saw a glimmer of hope on his path to redemption. Though it was not all smiles for Vick himself.
“I cried on the way to the stadium. You know, I used to own it! And I was the guy. And now… I’m at the back of the bus, you know, I’m the team quarterback. I let the city down, I let myself down, I let my family down, and all I wanted to do was just make it right.”
See the big question everyone wanted to know when Vick signed in Philadelphia was is the experience over, and if not how much does Vick has left in the tank? However the real question was, is it possible that version 2.0 of “The Michael Vick Experience” could actually be better than the first? You see despite Vick’s inept abilities to evade defenders and wreck havoc on the ground, he still had strides to make as a passer. During his time in Atlanta, Vick never went over 3,000 yards passing, and he never really got close honestly. But under the tutelage of Andy Reid, the sky was the limit for Vick. Even at the age of 30 after taking two full years off and playing in a limited role in his first year in Philadelphia. Once McNabb was traded during the offseason of 2010, it was only a matter of time before the Michael Vick experience was reloaded.
Vick was able to go over 3,000 yards twice under Reid’s guidance. Including the phenomenal 2010 season that saw Vick produce one of the greatest seasons, an Eagles quarterback has ever had. –3,018 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, six interceptions, 110.2 quarterback rating–and make a late-season surge at the MVP award. From the moment Vick came in for an injured Kevin Kolb week one against Green Bay and stole the show. To the six-touchdown performance against McNabb and the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football, or even his magnificent efforts leading comeback of the Miracle in the Meadowlands.
Philadelphia’s version of The Michael Vick Experience was nothing short of electrifying. Sure we could go all day talking about how explosive the tandem of Vick-McCoy-Jackson was during the early 2010s.
This is just a testament to how Vick was able to return from the two-year hiatus and still shred defenses for 9,984 passing yards, 72 total touchdowns (57 pass–15 run), and 1,998 rushing yards.
Pretty goatish wouldn’t you say?
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