Vick- Don’t Call It A Comeback, I’ve Been Here For Years

EAST RUTHERFORD – Before we get too excited that for two straight weeks now, Michael Vick as the Jets’ starting quarterback, led the team to back-to-back turnover-free winning performances, can’t help but to wonder what the Jets record would be if Vick started from week one. In my best Arsenio Hall voice, ‘things that make you go hmmmmm!’

When asked after Sunday’s 20-13 victory over Big Ben and them, Vick frankly answered,

“In my heart, yes. Yeah, I mean, to sit here and say no would show a lack of confidence in myself and my teammates. But absolutely, I think if I was starting from Day 1, then maybe it would’ve been an opportunity. But that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t put in that situation. The team wasn’t put in that situation.”

But after losing eight straight, with Geno, lets face it giving Vick control of the sinking ship may be too little too late. It’s like we know you may not be able to save us from sinking, just help us not sink so bad. But one things for sure and we all saw, despite he last year in Philly, its aint over for Vick. No no, he is not done yet.

In this game, Vick also became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 6,000 yards. In fact, Vick has obliterated the mark. The next closest QB is Randall Cunningham at 4,928 yards. Vick’s got at least 2,000 more rushing yards than running backs Alfred Morris and Knowshon Moreno, Pierre Thomas, Ryan Matthews and DeMarco Murray. Almost 2,000 more than Mercury Morris or Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. More than Ahmad Bradshaw, Christian Okoye or Reggie Bush. Remember Vick is a quarterback and these are all running backs. Vick has amassed over 25,000 yards of total offense.

A sentiment echoed by Mike Freeman, NFL National Lead Writer in Bleacher Report: “In an improbable game from an improbable player, Vick made perhaps the play of the day. It was second down deep inside Pittsburgh territory when Vick began scrambling to the right. Steelers corner Brice McCain came up fast to make the tackle. Vick stutter-stepped left, then right—thwop, thwop—and McCain’s legs became pretzels. He actually fell to the ground trying to tackle Vick.”

Ya have yo give credit to Vick for the win, but let’s not forget about the Jets defense was obviously impressive in stopping Ben Roethlisberger from scoring at will. Maybe having Vick at the helm has inspired the whole team on both sides of the ball to step up a little more. It’s clear the year might have been much different if they didn’t wait so long to make the switch. You want you team to ride or die with you, but lets face it, unlike overpaid one playoff game winning starting quarterback Tony Romo, who somehow still manages to keep people coming to the game, Jets fans were ready to revolt if Geno started one more game and had one more turn-over.

So whats next, will Vick continue to start, will he be able to salvage a season (the worst start in history of the team, I believe), only time will tell. Ryan has informed Vick will start in the next game against Buffalo but has giving anymore of the future of the position. Just look at what he’s doing on the field. He led a horrible Jets team to a win against a Steelers team almost everyone thought would annihilate them. We will never know where they would be if he started week one or took over is say week three, but just when you thought it was safe to give up on the Jets, Vick comes in to save the day two weeks in a row and gives Jets fans a glimmer of hope.

AJ Woodson

AJ Woodson is the Editor-In-Chief of Black Westchester and Co-Owner of Urban Soul Media Group, the parent company, Host & Producer of the People Before Politics Radio Show. AJ is a Father, Brother, An Author, Journalism Fellow (Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism), Hip-Hop Artist - one third of the legendary underground rap group JVC FORCE known for the single Strong Island, Radio Personality, Hip-Hop Historian, Documentarian, Activist, Criminal Justice Advocate and Freelance Journalist whose byline has appeared in several print publications and online sites including The Source, Vibe, the Village Voice, Upscale, Sonicnet.com, Launch.com, Rolling Out Newspaper, Daily Challenge Newspaper, Spiritual Minded Magazine, Word Up! Magazine, On The Go Magazine and several others.