Vick-alo Bills

Ok, just got off the phone with my brother, who heard from his co-workers, best friends, cousins, roommate who works with the Bills and he said that Michael Vick has just landed in Buffalo and is on his way to Rochester as we speak.

As a homegrown Rochesterian, which is redundant, and a lifelong Western New Yorker, which you have to be if part A is true, I am shocked at the course the Bills have taken over the last eight months. Clearly Ralph Wilson is losing confidence in his medical staff, because every decision that organization has made recently screams of desperation. And it will never work.

It is a shame to see the Bills stoop to levels previously reserved for the League of Meglomaniacal Owners. LOMO consists of Jerry Jones, Daniel Snyder, Art Modell (Emeritus) and their Patron Saint Al Davis. The Bills took the first step towards inclusion by signing Malignant Wide Out Terrell Owens this off-season. Sure esteemed pundits such as James Hasty and Deion Sanders called the move a "good football decision," and yes the Bills do stand to gain from the increased exposure created by T.O.'s 798th ranked Reality Series, and not to mention all the good will that will be created for his highly inventive cereal line TO's, but was signing TO really a good idea?

Everybody likes to point to 2005 when TO "led" the Eagles to the Super Bowl. Look, I like revisionist history as much as the next guy, especially when it involves me, but TO didn't "lead" the Eagles anywhere. Yes he had a great season that year, big time numbers, but the Eagles were a team that had made it to the NFC Championship Game in each of the previous three seasons without the Totally Overrated one. And the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl, for the first time since 1980, without TO playing a single down. In fact the only time TO has ever played for a team that won a playoff game was all the way back in 1999 with the Forty-Niners. I mean TO played very well in that Super Bowl, but the bottom line is the team lost and furthermore the team spent the next three years trying to sterilize their locker room.

So, please don't tell me that signing TO was a good football decision. Especially when you could make the argument that Wide Receiver was one of the strengths of the Bills roster. Lee Evans, Josh Reed, Roscoe Parrish and James Hardy have a ton of talent and each brings a slightly different strength to the table...if only they were allowed to develop.

This brings us to the most desperate of moves, signing Mike Vick. Really, Vick? For what, for who? The disgruntled dog damager hasn't played football in two years. I don't care who you are that just doesn't work. Other than Muhammed Ali name for me the last person to take two years off and return to their sport at a comparable level of play.

What's that? Vick is a special athlete? Well he better be because signing Vick is the Death Knell for Trent Edwards in Buffalo. I mean, why mess with his progress? Now Edwards is going to be hearing it from the fans and the media if the Bills lose two games in a row. Let's face it the Steelers won the first two games of the year last year and because the offense didn't put enough points on the board people were wondering about Byron Leftwich. And Roethlisberger had already won a Super Bowl and was the winningest Quarterback through the first fifty games of his career in the history of the NFL. So what do you think will happen if the Bills lose a couple of close games while Vick knocks off a twenty yard run or two from the Wildcat? It isn't going to be pretty.

From a football standpoint, it has been proven that the best way to win is to develop through the draft. The Bills used to be the gold standard under Bill Polian and they seemed to have turned it around a bit under Marv Levy, who in my opinion was highly underrated. And the Bills offense was young and talented at each of the skilled positions. Unfortunately, now that Ralph Wilson has checked off Canton on his Bucket List the only thing left is the Lombardi Trophy. Well Ralphie boy it ain't gonna happen. Not like this. Ask the rest of the LOMO's what it feels like to hoist that trophy. Oh, wait a sec they haven't done it since Clinton's first term. And just for the record ask Jerry Jones how he built that team...on second thought ask Jimmie Johnson.

8/14/09

Ok, so...I was wrong. I can't believe my inside source was wrong. I mean this was the guy that told me about the Flutie Flakes 48 hours before they hit the stores. Hhrm?!?! Anyway, back to Vick.

Vick in Philly makes more sense. Solid franchise, good coach, perennial playoff team, Quarterback with Rabbit Ears, young talent at the skill positions...What was that? Oh, the rabbit ears? Yeah Donovan has Rabbit Ears what about it?

The fact is Michael Vick potentially could be a dangerous weapon in the right offense. He could be used in a Kordell/Slash capacity, and before he went to jail Vick had loads more talent than Kordell. I just question whether he can ever regain the speed that was such an important part of his game. Nobody that I can think of that spent time in prison ever got the speed back. Jamal Lewis went in as a big bruiser that ran the 40 in 4.45 seconds and came out a big slow running back. Even the great Ali had to invent the Rope-A-Dope to get around his overall lack of speed and quickness. He relied totally on heart and heart is something that Vick doesn't have.