Yeah, I know I’m late to the Vick/Goodell/Bills party. I’ve been busy at work. Anyway, I thought it would be cool to give my two cents on the whole ordeal. I’m sure some of this stuff has been repeated by now.
1) I don’t think the league decided to keep Vick away from the Bills because they hate Buffalo. Sure, I agree with the notion that the league looks down at us because of our market size, but there’s no way the NFL would know that Vick would be this big of a sensation today. In essence, he kind of had the Tom Brady/Drew Bledsoe stigma, where he almost didn’t start. He was the 3rd string QB when he came back to the league, but due to McNabb’s trade and Kolb getting hurt, he had his chance to shine. If Kolb doesn’t get hurt last year, Vick would have been a free agent. So, I don’t buy the logic of the NFL trying to crap on the Bills for this instance. That doesn’t make any sense. In all honestly, I think people are going insane because Bills fans like going nuts. They crave the drama.
2) The 3rd string factor is the biggest key. The Vick saga was very delicate. The league didn’t want to have a bunch of PETA folks picketing at their stadiums, and asking the league, “How can you have a QB who just got out of jail start from scratch?!” When the whole thing was going down, it was a huge deal. People wanted Vick suspended for the whole year. Hell, they wanted him banished. This wasn’t just a league issue, this was a national “lets have Mike Wallace interview Mike Vick” kind of story. You’re damn right the league was concerned. I think fans are forgetting about how crazy the situation was. We just keep viewing Vick as being a sensation now rather than looking back at what he was then. The league doesn’t want to award a player just getting out of jail with a starting job with any team.
3) Now, with all that being said, the league shouldn’t have swayed Vick. It’s wrong. Now, I do understand where the league is coming from with being careful, but you can’t sway a player. Is it collusion? I don’t think so because the league wasn’t trying to make Philly a contender. They already had 3 QBs. In other words, it’s not like how people accuse the NBA of trying to help large market teams win by having the Knicks win the 83′ draft lottery.
4) Hindsight 20/20 is a funny thing, ain’t it? When the whole Vick to Buffalo saga started in the summer of 2009, I didn’t want Vick here. It had nothing to do with his jail sentence but rather that he couldn’t pass from the pocket. He was a gifted athlete who had a rocket of an arm, but he was lazy and couldn’t read defenses. I think a lot of fans felt the same way. He learned how to do that from Andy Reid who knows a thing or two about quarterbacks. With that being said, do you really think Dick Jauron would have gotten a lot out of Vick? Pleeeease. Dick Jauron would have screwed him up so much that #7 would be wishing he was back in jail and quarterbacking the Burt Reynolds squad in The Longest Yard Part III.
5) You want to know what annoyed me? It was hearing how Ralph Wilson vetoed the move. I don’t know what world I’m living in right now, but I always try to pretend that he doesn’t have a say in personnel moves. I guess you can compare it to how Leo and his wife built their dream life in Inception. I know I’m totally wrong because he does have a giant say. Hell, by some reports, he didn’t want Buddy Nix to hire Marty Schottenheimer who was interested in the job. There are 100’s of other examples. Anyways, whenever I hear about stuff like this, I just roll my eyes and go “Um, yeah, Ralph still owns the team and ruins runs it.”
6) Lastly, saw a few comments about being disappointed in Goodell because “he’s from Jamestown and he’s not suppose to be biased towards Buffalo.” What planet are you from? I don’t know why people think Goodell would care one way or another. He gets paid tons of money to make the league even more money so he could give a crap about his hometown roots. Anyway, I didn’t need this news to come to that conclusion.
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