Michael Vick Criticism Has Been Overblown and Ridiculous This Week

Over the previous three years and including games so far this year, 167 different games have featured a quarterback throw at least 2 interceptions, and throw them at as high or higher of a rate than Vick last Sunday. One-Hundred-And-Sixty-Seven.

Twenty-three of the other current starting quarterbacks have had a game with a higher interception rate in the last three seasons, including rookies Brandon Weeden and Ryan Tannehill in their first career starts. The eight that have not (so far) include the other rookie starters, Jake Locker with one career start, second year quarterbacks Andy Dalton and Blaine Gabbert, along with Philip Rivers and Sam Bradford.

Vick himself has two other games with at least as high an interception rate. The most games with an interception rate higher than what Vick did on Sunday: Carson Palmer, Mark Sanchez and Jay Cutler with eight. Eli Manning with seven. Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford have done it four times.

It’s not that rare to have a high interception rate game, and when there are tips, and the sheer number of passes exceeds 50, well, it’s way overblown. What’s going on here? The Eagles won. Have you read any articles on Matt Stafford being benched this week? What about Cutler? Very similar games, and Cutler’s came on half the passes.

Is there a race component to just how much louder the outcry over Vick’s game has been? Two years ago, I looked at race and quarterbacks. Here’s what I wrote then:

"I think black quarterbacks do have it a little worse from the general public after a bad game or a bad season. All quarterbacks get criticism from someone – there are enough voices out there to insure that – but the sense I get is there are a few more voices when a black quarterback plays poorly. On the other hand, I think the decision makers within the NFL are generally pretty good about being mostly focused on performance."

So while there have been talk radio topics this week, I don’t think Andy Reid and the Eagles actually give one rip. Whether it’s Philly market, a race component, or Vick’s past, something about this past week has been blown way out of proportion, when it happens way more frequently than people want to acknowledge. Hey, bad game, and as I pointed out in last week’s Post-Game Handshakes, Vick now joins Ken Stabler in throwing four interceptions in a win on opening day. The Raiders won the Super Bowl that year.

By the way, even though everyone is on the Ravens on the road in Philadelphia, the line still has the Eagles favored. Eagles over Baltimore today, and Vick somehow manages to avoid throwing four interceptions again.

[photo via US Presswire]