Out of the interest of fun, here's the comparison Michael Vick and J.T. O'Sullivan's respective careers. Point is that many people believe that Vick would be a better backup quarterback. And based on the numbers, they're probably right.
Starts | Win % | Comp % | TD-INT Ratio | Avg. Y/P | Yards | |
J.T. O'Sullivan | 8 | .250 | 57.3% | 9-13 | 7.4 | 1,826 |
Michael Vick | 67 | .575 | 53.8% | 71-52 | 6.7 | 11,505 |
However, not taking into account of missing two full seasons while being in prison is a bit short-sighted. Also lost in all of this, of course, is the price tag. Do you think that Vick would sign for two years and roughly $2 million for a club in which offers him no shot at starting unless Carson Palmer falls? Vick is closing in on a rebound campaign, to show NFL teams he can still play. Signing with the Bengals wouldn't offer him that chance. For the Bengals and for Vick himself, any sort of marriage would be pointless.
Don Banks examines Vick further, by reminding us that his last season in the NFL (2006), wasn't that great.
• Vick lost seven of his last nine starts in 2006, as the Falcons wasted a 5-2 start and missed the playoffs at 7-9 -- a tailspin that contributed to head coach Jim Mora losing his job after three seasons in Atlanta. Over his final two seasons, his fifth and sixth in the NFL, Vick's starting record was a mediocre 15-16. These days, that's roughly Matt Schaub territory, who, ironically, was Vick's onetime backup in Atlanta.
• In those last nine starts of 2006, Vick threw for at least 200 yards in a game just once, in a Week 15 home loss to Dallas. Vick passed for 127 yards or fewer in five of his last seven starts, and had efforts of 109 yards and 81 yards in his final two games as a Falcon that season. For the year, he completed just 52.6 percent, and averaged only 154.6 yards passing per game, the 28th highest total among the NFL's 32 starters. Yawn.
• You might recall that Vick broke single-season rushing records for a quarterback with 1,039 yards and an average carry of 8.4 in 2006. That helped Atlanta lead the league in rushing for a third straight year, and the Falcons established a single-season franchise rushing record with 2,939 yards. But Vick was also sacked a whopping 45 times that year, losing 303 yards, and fumbled nine times. In his last three seasons in Atlanta, Vick coughed up the ball an alarming 36 times, often in the process of running, and absorbed a whopping 124 sacks (41.3 per year). Elusive? Maybe not.
• Vick's passer rating was a pedestrian 75.7 in 2006 (20th in the league), a slight improvement over 2005 (73.1). He threw for 20 touchdowns and a career-high-tying 13 interceptions that final season, but his two-year totals for 2005-06 were a modest 35 touchdowns with 26 picks. Include 2004 and Vick threw 49 touchdowns and 38 interceptions over the course of his final three seasons, with passer ratings that never climbed higher than '04's 78.1.
This will probably be the last time we bring this up. And it wouldn't have been if not for the half-baked idea that the Bengals should sign him. If Cincy Jungle were a political organization, then the president of the club publicly denounces any move by the Bengals. Thank you. Please vote.
Hard Knocks will likely feature something on Mike Brown.
"I think football fans all over the country are going to be fascinated like I am by the story," Sabol says. "This is one of the last of the family-owned teams. This is Mike's life. He doesn't sell cars or own some other company. This is it. For him, all there is is this team. It's the last of a breed. I'm real anxious to hear what Mike has to say.
Well, we knew it wouldn't be perfect.
ESPN's James Walker will be in Georgetown Friday, kicking off his Training Camp schedule this summer.
There are seven unsigned draft picks in the AFC North. Four of them belong to the Bengals.
In ESPN's latest power rankings, the Bengals rank 24th. Some how, they fell a spot since May.