Hail to Incomparable Vick, He Soon May Have No Peer

The time may already be here when it’s possible to think of Michael Vick, the Atlanta Falcons’ young quarterback, as the game’s finest football player.

Vick, a smooth-throwing left-hander, plays the NFL game with unique speed. And in only his ninth start as a pro, he’ll show the Baltimore Ravens that today.

His quicksilver mobility made the difference last week when his swiftness afoot, combined with his transience in the pocket, led to the 37-35 upset of the New Orleans Saints.

And eventually, when Atlanta (4-3) moves past New Orleans (6-2) and Tampa Bay (6-2) to the top of the NFC South -- as soon, maybe, as this year -- it will be Vick’s arm and speed that carries the Falcons.

On most plays last week, the Saints could see him, presumably, but they couldn’t catch him. Not often. And when it was time to throw, he threw straight.

Great athletes, many of them nearly matching Vick in football talent, are all over the place. Vick’s edge, at 6 feet and 215 pounds, is simply that he does more things with more excellence than any peer. An accomplished passer who performs with the intuition of a good coach, he scrambles punctually, throws accurately on a scramble, and runs with the speed and talent of an all-pro running back.

Handoff Specialist?

The negative in Atlanta is that Vick’s natural way of playing football isn’t really compatible with that of Falcon Coach Dan Reeves, whose conservative instincts tend to inhibit freewheelers. In Reeves’ football, you still run to set up the pass.

Thus on first-down plays last week, relegating Vick to a handoff specialist, Reeves usually asked running back Warrick Dunn to hit the line, regardless of where the Falcons were positioned.

Vick was born to play another kind of football, pass-first football, even though, after failed runs, he’s more effective on second and 10 or third and nine than most passers. And in the last two minutes in New Orleans -- with Reeves reduced to no other option -- Vick got to play his game on the eight-play, field-goal drive that won it.

Starting from his 12-yard line with the Falcons one point in arrears, he advanced the ball with completions or scrambles on every play but one. On that one, he spiked it. Then, after one last scramble, a nauseated Vick left the field. As the clock ran down while the Falcons milled around with substitute quarterback Doug Johnson, Vick reacted like an experienced coach.

Standing on the sideline, he yelled, “Spike the ball!” With four seconds left, Johnson finally did. Then Jay Feely kicked it 47 yards.

Even so, the day’s great plays were Vick’s touchdown runs of three and 32 yards. He seemed to be Gale Sayers reincarnated.

Griese Punished

The difference between Vick and Denver passer Brian Griese, who, Eastern analysts predict, has the Broncos lined up for the Super Bowl, is that Griese is too slow to avoid the pounding that often afflicts those heavily rushed.

Not long after the Broncos (6-2) had impressed the West with a 26-9 runaway over San Diego (6-1) in Week 5, they impressed the East with an easy 24-16 decision in Week 8 at New England, where Griese extended his touchdown-pass streak.

This season as usual, however, he has been pounded more often than he has thrown for touchdowns. Spectators winced again last Sunday whenever Griese couldn’t get the ball off. On failed pass plays, blitzers and other pass rushers jumped on him as usual until, sometimes, they blotted him out of sight. That has to hurt.

By contrast, Vick has a knack for evading pass rushers that keeps him relatively unharmed. In this aspect of the job he is unusual, if not unique. He accelerates away from an onrushing blitzer with a speed burst that resembles that of a sprinter taking off on a spring day. He is, to be sure, sacked on occasion. But he is seldom punished.

As every pro fan knows, Griese hasn’t been the season’s only statue-like victim of NFL pass rushers. Heavy hits happen to all quarterbacks.

The carnage is, at once, one of the best and worst things about pro football, whose defensive players, to succeed, must punish.

But the most vicious hits are reserved for the quarterbacks who aren’t fast enough to get out of their own way. Conspicuous examples, besides Griese, are quarterbacks Brad Johnson of Tampa and Kurt Warner of the Rams. That’s why the more nimble Vick should go a long way in this league.

Fining Pays Off

How much will the NFL have to fine San Diego strong safety Rodney Harrison to make him stop hitting people improperly? Over the years, the league has taken Harrison for more than two-fifths of a million dollars in fines -- and still, he keeps attacking unsuspecting and often defenseless opponents.

Most recently, he was suspended for a week without pay -- estimated to be the equivalent of a fine of more than $110,000 -- for a head-to-head hit on Oakland receiver Jerry Rice. And, the disciplinary executives hope, that will help.

Harrison, by order of the league, is scheduled to sit out today’s game against the New York Jets. That will punish the whole San Diego defense -- and by extension San Diego’s many football fans. My recommendation would be a $200,000 fine and let him play.

The most valuable and important thing about all this, though, is that Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and his associates are conscientiously dealing out strong punishment for extraneous punishment.

And that promotes football both competitively and as a spectator attraction. In almost every game now, you see pass rushers approaching the passer at full speed -- bent on the sacks that mean so much to sackers financially and to their employers competitively -- only to pull up at the last instant if the pass has been thrown.

It seems like yesterday that defensive linemen and linebackers joined in insisting that in a fast-moving rush on the passer, it was impossible for them to pull up. You don’t hear much of that now. They are playing properly, now, most of them -- and still getting their sacks.

That, however, prompts the question: How much will Harrison be fined before he learns to behave? We’ll see.

Five Guesses

NFL teams are evenly matched this season, making every weekend a guessing game. So let’s play it. Here are five guesses on five key games today and Monday night:

* San Francisco to win by six over Oakland, the favorite at Oakland. The question is whether Raider quarterback Rich Gannon can rekindle his once flaming offense in time to take advantage of the vulnerable 49er defense.

* St. Louis by seven over Arizona at Tempe: The Cardinals are beginning to make some noise with an offense that outscored the 49ers in the second half last week, 21-7. But Ram third-stringer Marc Bulger seems more quarterback than Cardinal first-stringer Jake Plummer.

* New England by three over Buffalo, the favorite at Buffalo. In a matchup of former New England teammates, Drew Bledsoe of the Bills is both the sentimental and actual favorite over Tom Brady of the Patriots. Bledsoe has an enormous advantage in receivers with, first of all, Eric Moulds. The continuous inability of New England’s new young receivers to get open is beating Brady this year. In the ninth week of the schedule, if they’re ever going to acclimatize, today’s the time.

* Pittsburgh by one over Cleveland at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Even in Ohio, they expect Tommy Maddox of the Steelers to outplay Tim Couch in this battle of new quarterbacks extending an old regional rivalry.

* Green Bay by three over Miami on Monday night at Lambeau Field: Against the Dolphin defense, Packer quarterback Brett Favre won’t have a romp of the kind he has grown used to this season. But the question is obvious: Has Miami, during a bye week, been able to develop an offense capable of scoring just a few points? A little dab might do it.