The NFC South’s biggest targets: Alge Crumpler

By Darrell Laurant  |   Tuesday, October 31, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Atlanta Falcons
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For years, Alge Crumpler was Michael Vick's lifeline, as in the quiz show "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?"

When the downfield pass routes shut down as Vick scrambled from sideline to sideline like a squirrel crossing a busy highway, Crumpler was always the lighthouse he would ultimately look for.

In 2003, Crumpler became the first tight end to lead Atlanta in receptions, grabbing 44. The next year, he had 48 catches; in 2005, as Vick struggled late in the season, 65.

It almost seemed that Crumpler and Vick had a weird symbiosis going -- the worse Vick got, the more catches came Crumpler's way.

Maybe that's changed now, to the benefit of both. In winning games against Pittsburgh (in overtime) and Cincinnati, Vick showcased an apparently newfound ability to operate from the pocket, burning the Steelers for four touchdown passes and Cincinnati for three.

When this happened, the conventional wisdom went, Crumpler's role would revert to the blocking prowess for which he seemed to be destined. Has there ever been a better surname for a road-grading tight end than "Crumpler"?

Funny thing, though. Crumpler caught three of Vick's TD passes against Pittsburgh, and one of the Cincinnati trio.

"Vick didn't use Alge Crumpler as a crutch (against Cincinnati)," noted Orange County Register football writer Michael Lev in his weekly pro football column. "Crumpler was the Falcons' leading receiver, but seven players caught at least two balls."

Levy added: "If Vick truly has taken the next step ... future Falcon foes should be afraid, very afraid."

Meanwhile, Crumpler is kind of scary himself.

"There's a reason why he's an All-Pro," rueful Steeler DB Ryan Clark told the Beaver County Times after the epic game in Atlanta. "He finds the holes in the zone. We weren't manning him up or doubling him, and in retrospect that might not have been the smartest thing with a guy that good."

Clark knew what he was talking about. The Steelers had Atlanta in a third-and-9 situation, in Falcons' territory, in the overtime period. Vick sprinted to his left, as he had on several other occasions that day, apparently heading for the first-down marker at a sharp angle.

This time, though, the Atlanta QB pulled up and lobbed a short pass to Crumpler. Clark was there, and tried to wrap him up, but Crumpler dragged him for almost 30 yards, as if the two were competing in some summer picnic piggyback race. By the time Clark and friends finally got Crumpler down, the Falcons were almost in field goal range.

Crumpler was having the time of his life.

"Every time they scored," he said, "I threw up my six-shooter, because I was saying it was going to be a shootout."

The son of a star East Carolina tailback named Carlester Crumpler and the brother of a former Minnesota Vikings tight end (Carlester Jr.), Alge (short for Algernon) certainly has the genes to be an NFL star. Yet he seems almost smallish in this era of power-forward-sized tight ends like San Diego's Antonio Gates, stacking his 260 pounds on a mere 6-foot-2 frame.

Crumpler is most reminiscent of Eric Green, who had a few good years in Pittsburgh. He has bulk, and surprising speed, and an exceptional sense of field awareness -- perhaps honed by his days of rescuing Michael Vick.

Too bad for Pittsburgh there was nobody around to rescue Ryan Clark.

Get more Atlanta Falcons perspectives at RealFootball365.com
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