Who let the dogs out, Michael?

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, May 16, 2007  |  Comments( 9 )

Atlanta Falcons
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Memo to the Houston Texans from the Atlanta Falcons: Can we have Matt Schaub back? Please?

I don't know if it's true that Michael Vick isn't very smart. It does appear that one of his problems is, he doesn't think anyone else is very smart.

In this age of rampant paranoia over terrorism and drug smuggling, why would you try to slip anything suspicious past the customs gatekeepers at an airport, let alone something hidden inside a water bottle in plain sight? Whether what Vick had in his secret compartment was "herb" or herbal tea, didn't he realize someone would notice?

Same with the dog-fighting accusations. Did he really think it would be enough if he just told investigators: "Oh, that's my property, but I've never been there?"

If you owned property where your relatives were living, wouldn't you visit it occasionally? And wouldn't you find yourself moved to ask: "Uh, guys, what's with the 50 pit bulls?"

The problem for Vick is that all this stuff is adding up -- the middle finger to the fans, the water bottle incident, stiffing seven congressmen who wanted to give him an award, and now the dog-fighting. Nobody is going to send Vick to the Big House, even if it does turn out that he was part of the dog-fighting operation, but that could be the last straw for the NFL's new hard-line commissioner, Roger Goodell.

For Goodell, Vick has become like that kid who keeps getting sent to the principal's office. At the very least, the Falcons' star might get suspended a couple of games if the latest problem gets worse -- and Atlanta's backup quarterback is now Joey Harrington.

The dilemma the Falcons face is that their most troublesome player is also their marquee player. If just about anyone else on the team had produced as much negative newspaper copy and TV soundbites as Vick, he probably would have been cut or traded. But the Falcons not only need Vick, they've built the team around him.

One of Coach Bobby Petrino's comments last week was revealing.

"I want to believe him," he said of Vick.

I'm sure he does. He wants to spend his time trying to find ways to keep Vick in the pocket, not out of jail. He's not a parole officer, but a football coach.

Did Vick really think no one would notice a farm with more pit bulls than there are players on the Falcons' roster? Maybe he was still under the delusion that if someone did discover what was going on, the authorities would cut him some slack because he's Michael Vick.

Unfortunately, that's becoming more of a liability than an asset.

Keep track of the Atlanta Falcons and the rest of the NFL at RealFootball365.com
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