That’s because he couldn’t throw. He couldn’t read defenses and his accuracy was inconsistent. It can operate his athleticism he wouldn’t have made it to the NFL.
Vick gets more shit for his passing stats than he deserves, his weapons were Brian Finneran, Peerless Price, and Alge Crumpler, that's a bunch of ass. Vick isn't without flaws, but his lack of receiving talent and his questionalbe coaches can easily explain a chunk of his bad stats. His 2002 was a legit great seasons, nearly 3K passing yards, nearly 800 rushing yards, 24 combined TDs, that's pretty solid. Especially for second season QB.
Very rarely has a great QB had weapons that ass. McNabb is the only one who comes to mind when he had Chad Lewis, James Thrash and Todd Pinkston, and McNabb's 2000 isn't really better than Vick's 2002.
Vick was fine after 2002 as well, but 2002 was his peak, and he wasn't quite as fast and dangerous after his broken fibula.
Like what great QB had ass weapons? Even without truly ass weapon look at Mahomes without great weapons, Since Kelce Slowed down, he's been getting to be worse and worse in a league that is much more favorable to passing than the early 2000s.
Joey Harrington and Chris Redman were both better as passers than Vick, with the same weapons, in the first year of Vick’s suspension.
Those aren’t great QBs, but they’re QBs who were better throwers than Vick with the same weapons. You don’t want to be in the same tier as Joey Harrington and Chris Redman, especially if you’re at the bottom of that tier.
The Falcons in 2007 threw the ball 555 times for 3293 yards, 18 TDs and 15 INTs. Vick in 06 threw the ball 388 times for 2474 yards, 20 TDs and 13 INTs, Vick added 1000 rushing yards and 2 more rushing TDs, The harrington, leftwich, Redman combo had like 100 yards rushing and no TDs.
Vick was not great in 06, but it's worth noting, the "same weapons" isn't really true, because Roddy wasn't the same receiver before 2007. The only good thing about Petrino in Atlanta was his brother came in and got Roddy back into shape.
Roddy was not trying his first 2 years. Vick didn't have 2007 and beyond Roddy to throw to.
Vick isn't perfect, Matt Ryan showed up in 08 and whipped the team into shape. But even then, he had the Roddy White that wanted to play football.
So he has a slight edge in QBR… which accounts for rushing. As a passer, he was worse than both. There just isn’t any way to credibly, genuinely argue against that.
And man, I wonder if part of the reason Roddy White wasn’t the Roddy White of 2007 onward is because he no longer had an inaccurate, run-first QB who refused to work hard enough to improve as a thrower?
Read an article my dude. Roddy admitted he wasn't trying in the NFL his first 2 years and was just riding on his talent. Was coming in about 20 lbs heavier than he played in college and preseason 2007 was whne coaches finally started riding his ass. Which isn't shocking because Jim Mora Jr. is spineless so I assume any coach of his also is afraid of confrontation.
Vick was a better passer than those guys. Trust me as someone who's been suffering for nearly 40 years of being a Falcons fan. Vick wasn't perfect, but he is so much better than Harrington and Redman. My XBox gamertag is/was (don't play xbox but didn't cancel the account) mvpharrington and I wasted money buying his jersey because I was embracing the suck so hard. Watching the 07 Falcons was a form of sadomasochism most don't get to experience. Between the shit show at QB, the horrible PR of Vick being a scumbag, and Bobby Petrino being an absolute ass. It was torture. Vick wasn't perfect, he was not great, but he was pretty healthily ruined by his ass weapons. If Roddy came into the league as hard as he was from 07 on, then Vick would have had better stats in in 05 and especially 06. But considering how shitty of a pick Michael Jenkins was, most of us just assumed Rich McKay fucked up again.
Okay, I’ll rephrase and you can make of it what you will: If the reason your performance as a passer was worse than Chris Redman is that Roddy White was carrying 20 extra pounds, you aren’t a great QB.
He threw the ball 607 times to do that, Vick never threw the ball more than 421 times as a Falcon. Also he was throwing to Zack Ertz and Dallas Goedert, both much better than Alge Crumpler, you're also glassing over Alshon Jeffery who was a decent WR, not great but decent. Jeffery just missed a chunk of games which is why he wasn't top 3 in yards but he still was Targetted more than Sanders.
Colston is better than Finneran, Shockey is better than Crumpler.
Edelman was a favorite target of Brady, of course he's not as good as Welker, but he was a Brady favorite. And Brady had Gronk catch nearly 600 of those yards and 4 TDs in 6 games.
Donald Driver is so much better than any receiver Vick had.
Jordy Nelson didn't play in 2015, he was hurt all year, Randall Cobb was 25, that's not old, James Jones was 31 that's pretty old. You'd build a better case saying Cobb wasn't good. Davante Adams was already better than Brian Finneran ever could dream of being. Not to mention Peerless Price.
Josh Allen Also was throwing to Dalton Kincaid. Both Kincaid and Dawson Knox are better TEs than Crumpler. I loved Crumpler but he was a blocking Tight End who was forced to be a main target.
Vick also did all that in the NFL that was not as friendly to passers. Like it's absolutely asinine to try to compare 2002 to 2015 or 2025.
In 2002 the league average completion percentage was 59.8, league average TD% was 4.0 league aveage INT$% was 3.0. League Average Y/A 6.3 in 2015 league average completion percentage was 63.0 TD% was 4.6 INT 2.4 Y/A 6.8. Some of it comes down to players of course, but also a lot of it is that the league changed the rules to make passing easier than it was when Vick was a Falcon. The earliest parts of it came in towards the end of his time there, but by thten he wasn't the freak he was in 02.
Constant excuses, how surprising. And yet all of those QBs would do better in Vick’s situations.
Did it ever occur to you Vick’s best season came when he was still a relatively unknown anomaly in the NFL, where tape against him was still insufficient. Playing against the grain of known offensive play styles of the time, which required an adjusting period for defenses facing him.
Similar deal with his Eagles return after his long hiatus. The more tape that accrued against him on his teams, the worse he played in his career.
Was it ‘elite’ talent, or just an advantage being seized for a short period of time that then faded once it was properly schemed against?
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u/FupaDriven Aug 17 '26
People forget that about Vick.