You see that guy wearing the number 7 jersey right there? He is one of the most awesome players to ever hit the NFL. Whereas my awesomeness leads me to perform all design-related work for my band and also all studio work, Vick's awesomeness has cast him into the unenviable position of trying to carry a team. The pundits expect it, the coaches expect it, the fans expect it. This is about the dumbest fucking situation I have had the misfortune to witness since the return of the Ultimate Warrior. Atlanta is a shot-out, beat up, poorly managed team. One man, regardless of talent, can not get a team of 52 to the playoffs. Much less the Super Bowl. The Falcons' problems are far reaching, and the public's tendency to place it squarely on the shoulders of Vick is not only uncalled for, but dead-ass wrong. I'll start with the pundits.

Just look at these assholes. Here are some of the worst cat-callers in the entire sports media outside of the shmucks at ESPN. It's always the same thing. "Vick has to stay in the pocket". "Vick is too inconsistent". Jimmy Johnson manged to contradict himself within thirty seconds. He first hopped on the 'Vick should shoulder the team becasue he's the highest paid player in the league' wagon, then stated "No one player can carry a team". I guess he realized that, as a former coach who should have known better, he had just said something totally assenine and needed to cover it. But there was one bright light in the sea of short-sightedness and outright stupidity -

One of the NFL's all time greats, Dan Marino. He was the only one who pointed out all the drops by the receivers in the last several games, and pointed out no QB can win without receivers making plays on catchable and semi-catchable balls. Without Michael Irvin, would we even care about Troy Aikman? What would have become of Steve Young without Jerry Rice? It takes a team effort to make even a single completion in today's NFL. The offensive line has to keep an open pocket and create passing lanes. The running backs have to pick up blitzing defenders. The receivers have to get open, away from a defender. Marino seems to be the only commentator in the entire media who understands this. Hell, the booth guys were even picking that up during the game. When receivers are being hit right on the hands or in the numbers and dropping the ball, how is that Vick's fault?

Vick is doing all he can. He has had 3 and 4 touchdown games when the receivers show up. He is setting rushing records left and right. What other player in NFL history has single-handedly forced every team in the league to change their defensive philosophy? Since Vick's 2001 breakout, every team in the league has had to change how they play defense. But this brings me to what I think are the real problems in Atlanta. Coaching, managing, and training.

Atlanta's most hard hitting issue thus far has to be the injuries. Their front four should be the most awesome in the league, but they have only been together for 3/4 of one game. First one defensive end went down twice for a total of eight weeks, and now they've lost the other one for the season. They have an awesome linebacking corp that has only been on the field together for three games. All due to injury. Three starting offensive linemen, one for the rest of the season. Two cornerbacks. Every team deals with injuries, but Atlanta has an unnacceptable rate. There has to be some problem with their strength and conditioning program. No other team, even one whose defense stays on the field as much as Atlanta's, gets this injured.

Atlanta has THREE first round draft choices starting at wide receiver. Michael Jenkins, Roddy White, and Ashley Lelie. You can't threaten me with naked pictures of Phatweb and force me to believe it's a lack of talent why they are dropping so many passes. Even the normally sure-handed Alge Crumpler is dropping balls. You know what that says to me? The receivers coach is an idiot who is not teaching / reinforcing the basic mechanics of catching a damn football.

Which brings me to the biggest problem - management. After the 2002 debacle which revealed Dan Reeves' shortcomings as a team manager (Atlanta had no depth and had wasted a first round pick on T.J. Duckett, right after signing Warrick Dunn) Arthur Blank went and hired Rich Makay, the man believed responsible for turning the Tampa Bay Buccanears into a championship football team. Seems to me it may not have been him, for I definately do not see a world class program. I see receivers not being coached properly, a rotten strength and conditioning program, and very inconsistent play calling. Mr. Blank recently went public with his demands to reach the playoffs, and here is a list of those I would fire were I in his position -

Offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, all strenghth and conditioning personnel, receivers coach, safeties and corners coaches.

Under my review of the team, I would keep head coach Jim Mora, Jr. He has a mind for defense, and a love of the game and his players. Unlike Reeves, Mora is not in charge of all operations. He may have hired his assistants, but many of the personnel I take issue with were hired by Makay. His dumbass father recently jumped on the 'Vick is the problem' bandwagon by agreeing with a caller that Mike was a 'coach-killer' on a radio call-in show. What makes him such a coach killer, asshole? Breaking his leg in the pre-season and revealing Atlanta's lack of depth and solidifying his importance to the team? Or could it have been the 127 yards he gained rushing in the first half of ATL's loss to New Orleans, thereby setting yet another record in a game where his receivers dropped 7 guaranteed completions, two of which were almost certainly touchdowns? Not to count the other passes they could have fought for, or went back to like all the great receivers do. Is that what makes him a coach-killer? I guarantee you Michael Vick will not cost Jim Mora, Jr. his job.

But his dumbass dad just may have.