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player ready...Michael Vick finally got a chance to work his magic again last weekend, and for a while the pixie dust was flying. But a potential game-tying drive dissolved at Houston.
Given a full week of practice with the first string, however, Vick and the Atlanta offense figure to be back in sync Sunday in his first start since breaking his right fibula Aug. 16.
“I told [coach Dan Reeves] that everything we had in the playbook last year, everything that we game-planned for … don’t hold anything back,” he said.
This probably is not the magic wand the Panthers (8-4) want to see. They are, after all, so painfully familiar with Vick that he might qualify as the last person they want to see Sunday.
Carolina is on a two-game losing streak and dreaming of clinching a playoff spot with a victory and a New Orleans loss. Vick is on the minds of the Panthers, but Carolina defensive tackle Brentson Buckner didn’t want to say much.
“It’s not a big factor for me,” he said.
That’s because when you complete 35 of 46 passes for 450 yards and two touchdowns, run 11 times for 111 yards and a 44-yard score and add 28 receiving yards, people usually talk about it.
Those were Vick’s numbers against Carolina last season, when Atlanta swept the Panthers 30-0 and 41-0. For some, Vick’s return makes those games easier to remember than Carolina’s dominating 23-3 victory against the Falcons on Sept. 28. It’s suddenly easier to forget that the Falcons are 2-10.
“[Vick] can run, he can scramble, he can throw the ball,” Carolina strong safety Mike Minter said. “He’s like a Magic Johnson out there. He’s going to lift up his players.”
Long before Vick broke his right ankle, Panthers defensive tackle Kris Jenkins spoke of how he and his teammates were going to take it to Vick this season. But last week Jenkins rather would have talked about the weather than Vick.
“If you let one person destroy a group of 11 people, then something isn’t right within your camp,” he said. “He can’t do it by himself. Everybody knows that Vick is a phenomenal athlete. But at the same time, he’s still human.”
Asked which Vick he figured to see, the elusive 2002 model or a watered down version, Buckner’s hackles rose again.
“Michael Vick is No. 7,” he said. “What other one is there? Is there another one? How many of them are there? Has he got a twin brother?”
Asked what the likely absence of Carolina middle linebacker Dan Morgan might mean in the attempt to defend Vick, Minter added: “I don’t care who’s in there. It’s kind of hard to keep that cat clogged up.”