Atlanta must find coach to fix Vick

Updated: January 3, 2007, 2:01 PM ET

The most important task for Atlanta's next coach will be to fix Michael Vick, Len Pasquarelli writes.

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By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com
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ATLANTA -- Time and again during their half-hour news conference Monday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank and president-general manager Rich McKay employed the mantra of every NFL executive who launches a search for a head coach.

Which is to say that they enunciated, as they did three years ago when they embarked on the process that culminated in the hiring of the now-deposed Jim Mora, a need to identify the best man for the entire franchise and not just for its highest-profile player.

Yeah, right, guys.

In their hearts, Blank and McKay know that Job 1 confronting them is to find someone who can fix quarterback Michael Vick on the field and in the locker room.

Michael Vick

Quarterback
Atlanta Falcons

Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS
Att	Comp	Yds	TD	Int	Rat
388	204	2171	20	13	75.7

To be fair, it's not like there's nothing else that matters in reversing the fortunes of a team that only two years ago lost in the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia but Sunday couldn't summon enough gumption to beat the Eagles' third-stringers. A new coach must deal with an offensive line that can't pass protect and whose lack of size defies current NFL convention. He must deal with a bevy of former first-round wide receivers, none of whom can catch, in an offense that hasn't had a 50-catch wideout in three years. He must deal with a defense that lacks quickness and whose signature performer, end John Abraham, misses a month per season because of injuries. And he must deal with a team that purports to possess great leadership but lacks heart.

But mostly, the new coach must be someone who can conjure a way to harness the confounding genius of quarterback Michael Vick, a great athlete and an even greater enigma.

Vick may not be a coach killer, but it is notable that when he reports for his seventh NFL training camp in July, he'll be working with a third different permanent head coach. It's four coaches if you count the interim tenure of Wade Phillips in 2003. Such a turnover rate -- alarming even in a league where owners change coaches the way they change underwear -- isn't solely Vick's fault. But for a guy who has the ear of ownership and whom Blank has treated at times like a surrogate son, Vick hasn't done a lot to help create the kind of long-term stability the Atlanta owner covets.

It will be interesting, given the tepid support Vick offered for Mora in the waning days of the coach's stint here, to see how the coaching candidates the Falcons interview address that matter. So while candidates will line up for the opportunity to coach the Falcons, the number might be reduced by a few sage wannabes who will think twice about the potential for being the team's next Vick-tim. No player is bigger than the team. But we can't remember Blank's pushing any other player around in a wheelchair the way he did the injured Vick before the 2003 opener at Texas Stadium.

To this point, Blank has been an enabler of sorts for Vick. It seems the best thing he can do now for his quarterback and franchise is identify a coach who can help Vick reach his potential. That's not a small chore.

Vick is a guy whose unique talents force you to think outside the box. McKay on Monday termed him "a great player." That's a bit of hyperbole there because he is a great athlete who has yet to become a great player. He's a player who might require adjustments in a lot of areas to justify the investment Blank has made in him.

Arguably the more critical of those adjustments might be with Vick's psyche. Vick's athletic arrogance of which Mora once spoke so glowingly has become as much a negative as an asset. In Vick's mind, he has rarely lost a game. The scheme wasn't right, someone dropped a pass (actually, that's often the case) or something other than his own talents failed him.

Funny, but when Vick's statistics were relatively pedestrian, his apologists trumpeted his win-loss record. Now that he's just 15-16 as a starter the past two seasons, both of which ended with the Falcons' missing the playoffs, Vick and his defenders have taken to stressing his statistics. Their favorites: Vick threw a career-high 20 touchdown passes in 2006 and became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.

Want to examine those numbers closer? In his six NFL seasons, Vick has been healthy in four. In those four years, 47 quarterbacks threw 20 or more touchdown passes. It has become the equivalent of hitting 30 home runs, a much discussed but overblown stat. As for the 1,000 rushing yards, well, what did they net the Falcons, who aren't in the playoffs? In the seven games this season in which Vick led Atlanta in rushing, the Falcons were 0-7.

Obviously, there must be a different way to get the most from the league's most-hyped athlete. And it appears it will take a different kind of coach to do it.

Blank has demonstrated that he will spend whatever it takes to make his team competitive. The Falcons had the highest payroll in the NFL this season and second highest in league history. The team has had a top-five payroll in four of Blank's five seasons of stewardship. As one of the NFL's most conspicuous owners, Blank has demonstrated largess and patience. The former might not be wearing thin because Blank still has deep coffers, but the latter might be.

As a sportsman, Blank covets a Vince Lombardi Trophy, like all his NFL brethren. As a businessman, what he wants most is a new stadium, one with hundreds of luxury suites, guaranteed revenues and big profit margins. To win the hearts of the public in Atlanta and perhaps to secure funds for a new facility, the Falcons must be an annual playoff contender.

And the way to do that is to find a head coach who can handle the quarterback.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer at ESPN.com.