Vick cooler than Frozen Tundra
By Skip Wood, USA TODAY
URL:http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/falcons/2003-01-05-focus_x.htm
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Freshly showered and nattily attired in a black suit, dark blue shirt and shiny black shoes, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick stood in the rear of a tiny interview room here late Saturday night, broke out his ever-present stick of lip balm and dabbed.
Falcons quarterback Michael Vick picks up some of his 64 yards against the Packers.
By Darren Hauck, AP
So cool. So collected. And only 22.
His eyes caught those of his coach, Dan Reeves, who smiled warmly and nodded. Vick, the league's youngest starting quarterback, returned the smile as both basked in the history-making wild-card win against the Green Bay Packers.
"Here's the guy you all want to talk to," Reeves said. "You need me to introduce him?"
Try this: Having thoroughly outplayed Brett Favre with everything on the line in the 27-7 stunner, could it be that Michael Vick is on the verge of becoming the NFL's new standard for clutch quarterbacks?
Vick, in his first career playoff game, undeniably has nudged the veteran Favre as the player you'd want behind center to decide who plays another day and who goes home.
Right, Dan?
"No," Reeves said quickly and firmly. "I think he's got a long ways to go, but I'll tell you — he is exciting."
FALCONS BUCK TRENDS
Brett Favre. Lambeau Field. Thirty-one degrees. Postseason. A perfect scenario for the Green Bay Packers.
Or maybe not.
The Atlanta Falcons upset Green Bay 27-7 on Saturday in a game filled with circumstances unfamiliar to the Packers and their faithful.
Can you remember the last time...
Packers quarterback Brett Favre lost a game when the temperature was below 34 degrees?
Never.
He was 35-0.
The Packers lost a home playoff game?
Never.
They were 13-0 (11-0 at Lambeau, 2-0 at Milwaukee).
Packers kicker Ryan Longwell missed two field goals in a playoff game?
Never.
He had not done so in six playoff games.
A Green Bay punt was blocked in the playoffs?
First time since 1962 (against the New York Giants).
The Packers trailed by 14 points at halftime of any playoff game at home?
Never.
The Packers trailed by 24 points at halftime of any game at home?
First time since 1973 (against the Minnesota Vikings).
The Falcons scored a touchdown on their first possession this season?
Never.
They were 0-for-16.
The Falcons won a playoff game on the road?
First time since Jan. 17, 1999 (against the Vikings). They are 3-4 in road playoff games in 37 seasons.
By Scott Boeck, USA TODAY
That he is, as 65,358 fans at storied Lambeau Field would attest, albeit grudgingly, after Green Bay lost a playoff game here for the first time in 12 tries. With their January aura of home-field invincibility vanishing almost as quickly as Vick sidestepped would-be tacklers, the Packers and their backers were in no mood to salute the Dazzling One.
Favre did — immediately after the game, whispering in Vick's helmet ear hole. But he also uncharacteristically bolted from the premises before speaking to reporters. Perhaps Favre, after building a reputation for grit and greatness through his 12 NFL seasons, knows when it's time to leave the stage.
"I was just excited about the chance to meet him," said Vick, who apparently had no chance to chat during two previous meetings at Lambeau, including the season opener. "He's a guy that I've watched for so many years, and he's one of the greatest quarterbacks ever."
As it was, the much-awaited playoff duel between second-year man Vick and veteran Favre became a one-sided affair, leaving Vick the one to prepare for another day. That would be this weekend's division playoff at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium against the Eagles and, if healthy, another quarterback some have penciled in for present and future greatness: Donovan McNabb.
"I really look forward to it," Vick said. "Hopefully, Donovan will be ready to go next week, and that'll just make the game more exciting."
'Big bully' toppled
Giddy excitement was the tenor early Sunday as the team returned to Atlanta, arriving at about 3:30 a.m.
"Yeah, that plane ride back was pretty much a big old party," Falcons defensive end Patrick Kerney said Sunday. "I mean, we went into that game very confident we would win, but we definitely didn't expect a blowout. That and other reasons (made it) an incredibly happy time for everybody."
Perhaps for no one more than Reeves, who had done this cold-weather Lambeau gig before, as a player in the well-chronicled and oft-replayed Ice Bowl. Reeves threw a halfback-option pass for a touchdown, yet his Dallas Cowboys lost 21-17 to the Packers for the 1967 league title.
In challenging the Falcons before this game, Reeves repeatedly used the word "never" when telling them no team had beaten the Packers at Lambeau in the postseason.
The players paid attention.
And after they went out and did the impossible, Reeves promised a game ball to each and every Falcon to commemorate what he justifiably viewed as a historic NFL moment.
"We knew (the win) meant a lot to him," Kerney said, "and him doing that meant a lot to us."
But such warm fuzzies will not last long. The Falcons begin visual homework today for the Eagles, and they will see footage of a team that finished 12-4 despite missing the injured McNabb for a good chunk of the season.
"The emotion we have now is good, and it's not at all like we'll get too wrapped up" in the win, Kerney said. "We're going to be the underdogs again, so it's just another chance for us to prove everybody wrong."
Understand, Atlanta had lost three of four to close the regular season and made the playoffs only with the untimely meltdowns by other contenders.
Never mind that the Packers, too, stumbled badly down the stretch. Green Bay simply doesn't lose at home in January. So pundits throughout the country basically patted the nice little Falcons on their heads.
A dome team? From the Deep South? Winning at Lambeau? Against Favre?
Yeah, right.
"Everybody was telling us that history wasn't going to be made," Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan said. "But records are made to be broken. ... Green Bay is a tough place to play, but we came in and beat the big bully. Maybe some other teams will come in now and start winning some playoff games."
Atlanta won because of Vick — who threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Jefferson on the first drive, ran 10 times for 64 yards and didn't get sacked — and because it had no turnovers. Green Bay, on the other hand, gave up possession through miscues five times, including two interceptions tossed by Favre.
A fine recipe for victory — if you're the Falcons. Atlanta safety Gerald McBurrows was quick to note that.
"A lot of teams that come in here don't win the turnover battle," he said. "It's the history behind the mystique — Green Bay winning turnover battles. That's why they've won here in Lambeau. That was one big thing we had to do, and we did that."
As Jefferson said, "No matter what happens now and where our careers carry us, we can go back to one thing, and that's that history was made today.
"That's special."
Fate in good hands
The Falcons all but scoffed at their seemingly impossible situation. After all, the temperature at kickoff was 31 degrees, and Favre was 35-0 with it 34 degrees or colder.
Reeves, for one, marveled about Vick's coolness. "It seems like the tougher the situation, the better he is."
That's what they say about Favre, especially at Lambeau. But Reeves has watched his quarterback progress in other ways this season, as well.
"It's just being comfortable with what we're doing, having a grasp of the huddle, and that's not an easy thing to do," Reeves said.
"All of the verbiage, being comfortable with it, getting your players to believe in it, handling the silent count. He's done such a great job with that. I don't think we had an illegal procedure tonight, and that's the job of the quarterback. And he takes great pride in doing the little things like that."
But it was getting past the big hurdle that gave Vick the most pride in his first postseason test.
"We lived to see another playoff game," he said, "and that's the most important thing."
It also gives the Falcons a special sort of smugness heading into Philadelphia.
They can all but saunter into the pit-like confines of Veterans Stadium. Yes, the joint will be rocking in what could be the Eagles' final game there. Yes, the fans will be their usual Philly selves.
But intimidated? If they can make it at Lambeau in January, they can make it anywhere.
"That's the way we've got to look at it, and I think we will," Kerney said. "I know we will. We beat Brett Favre at his place and in his conditions, and we broke that streak. If that doesn't give you confidence that you can (win) anywhere, I don't know what does." |
