There is no question that Michael Vick was and still is a polarizing figure in Atlanta. Half of the city loves him, half of the city despises him. But when he made his return to the Georgia Dome on Sunday, everyone had to respect what he did, scoring two touchdowns to help the Philadelphia Eagles win 34-7 over the Falcons.“I never forget this place and I never forget coming back to the city of Atlanta,” Vick said after the game.
Vick, who has averaged about two snaps per game, finished the day 2-for-2 with 48 yards in the air and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Brent Celek in the fourth quarter to put the Eagles up 34-7. He also added a rushing touchdown in the third quarter when he ran up the middle to put the Eagles up 20-0.
“I think things happen at the right time,” Vick said talking about his playing time during the course of the season. “You look back at some of the games we’ve played, is just hasn’t been an opportunity for me to get out there and as effective as we want me to be.”
The scoring started early for the Eagles as David Akers kicked 33-yard field goal to put the Eagles up by three in the first quarter. They were able to get the ball back again due to an Eric Weems fumble on the ensuing kickoff return and that led to a Donovan McNabb 4-yard touchdown pass to Leonard Weaver to put the Eagles up by 10.
The second quarter was quite for the Eagles as they only gave up another Akers field goal midway through the second and the defense was doing a solid job not letting the game get out of hand early.
“We’ve gave up some explosive plays, but we were able to hold them to field goals,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “But when you throw an interception for a touchdown and you have a fumble on a kickoff return you put yourself behind the eight-ball in those situations.
The interception return for the touchdown came in the third quarter when Chris Redman threw a pass intended for Roddy White and was picked off by Sheldon Brown who returned it for 83-yards.
“Nobody’s gonna quit here,” Redman said as he ended the day 23-of-45 with 235 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. “This is a fighting team and we’ve played all the way to the end today.
With the loss the Falcons are now 6-6 and very close to being eliminated from playoff contention ever if they run the table and go 10-6 they would lose tiebreakers to the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles since they lost to all three teams.
But the Falcons have the New Orleans Saints next so they have to throw this game away and get ready for a team that is 12-0.
“This was not a very good performance today,” Smith said. “We’ll come in tomorrow and move forward. We have a big division game coming up this week.”
As for the Eagles, they improve to 8-4 and are well in the thick of the NFC East Race. But this game was more about Vick making a mark against his former team.
“To me I want this to be an inspiring story for a lot of kids,” Vick said who was a team captain for the game. “Things may happen but you have to persevere, you have to overcome adversity.”
Jones can be reached at bjones@scoreatl.com.
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