Pretty Much Everyone Thinks Michael Vick is a Whiner (PIC)

By ArtieFufkin

(Image: NY Post via SportressofBlogitude)

Following Sunday’s loss to the New York Giants – which he left early with an injured right hand - Eagles QB Michael Vick took some time to complain about the officiating in the game, wondering why the hits he takes don’t draw the 15-yard penalty flags that most quarterbacks in the league get. Since that time, pretty much everyone in the world – including most current and former NFL QBs – have been rolling their eyes at Vick, and suggesting that he keep his mouth shut. The banner pic above was the back cover of today’s NY Post, in which the Giants players show no sympathy for Vick, and expresses what a lot of us have been thinking for the past two days.

Leading the charge is former super-bowl winning QB and ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer, who seems to be making it his personal crusade to make sure that everyone knows how out of line Vick was with his comments. Yesterday, Dilfer went on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio to call Vick out, saying that a simple look at the numbers would prove that Vick draws as many penalites, if not moreso than the rest of the QBs in the league. He also suggested that Vick broke every QB man code in the book by complaining about hits, especially in a league that goes out of its way to protect quarterbacks.

And on last night’s Monday Night Countdown, when Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson started to defend Vick’s statement, Dilfer launched into another tirade, pointing out video of a helmet-to-helmet hit on Falcons QB Matt Ryan from last week that didn’t draw a flag, and essentially calling Vick a big pussy:

“Michael Vick does not have a case here. It’s perception vs reality. He’s not taking any more hits than anybody else is taking from the pocket. It happens all the time, it’s a subjective call, and it’s not happening more to Michael Vick than anybody else. Frankly, I’m a little disgusted that a quarterback’s going to get up there and complain about that after the game when the Eagles have other issues.

But Dilfer is not alone in his opinion. Former NFL VP of officiating Mike Pereira went as far as to call Vick’s complaints “ridiculous”, and launched into a tirade of his own:

“He’s a quarterback that’s on the move, he’s going to get hit more,” Pereira said. “Yes, there are a couple that may be missed but the fact that a ton of them are missed and that he’s hit late all the time is absurd. And he comes out and kind of does the mea culpa yesterday but at the same time what did he say? ‘I was being too candid.’ Well, that doesn’t sound to me like much of an apology. And also the damage is done. I don’t want to be the referee that goes in there now next and works with him. If he calls a roughing the passer penalty for a hit on Vick everybody’s going to say, ‘Well, Vick taunted him into that.’ If he doesn’t [call it] there’s going to be more criticism. So I think it was a bunch of bull and it didn’t sit well with me and it still doesn’t.”

For his part, Vick has since backed off his statement, saying “You won’t hear me complaining about it no more”. Smart move.

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