In the last couple of weeks, Mike Vick has come into his own. A quarterback who was only known for his running ability now has added a passing aspect to that, and has become unstoppable.
Since being drafted by the Falcons, fans of not only Atlanta, but also just the NFL in general have waited for Mike Vick to become a dual-threat QB. He could run it all he wanted, but having only a mediocre passing game at best has prevented the Falcons from making a lot of noise in the playoffs. Now settled into the West Coast offense, Vick is in the transformation to becoming a superstar. Sure, it's only been two really good weeks of play, but the way he has gone about helping Atlanta get a win has impressed me a lot.
If you thought defenses were worried about stopping Mike Vick before, just wait until this Sunday in Detroit. The thing with Vick is that if you made him pass then your chances of winning increased greatly. Now, defenses everywhere may be forced to just contain the running and focus more on passing. Either way, you can only take one strength away at once, meaning that if he doesn't pass he'll run, and if he doesn't run he'll pass. For Detroit, this will especially be a tough task at hand.
The Lions defense has progressively gotten worse as the season has gone by, and here in Week 9 I'm feeling very uneasy about this game. Everyone was shocked when the Detroit defense held the defending NFC champs to just 9 points during the opening weekend, and since then the Lions "D" hasn't really had a good showing. Just in their last game the defense gave up over 200 rushing yards, with most of them coming from an inexperienced rookie. The secondary hasn't done much to help either. If a team wants to pass on the Lions, then they probably won't have a very tough time. Quarterbacks from Brett Favre to Rex Grossman have all had a dandy of a day when putting the ball through the air, and I wouldn't expect it to be much different when the on fire Mike Vick comes to town.
My biggest concern, however, is the defensive line. Shaun Rogers is out as he will serve his second game of the four week suspension. Shaun Cody is being ruled out this weekend already with a toe injury. Finally, defensive end James Hall is questionable with a shoulder injury and missed a portion of Wednesday's practice. That leaves the Lions with no starting defensive tackles, and only one regular defensive end assuming Hall doesn't play. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal to me, but when you're facing Warrick Dunn and Mike Vick, the worries come pretty fast. We all saw what happened at the Jets game with those type of injuries, and that was with James Hall. If three of the four regular starters on the defensive line do end up missing the game, then Mike Vick may not even have to pass the ball to win. Let's just say, it could end up being a pretty big week for fantasy owners of Dunn and Vick, especially since they're playing so well right now.
Everyone will find out if Detroit can stop Mike Vick this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX. To discuss the game stop by Pride of Detroit and also The Falcoholic for Lions and Falcons coverage.