Mike Vick stood in the pocket and, unlike his playing career as the all-time leading rusher for a quarterback, never ran away from any of the questions about his past or the uproar about his signing with the Steelers.
After his first day on the job as the new backup to Ben Roethlisberger, the former four-time Pro Bowl quarterback stood in front of a swarm of media and said he can’t change what transpired when he spent 21 months in jail for dogfighting. And he asked that people who remain angry for his actions focus on the good he is trying to do now to atone for his crime.
“You still have people who feel a certain type of way about what happened,” Vick said. “But I think you have to look at the right I’m trying to do. You can’t take back what happened in the past. Everybody is different when they’re 20 than when they’re 35.
“You can’t fault people for some of those mistakes. If that was the case, you would have a lot of people who wouldn’t get a second chance and wouldn’t be successful. It is what it is. You move on, stay positive and keep building what I’ve built the last five or six years.”
Vick was released from federal prison in 2009 after serving 21 months on a number of charges, most notably, though, for his role in operating an interstate dogfighting ring and drowning dogs who didn’t perform well. He then signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and played there five years before playing last season with the New York Jets. Vick was named the NFL’s comeback player of the year in 2010, one year after his release from prison.
Since his release, Vick has worked to rebuild his reputation. His teammates in Philadelphia voted him the winner of the Ed Block Courage Award. He also worked to get the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act passed in Congress.
“I just try to make it right after going through what I went through, after what transpired,” Vick said Wednesday after his first practice with the Steelers. “The best thing to do was make amends for what I did. I can’t take it back. The only thing I can do is influence the masses of kids from going down the same road I went down. That’s why I work with the Humane Society and affecting a lot of kids’ lives and saving a lot of animals.
“We’ve had lot of a progress. We’ve been able to change some laws and do some great things that I’m very proud of. I never thought I’d be doing that.”
Vick said he tries not to pay attention to some of the public uproar that has surrounded his signing with the Steelers.
“I try to stay away from that. All it does it make you develop mixed emotions how you feel toward people, I don’t want to be emotionally disturbed right now. I want to be in a great place. I enjoy what I’m doing. I’m playing football and I’m going to continue to make my teammates proud and be the best football player I can be.”
The Steelers signed Vick to a one-year contract after their top backup, Bruce Gradkowski, injured his left hand Sunday against the Green Bay Packers and was placed on injured reserve. Gradkowski had just come off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list because of a right shoulder injury and had just one week of practice before playing Sunday.
The Steelers did not believe that Landry Jones, despite his improvement, was ready to be the No. 2 quarterback behind Roethlisberger. Hence, the decision to sign Vick, 35.
“His talents are his talents,” coach Mike Tomlin said of Vick, who is from Hampton Roads, Va., and attended Tomlin’s football camp in the Virginia area when he was younger. “He can throw the football. He can put it anywhere on the field.”
The Steelers saw that last season when Vick, who became the starter with the Jets after Geno Smith was benched, threw two touchdowns in a 20-13 upset victory against the Steelers in East Rutherford, N.J.
But, Vick was not re-signed by the Jets and was surprised when he did not catch on with another team for training camp until the Steelers called. He wasn’t sure if his career, which began when he was the No. 1 overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, might be over.
“I had mixed emotions,” Vick said. “I didn’t know how to view it. I worked out every day and I saw the progress in what I was doing. I felt I didn’t lose a step, especially with my arm strength and my feet. I didn’t understand why, but I kept my faith, kept working hard and I knew eventually I would get a shot.
“It was different being in that situation after being a starter for so many years and pretty much being a marquee player in this league. It motivated me to get back to that status.”
Vick passed for 604 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 153 yards on 26 attempts in 10 games last season with the Jets — his lowest totals since his first year back in the league in 2009 with the Eagles.
Unlike his previous stints, Vick knows he will be nothing more than a backup with the Steelers and has come to accept that role.
“It’s hard because I’ve been a starter for so long,” Vick said. “Last year took a lot of adjusting and, I admit, I didn’t do it as well as I wanted to because, in my mind, the position I was in was supposed to be different. I think you have to accept it first and I’ve been able to do that, come to grips with it. I can just focus on that, and, I think in this offense, I can do some great things.”
Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.
First Published: August 26, 2015, 8:55 p.m.
