What would BB have done if he was HC/GM of Atlanta

[Water Boy]

If Belicheck came to Atlanta as the new HC/GM this past off season prior to the scandal, how do you think he would have handled the QB situation? Think he would have had an open competition for the starting QB spot between Schaub and Vick or look to trade one or the other before or after the season?

 

[VJCPatriot]

He wouldn't have traded away Schaub. Vick would have been out the door before this scandal even started because no way does BB want a QB that can't throw the football.

 

[PonyExpress]

He would have used Ernie Adams' time machine to go back and draft Tomlinson. If the Time Machine was in the shop, he would have started Schaub.

 

[stinkypete]

I don't think Vick would have been flat out cut prior to training camp, simply due to the cap implications.

Schaub would have certainly not been traded, and the plan would be for an "open competition" in camp, though I think it would be understood in the front office that Schaub is starter.

 

[desi-patsfan]

THere is no way BB would have let VIck stay as QB. Probably would have drafted a good QB or groomed Schaub.

 

[wizwor]

If Belicheck came to Atlanta as the new HC/GM this past off season prior to the scandal, how do you think he would have handled the QB situation? Think he would have had an open competition for the starting QB spot between Schaub and Vick or look to trade one or the other before or after the season?

BB would have coaxed Mo Lewis out of retirement for old times sake. After Vick was carried off the field, there would have been an open competition for the QB position. Vick would have been traded to the Bills before the scandal broke.

Next question.

 

[Isaac]

If Belicheck came to Atlanta as the new HC/GM this past off season prior to the scandal, how do you think he would have handled the QB situation? Think he would have had an open competition for the starting QB spot between Schaub and Vick or look to trade one or the other before or after the season?

First off, file for re-instatement of the spelling of his name as "Belichick". Then move Vick to a slash position role, where he could have been great--though his lack of football intelligence may ultimately have spelled his failure as a player regardless.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

If Belicheck came to Atlanta as the new HC/GM this past off season prior to the scandal, how do you think he would have handled the QB situation? Think he would have had an open competition for the starting QB spot between Schaub and Vick or look to trade one or the other before or after the season?

It wouldn't have been his decision for the same reason he wouldn't have been interested in the job. Michael Vick was to Arthur Blank what Drew Bledsoe was to Bob Kraft. Bill didn't have the cache to quibble about that or really do much about it when he arrived here in 2000. And absent a fortuitous hit in the second game of his second season as a HC, whose to say he would have ever had the ability to jettison Drew. It took a hit, a lucky guess on a 6th round draft pick and a Lombardi to even give him that cache here with Kraft.

Blank was still wed to Vick in the early offseason. Not to mentioned fairly chained to him via dead cap. That is why he brought Petrino in, to salvage his investment on the field. There were rumors of his pushing the FO to go after a new WR to be the backup face of the franchise, so his faith in Vick was beginning to waiver as the draft approached, but unable to pull a deal off he obviously signed off on trading Schaub away in part to mute any more QB controversies in Petrino's first season. Blank was still convinced at that juncture that Vick put more fannies in the seats than Atlanta could by just winning. Belichick believes winning is the only way to approach a need to fill seats.

If Bill went to Atlanta in 2008 would Blank give him carte blanche? You betcha. But in February 2007, carte blanche would not have been on the table where the QB was concerned. Those decisions were less about football than business.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Belichick is a historian of football. He would have duplicated what Vince Lombardi did in a similar quandary.

a) Schaub would have been given the job of QB (You know, the Guy who THROWS the football) and
b) Vick would have been given the job of Halfback (You know, the Guy who RUNS the football).

Every once in a while the Falcons would use the HB option pass play...

SEE biographies of HOF players Bart Starr and Paul Hornung.

Next Question?

 

[Remix 6]

when being asked about it by media he would say

"we'll only talk about players that are here"

 

[PatsSteve1]

I have no idea what BB would have done as Falcon's HC, but it must be very depressing to be a Falcon's fan these days.

 

[Patriotic]

when being asked about it by media he would say

"we'll only talk about players that are here"

Borges would complain that BB's closed mouth policy made things 10 times worse for Vick and contributed to Mike's situation.

 

[Water Boy]

And absent a fortuitous hit in the second game of his second season as a HC, whose to say he would have ever had the ability to jettison Drew.

I think it was only a matter of time before Brady got the starting job over Bledsoe. BB has had full control of football decisions since day one. Just like the Testaverde/Kozar situation, BB would have eventually chosen the best QB.

 

[Water Boy]

Belichick is a historian of football. He would have duplicated what Vince Lombardi did in a similar quandary.

a) Schaub would have been given the job of QB (You know, the Guy who THROWS the football) and
b) Vick would have been given the job of Halfback (You know, the Guy who RUNS the football).

He probably would use Vick in certain situations similar to the Michael Bishop experiment.

 

[godef]

If Belicheck came to Atlanta as the new HC/GM this past off season prior to the scandal, how do you think he would have handled the QB situation? Think he would have had an open competition for the starting QB spot between Schaub and Vick or look to trade one or the other before or after the season?

He would not have drafted Vick in the first place. He'd have drafted some guy named Brady in the 6th round, though.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I think it was only a matter of time before Brady got the starting job over Bledsoe. BB has had full control of football decisions since day one. Just like the Testaverde/Kozar situation, BB would have eventually chosen the best QB.

Oh, so it was BB who gave Drew that $100M deal entering the 2001 season...

I think Bill would have been forced to make the decision at some point, but it likely would have come late in the 2001 season - way too late to matter. Without things unfolding as they did, he would have been eviscerated in the local media and Kraft would have been facing the spectre of having the media lambasting him for making another bad coaching decision. All the while with an angry and embarassed Drewpie whining to his toadies about how he was being victimized by Belichick's inability to build a winning team around him.

So while BB would have eventually chosen the best QB, he might well have had time to reflect on that back in the unemployment line.

 

[Captain Cliche]

He did it with Kosar, he did it with Bledsoe, and he would have replaced Vick.

Vick was a turd of the highest magnitude long before the dog fighting thing broke.

....at least that is the "drunk on spiked koolaid answer."

 

[DarrylS]

Borges would complain that BB's closed mouth policy made things 10 times worse for Vick and contributed to Mike's situation.

Felger would have played his butthead impersonation, and both would stand around laughing while holding their peckers..

OTOH what I do not get here is that the NFL has highly sophisticated security personnel and cannot imagine that this got by them, maybe some were just hoping it would go away... but it did not. I think that is why sometimes we let someone go, and we scratch our heads...

 

[Water Boy]

Oh, so it was BB who gave Drew that $100M deal entering the 2001 season...

I forgot about that detail.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

OTOH what I do not get here is that the NFL has highly sophisticated security personnel and cannot imagine that this got by them, maybe some were just hoping it would go away... but it did not. I think that is why sometimes we let someone go, and we scratch our heads...

Blank had a security force too. Unfortunately they do what they are tasked to do. In the past (historically) they were utilized to protect the league's or a club's interest/image by managing problems from escalating into publicly embarassing situations after the fact. Now they will be tasked with digging deeper into players private lives and identifying potential problems to be confronted, avoided or weeded out before long term committments are made to them. Blank had his growing concerns about Michael's homies, about his failure to make bonds with his teamates that extended off the field, about his time spent away from Flowery Branch. He expressed those to the player more than once, as had others, but he left it at that. In future he will act on those concerns, and other owners would also do well to, before committing tens let alone hundreds of millions to player contracts and extensions.

It's all about what you want to know. Kraft warned Blank when he first bought the team that the level of scrutiny in this enterprise was going to be exponentially greater than anything he had ever encountered running Home Depot. Blank has since admitted he thought Bob overstated that issue for dramatic effect. He now knows better. The NFL Network's marketing strategy, football 24/7, comes with a price that didn't exist 20 or even 10 years ago. Microscopic product scrutiny, 24/7, and your players are each owners product.