Since he signed with the New York Jets in the offseason, Michael Vick has said all the right things about the quarterback situation with second-year player Geno Smith.
But after the Jets' 20-13 upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Vick took the gloves off.
Did Michael Vick say he wasn't prepared to protect Geno Smith?
NFL.com reported that the 12th-year NFL veteran said the team basically would not be 2-8 right now if it had started him sooner. The Jets would've won more games.
"In my heart, yes," Vick said, via The Star-Ledger. "Yeah, I mean, to sit here and say no would show a lack of confidence in myself and my teammates. But absolutely, I think if I was starting from Day 1, then maybe it would've been an opportunity. But that wasn't the case. I wasn't put in that situation. The team wasn't put in that situation."
Michael Vick proclaims Geno Smith the starting quarterback without a fight
NFL.com pondered whether the Jets would be a playoff contender had Vick started the entire season. He said that point is moot.
"The (Jets) coaches made the decisions, and I totally understood everything that was taking place," Vick said. "It was all about developing a young quarterback (Smith), mentoring a young quarterback and giving him every opportunity to succeed."
But not when coach Rex Ryan basically had an ultimatum to win this season or find employment elsewhere.
When Vick signed with the Jets in the offseason, it was a curious move, considering that Vick had said he still felt that he could be a starter. From the start, the Jets told him they wanted him to mentor the young quarterback out of West Virginia who had struggled as a rookie last season.
Vick towed the company line, crowning Smith as the team's No. 1 quarterback.
"Geno's the starting quarterback for that football team," Vick said in a brief interview Saturday with the New Jersey Star-Ledger. "Ultimately our goal is to try to help Geno become the best quarterback that he can be. Myself and (third-stringer Matt Simms) are all trying to put him in a position where he can get better from year one to year two."
Perhaps, he was too convincing to the Jets' coaching staff. Or perhaps the staff listened when Vick said he wasn't prepared during the Jets' 31-0 loss to the San Diego Chargers last month.
Do you think the New York Jets would be a playoff contender now if Michael Vick had been their quarterback all season? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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