Draft doesn't dodge Vick

Panthers linebacker isn't afraid to speak his mind about Falcons quarterback

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick has speed, moves and a powerful arm. He's your quarterback if you want to dazzle fans and sell jerseys.

What if you want a quarterback who will lead your team to the Super Bowl?

Be that way. But your guy won't be as dazzling as Vick.

Carolina linebacker Chris Draft played five seasons in Atlanta, four with Vick. He's talking Sunday about his versatility and his knowledge of the Panthers' playbook, traits linebackers coach Ken Flajole praises.

Then Draft invokes Atlanta. Carolina opens the season at home against the Falcons on Sept. 10. Then Draft invokes Atlanta again. To talk about the Falcons is to talk about Vick, and Draft does.

"One of his big problems is people want to tell him how great he is, tell him how, 'Mike you just be Mike,' " Draft says. "Mike being Mike is just running. Mike being Mike is being all right passing. Mike being Mike is getting hit a lot. If they want to let Mike be Mike, we'll take that."

Draft, 30, signed with Carolina last season. He was not hired specifically to beat Atlanta. It only seems that way. He started three games at middle linebacker in place of injured Dan Morgan, two of them against the Falcons.

You might recall at this time last summer Atlanta had won three straight against the Panthers and 12 of 14. Last season, the Panthers beat Atlanta 24-6 at home and 44-11 in Atlanta.

Draft was instrumental in each.

In the first, he had six solo tackles, assisted on two more and, when the Falcons reached the Carolina 12 with the game still scoreless, Draft swooped in to sack Vick. Atlanta settled for a field goal.

In the rematch, Draft had a game-high nine tackles, forced a fumble and recovered a muffed punt.

Draft had to win. An economics major at Stanford, he lives in Atlanta.

"They talk too much, sometimes they can be those mean fans," he says. "Last year all they could say is, 'Man why'd you beat them that bad?' And that's all we want to hear this year, too."

In a conversation with USA Today last week, Vick talked about the 44-11 loss to Carolina.

"I just played to play, going through the motions," Vick said. "But I've matured. I'm bigger than that now."

That Vick did not play as hard as he could was "real obvious," Draft says.

Draft adds that by acknowledging this, Vick is "kind of talking to his team and saying he should be leading and hopefully coaches talking to him trying to get him to step up a little more."

Draft says folks love to tell athletes such as Vick how wonderful they are.

" 'Oh, man, you're the best, you're the best, you're the best,' " Draft says. "Because they tell them that, [the athletes] don't reach their full potential."

Draft likes Vick. His point is that Vick would be more effective if he listened less to hangers on and more to coaches.

"I tell you when he first came into the league I hadn't seen anybody with an arm like that," Draft says. "It wasn't accurate enough because he didn't really understand the system. What he hasn't done is really progress in understanding the system. He actually threw the ball better in Dan Reeves' [Vick's first coach in Atlanta] system."

Draft remains in awe of Vick's ability.

"The thing that makes him great is, as bad as he might look throwing the ball here or there he has the potential to throw the ball on a strike 50 yards down the field," Draft says. "And then he has the potential to just say, you know what, I'm going to take this ball and run over to the left, run it to the right, run backward, run forward and run back to the left and just try to score."

Draft just called Vick great. I ask him if he considers Vick a great quarterback.

"It just kind of depends on how you measure greatness," Draft says. "He's going to have some great games. But if you talk about greatness and consistency, he's not great because he's not consistent."