Nate Erickson chimes in with his 2nd guest article, this time about Vick!

First of all, has anyone gotten more breaks in their career than Joey Harrington? We can talk about that later. Let's talk about the guy he’ll soon likely

First of all, has anyone gotten more breaks in their career than Joey Harrington?

We can talk about that later. Let's talk about the guy he’ll soon likely be taking the reins from – Atlanta Falcons quarterback, Michael Vick. Vick had it all: the superstar contract, a fifth signature shoe from Nike set to come out this summer, a new coach seemingly poised to continue to bring the program in the right direction – how could you possibly screw that up? How about a few dozen dead pit-bulls?

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Vick has always been upfront when it comes to the microphone, and when words weren’t enough, Vick, a disciple of the “straight cash, homey” attitude pulled straight from the pages of the book of Moss, the Falcons’ signal-caller has never been afraid to let his fingers do the talking.

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Lately, however, we haven’t heard very much from the source – not that it matters to any of us, but what about the NFL? In an era where the major leagues of professional sports seem to be competing with one another for the title of “worst scandal” (don’t be surprised to see this category in next year’s ESPY voting), how do you react when one of your sport’s most recognizable stars appears to have made steroids and gambling look like boys just being boys? For that matter, what about the Atlanta Falcons? How do they proceed as normal with training camp on the horizon?Â

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Working with Hondo, I get the chance to sit down and discuss topics like this. Though it seems likely that the only deal Vick is going to see in the next 10-15 years is with the Georgia State DMV, we simply can’t make the judgment until all the facts come out. Then what can the Falcons do? Why not do what the Broncos’ head coach Mike Shanahan did earlier this year when wide receiver David Kircus was facing assault charges? Shanahan put Kircus through a lie detector test. Kircus passed, and the issue was settled. According to Shanahan, Kircus wasn’t the first, and he won’t likely be the last – and it’s worked great for the Broncos.

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We feel that this does two things: it saves Goodell the trouble of suspending Vick or kicking him out of the league, only to have Vick exonerated Duke Lacrosse-style and making the NFL look like idiots – but also gives Vick the chance to show that he’s confident enough in the story he’s been telling since this first came out that he’s willing to put it all on the line. The courts will deal with Vick’s role in this scandal, if he had one, but this gives Bobby Petrino and the Atlanta Falcons a very simple standard for closure in an increasingly complicated situation.