Michael Vick spoke to Francesa on Tuesday for the first time.
Credit: Getty Images
The first installment of Michael Vick’s interview appearances with WFAN’s Mike Francesa happened as scheduled on Tuesday afternoon, and as expected it went off without incident.
There was plenty of surprise that Francesa, the biggest name in sports radio in the tristate area, would have on Vick, who signed as a free agent with the Jets this offseason and is the team’s backup quarterback. After all, Francesa has been notoriously critical of the Jets in the past and even lambasted the signing of Vick this past March.
It was also a bit puzzling from Vick’s perspective, especially since Francesa was less than complimentary of the Jets’ move to bring on board the veteran as a backup.
It wasn’t a terribly interesting interview, especially with a series of predictable questions from Francesa. And Vick said nothing to his discredit and was obviously well coached in his responses.
REPORT CARD: Michael Vick
He said the right things, which was to say very little at all. Vick was calm and composed, much like in the pocket, knocking softballs out of the park, such as when Francesa asked him if his age has slowed him down.
“I still have my explosiveness, can still be mobile when I need it,” Vick responded. “I can still throw the football, my accuracy has gone up.”
He also didn’t bite when Francesa tried to get something juicy, such as when he asked if his presence on the team is a detriment to starter Geno Smith.
“Geno’s a great kid, he’s like my little brother. He’s wiser than his age,” Vick said to start his answer about Smith, now entering his second year as Jets starter. “He eats, sleeps and breathes football. I wish I could have been that way when I was 23 years old, 24 years old.”
There was no gaffe or major misstep by Vick during his time on the air and nothing that will make the back pages tomorrow. He obviously was well prepped by his public relations team on how to handle Francesa. He wasn’t terribly insightful, but he has to ease into this relationship with a very snarky radio host.
Overall grade: A-
REPORT CARD: Mike Francesa
While Vick was somewhat interesting, Francesa wasn’t. His questions were predictable about the quarterback “competition” and Vick’s role on the Jets. He tried to get some juice from Vick by asking if his presence could intimidate the younger Smith and the veteran quarterback didn’t bite.
“I don’t know, I think that’s a question you have to ask Geno,” Vick said. “Geno knows I don’t pose any threat. I’m here to do a job I love to do. And that’s to help this team win football games if asked to, if called upon. “
Francesa asked about the role of the “Vickcat” formation in the coming weeks and Vick refused to divulge any information. His questions asked for little analysis or insight and there was no true depth or breadth in terms of Francesa’s prep for this interview beyond his rudimentary understanding of the Jets. It seemed a bit haphazard and certainly lacked any analysis.
He didn’t bash the Jets at all, either.
But he did end the interview with self fawning, asking Vick if the interview was as bad as he thought it was going to be, in light of all the bluster leading up to it. Vick responded with an awkward laugh and agreed it wasn’t bad at all. What made matters worse is Francesa said at the end of the segment he hoped Vick would be back and something could be worked out in the future. This is in contrast to what the host said all along that he would only take Vick as a weekly guest. It was a flip-flop from from Francesa on that one.
The WFAN host should get props for not pushing his questions or an agenda in this interview, but those points are negated by the unimaginative line of questioning that revealed nothing about the man or the team. Yawn.
Overall grade: C-
Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.
