The great ones do that, too.
Vick is not there, not yet. He was not, as he said last Monday after a promising season was cut short by his mistake, co-MVP of the NFL. He was in the discussion for 15 weeks of the season. The Minnesota game cost him.
But after what he saw from Vick this season, Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg thinks the 30-year-old has a chance - a chance - to become a great one.
"He's got a good opportunity to become one of the best ever," Mornhinweg told me on Thursday. "He's got several things to do to get that done."
Last week was a melancholy one at the NovaCare Complex. No one was ready for the season to end. No one thought it was going to end, not with the ball in Vick's hands and not after all the comeback wins he had delivered.
In that spot, the Eagles liked their chances. And then, moving on, who knows? A big game at Chicago? A potentially huge game at Atlanta, where half the stadium would be Falcons fans wearing Vick jerseys? The Eagles liked their chances there, too.
Instead, the players cleaned out their lockers on Monday. Some, like a teary-eyed Quintin Mikell, left wondering if they would return. Others, like Vick, figured they would. One, Kevin Kolb, decided he did not want to unless he would be the starter in 2011, which seems like a long shot.
Vick will be back, most likely via the franchise tag. While the Eagles would like to keep Kolb as an insurance policy for Vick, if they can exchange him for a difference maker, they likely will move him.
Kolb's value will never be higher. Plenty of teams would take a 26-year-old who is 3-3 in games he has started and finished.
