Oct 3, 2015 5 min read

Mike Vick did OK.

That seems to be the consensus following Vick’s performance as the Steelers’ starting quarterback Thursday night.

You might argue he played well enough to win and blame the 23-20 loss to the Ravens on the kicker – more on that later.

The best defense of Vick is he was asked to start at quarterback after almost no practice time because of the short week.

The fact he completed 19 of 26 passes is just one more example of how ridiculously easy it has become to complete a pass in the NFL.

Vick, as is the case with Ben Roethlisberger in most games, was asked to make very few difficult throws and his best one was a perfect pass to Antonio Brown that was dropped in the end zone.

When a tough throw was required on fourth-and-2 in overtime, he couldn’t make it.

But, you know, there’s that short week and almost no preparation.

Which brings me to my question of the week.

Why do NFL teams allow the second-most-important player on the team go through a season unprepared to play?

In the pass-happy NFL of 2015, there is no doubt the quarterback is the most important player. If you don’t have a good one, you’re not going to win more games than you lose. It’s that simple.

Everybody has known since the first NFL game was played the second string quarterback is always a play away from becoming the starting quarterback. That would seem to make the second-team quarterback the second most important player on the team.

So why aren’t they better prepared?

How many days of practice does an NFL team get in a calendar year? Has to be close to 150. What percentage of the reps go to the backup quarterback. Is it even 10 percent?

If you know that on any given play your backup could be your starter, why not break new ground as a head coach and actually prepare for the possibility?

With all the OTAs, mini-camp, training camp and in-season practices, you should be able to tell a starter, especially one who’s been in the league for 10 or 12 years, to take a day off. Tell him to go to a movie and let the backup run the first team for a day.

Why not put your backup in when you have a big lead in the fourth quarter and tell him to pretend he needs a touchdown? If the opposing coach whines about you running up the score, tell him preparing your backup is more important to you than his feelings.

• The Steelers signed a new kicker. Josh Scobee appears to be shot. He made 76 percent of his field goal attempts last year with Jacksonville. He’s made three out of seven from 40 to 49 yards for the Steelers including a 41-yard miss that cost them the game Thursday night. He also missed a 33-yard extra point against San Francisco. Those numbers would be pretty good if this were 1965, but they are beyond bad in 2015.

The Steelers had trouble scoring touchdowns from inside the red zone with Roethlisberger at quarterback. They can afford an iffy kicker even less with Vick in charge.

• Daniel Sprong, the Penguins’ top draft pick, looks like a kid who would be wasting his time playing another year of junior hockey.

• The NFL went a calendar month (on Thursday) without any player being arrested. First time that’s happened in six years. Congratulations.

• Scobee does a great job of selling my plan to make the goal posts smaller. Games are much more exciting when field goals are not so automatic. Call me crazy, but I think a team trying to get a first down on fourth-and-3 from the 30-yard line is more exciting than a 47-yard field goal – 90 percent of which are good. And the field goal itself becomes an exciting play when it’s less than a 50-50 proposition.

• What is Mike Tomlin’s standard for when to go for two points after a touchdown? If he had gone for two and made it after the Steelers’ first touchdown Thursday night, the Steelers would have won the game.

• It’s ridiculous to criticize local fans for not selling out PNC Park last week for the Cardinals. After 20 years of losing and not winning a championship for 36 years, the Pirates don’t deserve to have 3,000 fans at their games.

• Next April, remember the Pirates went 3-6 last April. Every game counts when you’re in a division as competitive as the NL Central.

• Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo, Phillip Rivers, Tyrod Taylor and Russell Wilson all completed 70 percent of their passes in their first three games. Johnny Unitas’ career passing percentage was 54.7. Joe Namath had seven seasons when he was under 50. It’s a different game.

John Steigerward writes a Sunday sports column for the Observer-Reporter.