Is Vick Able to Keep Steelers Above Water?

As most of you know, the Steelers lost their star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger Sunday afternoon to a gruesome looking left knee injury. The MRI two nights ago showed a sprained MCL that luckily will not require surgery. The timeline for his return is 4 to 6 weeks. In that time the Steelers play the Ravens at home on Thursday night, followed by the Chargers on the road, a home game against the Cardinals and another road test against the Chiefs. The next man up for the Steelers is 35 year old Michael Vick. Vick is still a great athlete but he’s nowhere near the player we saw 5 or 10 years ago. He had the lowest QBR rating of any quarterback last season. That being said, for the limited amount of snaps he got Sunday, he didn't look too bad. Besides getting sacked, he completed 5 of 6 passes for a total of 38 yards.

I don’t think Vick will be the problem with the Steelers, as star running back Leveon Bell will be more than capable of picking up the slack. It’s all about the loss of Ben and his presence in the locker room. He is the heart of soul of that team. You can ask any player and they will tell you without a doubt he is the leader of that team.

The Ravens will be a good test for Vick. A struggling team that's nowhere near as talented as the Ravens who won the Super Bowl just a few years ago. However an 0-3 Baltimore team will leave it all on the field against the Steelers as dropping to 0-4 makes any postseason hopes they have extremely hard to achieve. With their defensive leader Terrell Suggs out for the season, the Ravens defensive is quite sub par so Vick and the Steelers have a legitimate shot at winning that game.

The Chargers are horrific on the road so the Steelers should get a victory in that game as well. It’s the games against a young and hungry 49ers team and against the Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium, the loudest stadium in the NFL, that will be the real test for Vick. Ben most likely will not miss the full six weeks but you never do know with an injury like that to a knee. So if that happens, Vick would start at home against the Bengals and Raiders. An improved Oakland team but still with defensive flaws, Steelers shouldn’t have an issue there. The 3-0 Bengals however, are a very talented team but coming to Pittsburgh is never an easy task. Especially for a divisional opponent. If Vick is still the starting QB for this one, I’d imagine that by his 6th game, he’ll have his legs underneath him and be able to lead the Steelers to a win in that one as well.

Overall the trouble comes not from the loss of Ben on the field but off the field, not so much Vick being in. If the Steelers can go 2-2 without Ben, that would put them at 4-3 and likely second in the division for when Ben gets back. If it takes longer than that, the Raiders shouldn't be much of a problem however the Bengals will be a tough task with or without Ben. Either way this injury could have been much worse and us Steelers fans should be grateful as we still have a good shot at playing meaningful football in January and making the postseason.