ATLANTA - Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick had plenty of kind words for the Ravens' defense after his team's 20-17 win yesterday at the Georgia Dome.
"They were fast," Vick said of the Ravens. "Everybody thought without Ray Lewis, we were going to blow them out of the water. That's a good defense."
Even with the Ravens' star linebacker at home with a separated shoulder, Vick played probably his second-worst game of the season, surpassed only by a 4-for-12 performance against Tampa Bay.
Yesterday, he completed 12 of 24 passes for 136 yards.
Ravens linebacker Bernardo Harris gained the distinction of becoming the first player to intercept Vick this season. Vick had last thrown an interception in the final game of the 2001 season, a stretch of 171 passes.
After becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to run for 90 yards in back-to-back games in the past two weeks, his total against the Ravens was minus-5.
"They did a good job of dropping their ends and they were able to make some plays," Vick said. "A little bit of everything."
However, Vick did enough to secure a Falcons victory, the team's fourth in a row. Vick reserved his savviest play for the end, when the Falcons were trying to run out the clock. On a fourth-and-four at the Ravens' 31 at the two-minute mark, the Falcons gambled and went for it. They made it when Vick hit wide receiver Trevor Gaylor for a 6-yard gain, a first down and the game.
That Vick threw to Gaylor was a touch audacious. The Falcons ran the same play earlier in the game, and that time Vick also threw to Gaylor, who is the second option. The first time, Vick threw incomplete and earned a scolding from coach Dan Reeves.
"But the guy [cornerback Alvin Porter] was so far off," Vick said. "I had to do it."
A couple of other plays also stood out. Vick kept the Falcons' first scoring drive alive by completing a third-down pass to running back Warrick Dunn with Ravens free safety Ed Reed taking him down and strong safety Will Demps in his face.
With the Falcons leading 10-3 in the second quarter, Reed blitzed Vick again on a third down, but Vick ducked under him and spun away, then threw off-balance to wide receiver Brian Finneran for a 25-yard gain to the Ravens' 1-yard line. Falcons running back T.J. Duckett scored on the next play for a 17-3 lead.
"We did contain Vick," Demps said, "but the guy still made plays out there."