Four moments Atlanta Falcons fans should be thankful for

After the ups of going the super bowl, the franchise fell back into mediocrity. In the following season, the team was only able to muster five wins and lost franchise running back Jamal Anderson for the majority of the season due to a knee injury.

Jamal Anderson ended up retiring a few seasons later and the heart and soul of the team Jessie Tuggle was cut and retired in the offseason and left this team with no identity.

The Atlanta Falcons needed a face and shot in the arm to inject some life back into the franchise. They got what they needed in the 2001 NFL Draft and his name was Michael Vick.

They made a trade with the San Diego Chargers to move up to the first spot in the draft to select the electric quarterback out of Virginia Tech.

While he wasn’t the conventional drop-back passer, his impact on this team, the city, and the NFL still felt today.

Vick during his time with the Atlanta Falcons dazzled fans everywhere. He made play after play with the best of them all being the overtime game-winning scramble against the Vikings in which he made two Vikings defenders collide with each other.

Vick ushered in a new era of quarterbacks in the NFL and even though Randall Cunningham and other mobile quarterbacks came before him, none of them had the impact Vick had today. Just look at the Seahawks with Russell Wilson and the Ravens with Lamar Jackson. Not only should fans of Atlanta be thankful but the fans of the NFL should be as well.

He was the first quarterback to beat the Packers at Lambeau Field during the playoffs and while he never leads this team to a Super Bowl during his tenure, he is responsible for bringing life back to a franchise and a fan base that many thought they wouldn’t see again for a long time.