With Ben Roethlisberger out, Michael Vick gets an unlikely last shot to lead Steelers -

As a general principle, professional football players do not regard other professional football players with awe. The job requires an impenetrable ego, an unwillingness to admit another man can do something they cannot. And so it was an unusual sensation that overcame the Pittsburgh Steelers late this summer, on the day Michael Vick arrived in preseason camp: Reverence.

At 35, Vick is old enough for his teammates to have watched him as transfixed teenagers. A dogfighting scandal landed him in jail and temporarily ruined his career, a stain which his teammates surely knew and which many fans will not forgive him for. Their memories of Vick, though, focused on the spans of time, separated by years, when Vick existed as the most thrilling and coolest football player on the planet.

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“He’s a guy that a lot of us have grown up looking at,” Steelers tackle Ramon Foster said in a phone conversation. “There was a few guys like that. A lot of guys had the shoes, his first signature shoe. A few guys said the first jersey they ever had was a Mike Vick jersey.”

The admiration faded out of professional obligation, but it underscores the stage at which Vick finds himself now, as he takes over the Steelers’ offense following a left knee injury to Ben Roethlisberger. Teammates usually only idolize you near the end. And so the next month, or however long Roethlisberger remains sidelined, will likely be Vick’s last chance to lead an NFL contender.

Roethlisberger went down Sunday during the third quarter of the Steelers’ 12-6 victory in St. Louis when Rams safety Mark Barron dove into his leg on a play that, while not penalized, may or may not have been clean. The quarterback’s knee bent at a horrific angle. He left the field on the back of a cart. He will receive an MRI in Pittsburgh, according to the team, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Roethlisberger will miss four weeks at minimum.

And so the Steelers will hand one of the best offenses in football over to Vick. After Roethlisberger left in the third quarter, Vick walked into the huddle and acted as if nothing had happened.

“He just gave us the play,” Foster said. “It wasn’t a speech.”

In his youth, Vick built his career, and his legend, on unadulterated excitement. The Steelers hope now he can lead with them with poise. He has started only nine games since the start of 2013. Last year, with the Jets, he appeared in 10 games, starting three, and completed 52.9 percent of his passes while throwing three touchdowns and two interceptions. He has far better weaponry around him with the Steelers.

“The thing about him is, you don’t get a sense of nervousness about him,” Foster said. “He’s very calm. We’re banking on him. He’s acting like a pro, and with a full week [of practice as the starter] under his belt, he can handle the situation. It’s our job to make him comfortable.”

It was hard to tell because the Steelers spent much of the fourth quarter trying to kill the clock, but Foster said offensive coordinator Todd Haley called plays without restrictions after Vick replaced Roethlisberger. He has worked diligently to learn a new system and his teammates have appreciated his understated presence.

“He’s been cool about it,” Foster said. “He’s not pressing to be anybody big-time. If you met the guy and talked to him, he’s a very humble guy. He’s signed two $100 million contracts. He doesn’t carry himself like that.

“He’s coming into a team that has a chance to be really special. He’s not trying to be a rah-rah guy, pushing to win the locker room over or anything like that. He’s been under the radar. He’s been a good teammate.”

The Steelers signed Vick during training camp, the consummation of a pursuit that began during Vick’s low point. As Vick sought to restart his career coming out of prison in 2008, Tomlin wanted the Steelers to sign Vick as a backup to Roethlisberger. The Rooney family, which owns the Steelers, would not allow it. They didn’t want the public relations hit, and Roethlisberger was confronted with sexual assault allegations at the time.

But Tomlin never rejected the idea of one day coaching Vick. He was born in Hampton, Va., and went to high school in Newport News, the same town where Vick grew up. They are separated in age only by eight years; by the time Tomlin was starting his climb in the coaching ranks, he started to hear about a left-handed quarterback back home with lightning in his arm and sprinter’s speed.

Tomlin got his man this summer, in the twilight of Vick’s career. The rationale of the signing extended beyond their personal connections though. Roethlisberger started all 16 games the past two seasons, but his style makes him susceptible to hits and injury. Tomlin needed an insurance policy.

Even as they celebrated their second straight victory, the Steelers could not help but wonder if the pivotal hit on Roethlisberger should never have happened. On the play, Barron tripped while rushing on a blitz, crawled toward Roethlisberger and then lunged at his knees. The referees did not flag Barron, but it was precisely the kind of hit that knocked out Tom Brady in the opening game of 2008 – and that the NFL banned shortly thereafter.

Because of Roethlisberger’s size, those hits happen “more often with him than others,” Foster said. Roethlisberger takes shots that draw flags on other quarterbacks, but not him, because he’s so large and defenders appear to bounce off him.

“My first thing was, maybe the guy hit him too low,” Foster said. “I thought that was against the rules. It would be nice to have that call if it was illegal. We’ll let the league office handle it.”

With Roethlisberger out, Vick competed 5 of 6 passes for 38 yards and took two sacks, mostly trying to manage a game the Steelers’ defense had a death grip on. The Steelers face the Ravens (on Thursday night), Cardinals, Chargers and Chiefs the next four weeks, a difficult stretch that could define their season. They will face them with Vick.

Sunday afternoon, Tomlin addressed the team in the locker room. “If Ben is out,” he told them, “we got to bring him back to a good situation.” That is Vick’s task now, the last act of a singular career.

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