After years of fans, coaches and teammates begging him to do it, Michael Vick has resolved to start sliding to avoid taking extra hits during games.
"I'm sliding now, I'm getting down. I've made my mind up," said Vick. "There's going to be times when I can't get those extra yards but I have to get down. And I get too caught up in the game sometimes but that leads to you being sidelined and not being accountable for your team on Sundays and not being out there. So I don't want to continue to put the team through that and I understand how drastic that can be sometimes."
However, Vick says that this new decision to slide isn't going to fundamentally change the way he plays.
"No, I'm still going to play the way I want to play, I'm just going to get down. It's not worth taking a hit for the extra one or two yards unless the first down marker is right there [smiling]. So I guess I still haven't changed."
It's about time. In one sense, I do respect the guy for wanting to be a football player out there and fight for every yard... but the reality is that when you're a QB, especially one being paid $80 million, self preservation is important.