Ray Glier

ATLANTA -

Jim Mora, the former Indianapolis Colts coach, got it only one-third right when he said Michael Vick was a coach killer.

Now the quarterback is an admitted dog killer. Soon, he will be looked upon as a franchise killer.

The Falcons are about to spin into the ground. The NFL is a forgiving league because the brand is so dominant, parity is so engrained, and the draft provides instant help, but this franchise is looking at a two- or three-year cave in, or longer.

The Falcons have built around Vick, and he is off to prison and won’t be back.

Atlanta was iffy as a playoff team this season, anyway. It was looking at 8-8 with so much reconstruction on defense and the lack of depth on offense. They really needed Vick just to get to .500, or maybe creep to 9-7, because of other, serious issues.

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All-Pro running back Warrick Dunn underwent back surgery before training camp. Somebody called it a minor procedure. Since when is somebody cutting into your back minor?

Dunn insists he will back by the end of the month, but I don’t know about that. I hope somebody is not pushing him just so he can save his job with the emergence of speedy second-year man Jerious Norwood.

The other star of the offense the past few seasons, All-Pro tight end Alge Crumpler, is running bone-on-bone on the knees. Is there cartilage still in there? Let me hear you walk, Alge? Crunch, crunch, crunch.

But even if those guys had been out, Vick, operating in new coach Bobby Petrino’s scheme, could have spread things around to the players left over. There could have been flips outside to get Norwood out in space for big gains. There could have been some special moments for the aging vet Joe Horn.

The offense might have been more kind to Michael Jenkins and Roddy White, first-round picks as receivers, who were starving in the run-first offense under Jim Mora.

Now what? Now where? Who is the go-to guy? The NFL is still waiting on quarterback Joey Harrington. The poor guy was drafted by the rotten Lions and has been taken off the slag heap by the sinking Falcons.

Vick was a subpar passer, but at least there was some intrigue with Petrino coaching him up. There was a reason to buy a ticket.

I wanted to know, “Is this the year Michael Vick gets it?”

Now the franchise wobbles with spare parts on offense. There isn’t a player to put up on the marquee and rally around.

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As suspect as Vick was with the passing game, no quarterback in the history of the game affected the run game like he did. He scared the bejeezus out of defense with escapes out the backside.

Vick was a thrill and worth a few bucks on Sunday, even if the Falcons couldn’t catch the ball. Now he’s gone. The Falcons might have to sell space to a flea market to get fans in the upper deck.

Do they borrow the tarps the Jacksonville Jaguars used to cover empty seats at Alltel Stadium? Can the NFL make sure the TV cameras stay at eye level in the full lower bowl and not show empty seats and devalue the product?

The franchise is crippled because there will be disgruntled fans who wondered about paying full price for a product that lacks its superstar. You can probably go down to the ticket window this morning and get a season ticket.

It’s too bad because ever since Arthur Blank bought the team in 2001 the Falcons have worked furiously to build the brand. The excitement level has increased tenfold; the Falcons were a show.

Blank made money and he pumped a lot of it back into community projects. The worst thing that could happen with the franchise’s stumble over Vick is that the club’s community initiatives are overshadowed.

The good news is there are no expectations. Teams can rally and bunch together wins and there could be a parade of new heroes.

There are other stars out there. Dunn could pick himself back up from injury and be an All-Pro again. Others can tie in to him and the franchise could merely wobble, not collapse. Dunn should have been the face of this franchise all along with his good deeds and work ethic. Now even he isn’t around ... and the starless Falcons are left to spin.

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