IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Michael Vick at Norfolk State
Former NFL QB Michael Vick was at a loss for words after his team’s heartbreaking loss.
On Saturday, Vick’s Norfolk State team thought they had a sure win against North Carolina Central, which had no timeouts with less than two minutes to go and was down six points.
Instead of running down the clock, Norfolk State ran a play and fumbled the ball, which led to a North Carolina Central game-winning touchdown.
A stunned Vick told reporters he had called for victory formation and was confused about why his team didn’t kneel the ball to run out the clock.
“I don’t know what happened at the end of the game. I put my headset down, I called victory formation. All we had to do was just take a knee and nail the clock out. That’s just situational football. I don’t know what happened in regards to that. I looked up and we was running the ball, and then I seen the fumble. But my final instructions was victory formation. That’s when you kneel it out, and they had, I think, zero timeouts left, and the game was over practically.”
“I put my headset down, and I took my headset off ’cause all we had to do was just run it three times, or two times, or kneel it out. I just called victory. I don’t know what happened. A run play was called. I looked up, I seen us running the ball. I don’t know what happened. I really don’t. I don’t know what the play call was. I don’t know why we even ran that play.”
Vick said he was sure other teams would learn from Norfolk State’s mistakes.
“People will look at that and that’ll go on as a teaching tape for a lot of teams across the country for years to come. I hate it had to be us, but I called victory formation. I’m just letting everybody know that.”
Michael Vick on the crucial fumble that opened the door for Norfolk State’s stunning defeat to North Carolina Central.
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— Marc Davis (@marcdavissports) November 7, 2026