CORTLAND — Michael Vick was gasping for air during and after offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg’s quarterback conditioning drill following his first training camp practice as a Jet. At one point, according to a photographer eyewitness, he appeared ready to vomit: Mike Sick.
“Yeah … did you see how much we ran? … Oh man,” Vick told The Post. “It was rough. It was rough. But I recovered though, I’m back. Good thing I ain’t gotta run like that in the game.”
Vick paused then added: “I’m not a long-distance runner, I’m a sprinter. Make sure you write that.”
So Jets fans shouldn’t be alarmed that …
“No, absolutely not,” Vick said. “I’m not a long-distance runner, I’m a sprinter.”
What kind of stuff did they have him do?
“You have to see it. I can’t even explain it, that’s how complex it was,” Vick said.
Matt Simms was in the best shape of the group that included Vick, Geno Smith and Tajh Boyd. Each QB would sprint — seemingly here, there and everywhere — when he wasn’t required to fire three passes into a hole.
Vick may be the underdog in his friendly/rigged competition with Smith, but coach Rex Ryan and the Jets are thrilled to have him as an insurance policy for Smith at worst, a savior at best.
He certainly didn’t resemble Mike Sick during practice.
“Wow, can he throw it!” Ryan said. “It’s amazing how God touches people differently, and certainly, he gave this young man so much ability … like, boom, that ball’s going 50 yards, it’s like, ‘What?’ It looks so easy. He’s one of those rare guys that he’s smooth at it.”
With a flick of his left wrist, the football explodes out of his left hand, even at 34. His deep throws are pinpoint rainbows. On several occasions, he sprinted out of the pocket around left end.
“He looks like Mike Vick,” receiver Jeremy Kerley said. “He’s got a tight spiral, man, it comes out tight, it comes out accurate. He has a good release, man, it’s a good ball.”
Vick never has been a guy asked to push anybody but himself. Until now.
“I don’t necessarily know if he came in just to push Geno, I don’t know what exactly his role is, but from what I’ve seen on the field right now, Mike Vick — he’s looking like Michael Vick,” Kerley said. “He’s looking like a guy that’s throwing tight spirals, throwing the ball deep with accuracy, and he’s looking good.”
He is Mike Flick.
“He throws a pretty ball,” receiver Eric Decker said. “He’s kinda got that flick, he can just flick it out, nice little spiral left-handed, so as a receiver, it’s an adjustment to train your eyes to look on the other side of the quarterback. But, very catchable ball, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Tight end Zach Sudfeld caught two short passes from Vick in the 2-minute drill.
“He’s got a great arm,” Sudfeld said. “He’s smart, so he knows where to out it. And he can really put it on you.”
Vick had roommate Chris Johnson fumble a handoff and was intercepted by Jaiquawn Jarrett on a throw over the middle for rookie Jalen Saunders. It was a miscommunication.
“Kinda forced me to make a mistake, but I always take the blame because the ball is always in my hands.” Vick said.
Ryan: “Ball gets intercepted and it’s like, ‘OK, that’s on me.’ He knows it’s on that kid. And we’ll make sure that kid knows it, but Mike’s saying, ‘OK, I’ll take it.’ ”
Jarrett: “Vick is an amazing player. Young Geno’s gonna be an amazing player in this league as well.”
Even as he labored to survive the QB conditioning drills, Vick cheered on Smith.
“Like I always tell him, ‘It’s a great game,’ ” Vick said. “It’s fun to play in this league, and the most important thing I want him to do is go out and have fun. That’s what you gotta do. If you don’t, it takes away from the game, or within yourself.”
He wears No. 1, even as he starts as No. 2.
“Mike Vick is Mike Vick,” Simms said. “He’s a guy that just about everybody else on the team grew up watching and pretending to be. You know, every guy on our team pretended to be Mike Vick in high school at quarterback. It’s a great experience to be around a guy that’s been through as much as he’s been through, on and off the field, and he’s got a lot of experience for all of us to learn from.”