In an article published Friday, Associated Press sports writer George Henry suggested those of us worried that Michael Vick will hesitate to scramble this year should read nothing into the 9-yard sack that sent him to the sideline after just three plays in a 24-0 preseason loss to the Ravens on Thursday night.

Even if it didn't look like it in Baltimore, Vick insists the West Coast offense suits him perfectly.

The speedy signal caller handed off twice to Warrick Dunn before Will Demps blitzed through a huge hole created when left guard Michael Moore missed a blocking assignment. Demps ran at him so quickly that Vick just tucked the ball and prepared to hit the wet grass.

Offensive coordinator Greg Knapp had called a screen pass to Vick's right.

"That won't happen in San Francisco. Trust me," Vick said after the game. "I'm not trying to break off big runs in the preseason. That's not going to do me or the offense any good."

When the regular season begins Sept. 12 against the 49ers, Vick insists he will run when necessary -- whether by design or because of defensive pressure. He agreed with new head coach Jim Mora that the Falcons had little to gain if he took more snaps against Baltimore's 3-4 front.

"You'll see more of me next week," he said, looking ahead to a Friday home date with Minnesota. "We'll do different things."

The Ravens broke Vick's right leg in a preseason game last year and ruined Atlanta's season. Without the dazzling starter who set four NFL records for rushing by a quarterback in 2002, the Falcons went 2-10.

Mora, the former San Francisco defensive coordinator, took over as coach seven months ago and brought Knapp, his close friend, with him. Knapp joined the 49ers' staff in 1995 and worked the last three years as coordinator.

Their plan called for Vick to play just one series. While Mora understands the value of giving Vick more time to execute a new offense in game situations, but the Ravens offered a poor matchup.

"We've just got to be smart as a staff, No. 1 about how much we play him and No. 2 about how we play him," Mora said. "What types of plays we ask him to run in the preseason -- we're not going to play scared. We're not going to baby him, but we're going to be smart about how we use him. That's what every team's doing with their quarterback."

A Pro Bowl selection as a first-time, full-season starter two years ago, Vick led the Falcons to the second round of the playoffs. He put a nice touch on a miserable season last year by leading Atlanta to a 3-1 record in December.

Rookie Matt Schaub replaced Vick and completed 12 of 24 passes for 108 yards and two interceptions.

"I told Matt things like this happen to you," Vick said. "It's how you bounce back from it, whether you're a player who can recover from tough stuff or just go into a hole. Matt's the type of guy I think that can bounce back. ..."

Also of interest. ... The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Dunn, who suffered a season-ending torn ligament in his left foot Nov. 23, didn't have a lot of room to work in but showed no obvious symptoms of his injury.

Picking up the timing of Atlanta's new offense may be another matter.

"It was a learning experience," Dunn said. "We were trying to take everything we have learned in practice. ... And apply it to a real game situation. Now we have something we can take and review and see where we need to get better. ..."

Other Fantasy-specific news and notes of interest. ...

After breaking two long touchdown runs in his first game in a year, Ron Dayne was asked if his success was due to the differences in offensive systems from last year to this.

"No, it was because he was on the field," interjected Pat Hanlon, the Giants' vice president for communications.

And yes. We're talking about that Ron Dayne.

You know, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner? The Giants' first pick in the 2000 draft? The guy who was inactive for all 16 regular-season games last season, the result of a personality conflict with fired coach Jim Fassel?

That guy.

Given a chance by new head coach Tom Coughlin, Dayne had touchdown runs of 29 and 67 yards as New York rallied Friday night to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 34-24. He finished with 118 yards in 11 carries.

As AP football writer Dave Goldberg put it, "This was classic Dayne."

In addition to the two TD runs, Dayne went for 14 yards on the first play of the third quarter, then could gain only 2 yards in three tries after the Giants had a second-and-3.

"I've never been someone who got yards on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1," he said. "In college, I just didn't do that." It's been the same with the Giants.

He would invariably be inserted for Tiki Barber in short-yardage situations, then tiptoe up to the line and get dumped, failing to move the pile. But given a crease, usually off tackle, he could burst through a hole for 10 and 15 yards, then pull tacklers for 10 or 20 more.

Dayne's first TD under Coughlin did come on a third-and-1 when he broke a tackle by Shawn Barber, a former Redskin and Eagle who played against him before, and broke into the open. On the second, he simply took a handoff from Manning on the second play of the first draft pick's career and burst into the open, easily outrunning the secondary.

So in the end, his night came down to three carries for 110 yards and eight more carries for 8 yards -- the latter being what Goldberg characterized as "Ron Dayne numbers."

Coughlin will take the former. And he might be stuck with the latter.

"I was disappointed that he couldn't get the first down in those short-yardage situations, but I'm proud that he showed what he can do," the coach said.

Dayne's performance certainly caught the attention of the other side, which thought it reflected well on Coughlin.

"He really gashed us," Carl Peterson, the Chiefs' president and general manager, said of Dayne. "You have to give Tom credit. He's giving him his chance and he seems to be taking advantage of it."

For what it's worth. ... The day Coughlin was hired as head coach, Dayne arrived at Giants Stadium as a show of support. Coughlin weighed Dayne, and the scale registered 272 pounds.

Coughlin told Dayne to come to training camp at 235 pounds. He reported one pound under the limit and apparently, dead set on proving his worth.

According to Barber. who has predicted Dayne could lead the team in carries this year: "Ron's frame of mind is the most positive that I have ever seen from him. He knows what's coming and is excited in his own subtle way. I'm anxious to see what he does myself. ..."

Sounds like we'll all be watching closely in coming weeks. ...

In Buffalo. ... Travis Henry told the USA Today he will ask to be traded if he is supplanted by Willis McGahee as the Buffalo Bills' featured running back.

"If it comes to that, and they want to go in that direction, yeah, I would want to go elsewhere," Henry told the paper's Tom Pedulla after a recent practice.

Although new head coach Mike Mularkey assured him that he remains the starter, he is concerned that McGahee's comeback may ultimately reduce his opportunities and effectiveness.

"Backs split time in high school and college," Henry says. "At this level, if you've got a feature back, you let him run. You let him do what he does. You get three plays; he gets three plays. Nah. You can't get into a rhythm like that. ..."

Mularkey says he has "a really nice problem" when he must decide whether to feed the ball to Henry or McGahee. He adds that there will be times when the two line up together. His first snap of mini-camp began with that formation.

"We are going to try to make them both happy, which is going to be a tough situation, but I can't say enough about Travis Henry," Mularkey says.

General manager Tom Donahoe reiterates that Henry will remain the club's primary ballcarrier and adds that he is not being shopped.

"You could see how people would think that, but we plan to run the football and we feel we need two quality backs," Donahoe explained. "A trade is not something we're thinking about at this point. "Things can always change, but right now we like the situation we're in. We'll see how it develops."

For now, I'd advise those of you worried about this situation to revisit the first sentence of this segment. In particular, the words "if he is supplanted" and remind you that's a very big "if. ..."

In Arizona. ... As I reported in my current SI.com Back Page column, a day after learning Anquan Boldin's knee injury was worse than first believed, head coach Dennis Green said he was hopeful that Boldin would return in time to make a contribution this fall.

"I can't really add any more light at all on Anquan, except that I think we're very optimistic that he'll return at some point during the season, in the first half of the season, and he'll really be able to help us when he does," Green said.

But until Boldin and fellow starter Bryant Johnson, who will miss the bulk of camp with an injured foot, return man Karl Williams, will move into the starting lineup alongside Fitzgerald and Bryan Gilmore with Nate Poole, Jason McAddley and others bringing up the rear.

"We've got all kinds of options," Green said.

Unfortunately, Fitzgerald aside, none of those options are terribly exciting. Which is a bit worrisome.

While there's no doubt he's as talented an incoming rookie as we'll see this year, Fitzgerald will be surrounded by a very questionable supporting cast running a new offense led by an unproven quarterback in Josh McCown.

Hardly a promising mix. ...

In Cleveland. ... According to Northeast Ohio News-Herald staff writer Jeff Schudel, Kellen Winslow worked with the second team during an early portion of practice Thursday night. He caught a pass from Kelly Holcomb at the five-yard line during 7-on-7 drills after catching every pass thrown to him in individual drills.

Schudel added: "Some of the time in passing drills, he caught passes one-handed - not in a showy way, but as practice for tight situations during a game. ..."

When practice went to 11-on-11, Winslow got his chance to work with the first-team offense. He broke through the defense on a play from the 5 and caught a sharp, fast pass from Jeff Garcia in the back of the end zone. A couple plays later, Garcia threw an alley-oop from the 50.

Winslow jumped like a basketball center and caught it at the one-yard line and stepped into the end zone for a touchdown.

Still, Winslow wasn't satisfied with the way he played.

"You have to earn everything you get in this league," said Winslow, the sixth overall pick in the April draft. "It doesn't matter where you're picked. Everybody in the NFL is good. I have a lot to learn. I'm thinking too much right now. I'm not just playing football. ..."

As impressive as his on-field effort seems to be, the attitude might be even more so. ...

In Denver. ... Rocky Mountain News staff writer Jeff Legwold advised readers this week that rookie Darius Watts, who has worked as the team's No. 3 wide receiver for much of camp, already has shown enough that he kept the Broncos out of the chase for former Oakland Raiders wide receiver Tim Brown.

The Broncos had contacted Brown and his representative, Marvin Demoff, but Brown wanted assurances from any team that signed him that he would be among the top three receivers in the rotation. The Buccaneers, who are in a nasty contract squabble with Keenan McCardell, could offer that opportunity while the Broncos probably would not have made such a promise.

Watts made four receptions for 44 yards in limited duty against the Washington Redskins in Monday night's preseason opener. ...

In case you missed it the first time through, I recommend breaking out this year's Football Diehards magazine and checking out my in-depth interview with Watts. ...

Also in Denver. ... According to Sporting News columnist Dan Pompei, tight end Byron Chamberlain looks like he could be productive as the successor to Shannon Sharpe.

Chamberlain's issues with weight control cost him his previous two jobs, but he reported for his second tour of duty in Denver this year in the best shape of his career.

Chamberlain, 32, has been sharp coming in and out of his breaks and catching the ball, and he has been effective locking up with defenders as a blocker. Chamberlain's success has made the move of Dwayne Carswell from tight end to offensive tackle look that much smarter.

In Oakland. ... As AP sports writer Janie McCauley noted this week, Ronald Curry's climb up the Raiders' depth chart has come as a surprise to just about everyone, including Curry himself.

He came into camp expecting to be the fifth or sixth receiver this season. His stakes have risen quickly, and head coach Norv Turner named Curry the team's No. 3 option behind Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter Wednesday.

"I knew I could probably get it done as a receiver, at least compete enough to where they could keep me at the receiver spot and use me as a special teams player," Curry said.

His athleticism in the slot position will keep him around, too.

Rich Gannon believes Curry is a quick learner, which has been a major factor in his progress in the new position. "I'm confident in my abilities, and they've seen that I can go out there and produce," Curry said. "I feel like I had a pretty good offseason. They feel like I had a pretty good offseason. They were looking forward to me coming in and making some noise. I was too."

Curry's emergence can't be good news for those with high expectations for Doug Gabriel -- me included.

Also in Oakland. ... Those who follow the team closely say Turner has all but named Tyrone Wheatley as starting tailback over new arrival Troy Hambrick.

During last Saturday's no-tackle scrimmage, Wheatley was the starter, second-year back Justin Fargas the backup and Hambrick the third-down, pass-catching back for quarterback Kerry Collins' second-team offense.

Since May's first mini-camp, Turner has praised the 32-year-old, 235-pound Wheatley, who was mostly ignored in the Raiders' West Coast offense the last two seasons.

"Wheatley is a hard guy to tackle," Turner said. "He's having an outstanding camp. ..."

And finally, because we sometimes forget NFL players are people, too. ...

Tempers flared this week during an afternoon scrimmage at Raiders camp, when tight end Roland Williams put a block on linebacker Danny Clark.

After the two exchanged shoves, guard Frank Middleton ran and pushed Clark. Clark and Middleton exchanged words and had to be separated.

On the sideline during the next play, Williams -- considered one of the team's most upbeat, positive players, turned to some young fans nearby and said, "Don't mimic. ... It's inappropriate."