John Beale, Post-Gazette Michael Vick (401 rushing yards this season) is on track to break Bobby Douglass's record for the most rushing yards by an NFL quarterback in a season. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Steelers Notebook: Cowher defends Heinz Field turf Bob Smizik: Steelers' season still up for grabs Ed Bouchette's Daily Question Chart: Top five rushing performances by a QB in a season NFL Week 7 Steelers@Falcons Sunday, 1 p.m., TV: KDKA

Bill Cowher never has opened a news conference saying anything remotely negative about the Steelers' opponent. Perhaps not in Joe Paterno's league for praising his next foe, Cowher still could work for FTD each Tuesday because he delivers so many bouquets.

He even called the Atlanta Falcons "twice as dangerous" this week because they lost to the New York Giants Sunday to fall to 3-2. If so, imagine how dangerous the 0-5 Raiders will be the following Sunday for the Steelers.

It does not mean Cowher's words aren't often true, and yesterday he could not contain himself when he talked about Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, someone he hopes his defense can contain Sunday in Atlanta.

Vick is unique, dangerous, very unique, special, a challenge, a big challenge and a quarterback with an unbelievably strong arm, according to Cowher. Never mind that he also is a quarterback with an inaccurate arm, completing barely 50 percent of his passes, or that his 66.0 passer rating looks good only to those who saw Ben Roethlisberger in his first three games this season.

What makes Vick unique from other NFL quarterbacks is not his passing, it's his ability to run. There, he has no peer at the position -- perhaps in NFL history. Vick has 401 yards rushing after five games, 33 fewer than Willie Parker. His average of 8.7 yards per carry dwarfs his 5.78 yards per pass completion.

"Certainly, this whole offense is very unique because of what Michael presents back there," Cowher said yesterday.

Bobby Douglass holds the NFL rushing record for quarterbacks with 968 yards with the Chicago Bears in 1972. Vick could break that by Atlanta's 12th game. Of the top 13 games rushing by a quarterback in NFL history, Vick owns six, including No. 1 with 173 and No. 3 with 141. He has twice rushed for more than 100 yards this season.

"When you play a player like this, it's different certainly than what we've faced the last couple of weeks," Cowher said. "There are scrambling quarterbacks, but then Michael takes that to another level."

Cowher and his Steelers saw that in person Nov. 10, 2002, at Heinz Field. The Steelers led the Falcons 34-17, but the Falcons scored 17 points behind Vick in the final 7:44 to tie the score. Vick scored the tying touchdown by running 11 yards with 44 seconds left. The game ended in a tie when, on the final play of overtime, Plaxico Burress caught a 50-yard desperation pass that came up a yard short of the end zone.

Despite blowing a lead of more than 10 points for only the second time in 103 games in his career at that point, Cowher said he was happy to settle for the tie because of Vick.

"We did a good job in the first half, but, in the second half, he ran around and made some plays,'' Cowher said. "I remember when it ended, getting out of there with a tie at the time, I felt pretty good about it."

That's the kind of fear Vick can put into coaches and their defenses. They're not used to his kind of play at quarterback. This year, Atlanta coach Jim Mora has used him on the run more than ever, prompting Cowher to think about going back to college to learn how to stop him.

"It seems like they've gone to almost a college playbook for him to make some of these plays,'' Cowher groaned. "They've got the old option draw back in. You see it in college all the time.

"I should call some college coaches up about defending that thing. You're talking about the team that's clearly ahead of everyone and setting records rushing the football.

"He's part of that. And it's not like he's the only one. You're talking about Warrick Dunn. It's like he's found the fountain of youth. He's running hard and fast."

The Steelers must defend Vick differently than they would, say, Philip Rivers. Defenses have gotten to him for 18 sacks, but blitzing him on every down is not the answer.

"You're not going to make a living doing it," Cowher said. "But you don't want to sit back because you're going to need to have some guys fill some lanes. I think you've got to be able to pick and choose and just keep him off balance as much as possible."

If Vick looks as if he's taking off to run, it also may be deceiving.

"In the secondary, you have to be careful you don't come out of your coverage too quickly because he has an unbelievably strong arm,'' Cowher said. "He'll scramble to run, but, at the same time, you cannot drop coverage. Up front, you have to come under control.

"You can do your job, and sometimes he's going to make plays. The biggest thing is to minimize the big plays that he makes and stay patient and hopefully somewhere along the line we'll make some big plays."