Your boss would like to see you in his office, uh, right away.

Here's the deal, he says: It seems the company has gone out and spent millions of dollars to hire a kid who never finished college. We'd like you to mentor him, teach him the ropes, help him study and prepare. You will still take charge and lead everyone, but from now on we want you to step aside right before the successful conclusion of some of your projects so the kid can come in and get all the glory and attention. Oh, and by the way, management will judge your success with this kid solely on how quickly you can prepare him to take your job.

Now are you beginning to understand the tenuous, weird and unique dynamic in Atlanta between 14-year vet Chris Chandler and No. 1 draft pick Michael Vick? Indeed, there is a quarterback putting on an amazing performance in Atlanta and, well, you're all missing it.

It's early, I know, and Chris Chandler may eventually chafe at the working conditions in Atlanta. Who wouldn't? "I understand the reality of the situation," he says. But for the time being Chandler is conducting himself with the kind of humility, professionalism and selflessness that is as rare in the NFL as his 94-yard TD pass to Jamal Anderson on Sunday.

Nine times out of 10, this kind of thing is an acid that quickly destroys team chemistry. So, to me, what Chandler is doing with Vick is every bit as impressive as when he led the team to the Super Bowl three years ago.

"This whole situation can still go either way," Falcons cornerback Ray Buchanan said on Sunday. "It's all in how they use 'em. They have to insert Mike in a way that doesn't disrupt Chris' flow. Against the 49ers it went south. Today, it went north. My hat goes off to Chris Chandler for the way he has handled this, 'cause I'll tell ya what, I can't even describe how I would handle this situation. But it wouldn't be pretty."

You should have seen the two of them (what should we call them, Vickler or Vandler or, my favorite, Chandlick? Uh oh, I smell a poll coming ... ) after the Falcons (1-1) beat the Panthers 24-16 inside the Georgia Dome. Their lockers are a few feet, and an entire world, apart. Chandler was standing against a wall in front of four or five reporters, wearing a violet polo shirt, khaki shorts and loafers, his sideburns tinged with gray hair. Next to him, surrounded by a swarm of reporters and the hot glare of a dozen camera lights, was the 21-year-old Vick, wearing baggy jeans, unlaced Timberland boots and nothing but a Mercedes Benz keypad around his neck.

You've heard of Atlanta's Freaknik celebration? Well, welcome to Freakvik. "Let's face it, Vick has to play some because the guy is so exciting," says Buchanan. "Heck, I have a hard time listening and studying our defensive calls on the sidelines because I want to jump up and watch the guy play."

As we watched the whole scene unfold from across the locker room, veteran wideout Terance Mathis snarled at me before I could even finish my first Vick question. "Do not forget this," he hissed. "Chris Chandler is the quarterback of the this team. Michael Vick is a nice change of pace, but Chris Chandler is the correct guy who is gonna put us in the right position to win football games."

Vick was answering questions about his first NFL TD. It was a nice play: a rollout to the left designed for him to throw or run. He read the sagging cornerback correctly and ran it in, practically outracing his lead blocker, fullback Bob Christian, into the end zone. But it was Chandler, don't forget (see, Terance, I was listening!) who drove the team 72 yards to the 2-yard line and then graciously stepped off the field.

Yeah, Chandler says, this will take some getting used to. Nevertheless, he was one of the first Falcons to congratulate Vick. "Actually I wanted to make sure he was okay, because he sure didn't get up like he was okay," says Chandler. "I wanted to get to him first and pull him aside and make sure he was okay before everybody starting jumping and pounding on him."

Now, if that were me, I'd have run out there first too -- so I could secretly jab Vick in his sore ribs a few times while my teammates were swarming around him. You watch Chandler, though, and he is sincere in his role as a mentor. He's always talking to the rook, helping him, guiding him, knowing, I'm sure, that every time he helps make Vick better it brings him one step closer to his own retirement.

But as young as he is, Vick still seems to understand and appreciate what Chandler is doing and that's a big part of why this thing is working. "You definitely have to give [Chandler] some space sometimes," Vick said earlier in the year. "I know when is a good time to go up to him and can sense what kind of a mood he's in and that's why we get along. But a lot times he will give me advice without even being asked because he knows it is something that I need. He is very helpful. I cannot do anything but thank him for what he is doing for me."

As he headed out of the Georgia Dome on Sunday, Vick was asked what he was going to do with the ball from his first NFL TD. Turns out, he's building his mom a big house in Virginia, complete with a giant glass case to hold all of his trophies. So that ball is heading back home.

That's nice, but my vote would be to hand it over to Chandler.

David Fleming is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail flemfile@aol.com.