The big question everybody is asking about the Eagles concerns their quarterback situation. What does the drafting of Matt Barkley tell us about what Chip Kelly really wants in a quarterback?
How important is the quarterback’s ability to run with the football to Kelly? Will Michael Vick be able to overcome his shortcomings to be the team’s starting quarterback?
Nobody really knows the answers to these questions except Kelly and his assistant coaches. Kelly and his staff have left some clues about what he likes and doesn’t like in a quarterback.
Vick let us know that the Birds were working on the read option in their first mini camp, so you know Kelly would like to have a quarterback, who can run. At the same time, the fact that he drafted Barkley, who can’t run says that the ability to run doesn’t mean everything to Kelly.
After drafting Barkley, Kelly downplayed the need for a quarterback to have a strong arm and be able to complete the deep pass. Barkley doesn’t have a strong arm, but he has very good accuracy in the short to intermediate passing game. Vick has a big arm for the deep pass, but Nick Foles hasn’t been impressive with his deep throws.
Kelly has talked previously about a quarterback being able to consistently be accurate with his throws. He wants his quarterback to complete a high percentage of his passes. Vick’s completion percentage has been below %60 for most of career except for the 2010 season. Accuracy has never been one of his assets.
Kelly doesn’t want a quarterback, who turns over the football. We’ve all see Vick throw interceptions, fumble and turn the ball over at a high rate in the last few years. Vick has been unable to make a good decision and get the football out of his hands very quickly.
Kelly and his staff believe they can remake Vick into a quarterback, who can take care of the football, make quick, correct adjustments at the line of scrimmage, then make the correct decisions after dropping into the pocket. He wants a quarterback who can come to the line of scrimmage, read the defense and coverages, then make adjustments to attack the weaknesses in the defense.
I’m sure you’ve heard some of the talk about Kelly wanting his quarterbacks to get rid of the football in 1.5 seconds, but that’s not really so. He wants them to get rid of it quickly but getting rid of it in 1.5 seconds is unrealistic and probably impossible to do consistently. Still Kelly wants the ball out of the quarterbacks hands in immediately, which will be a chance for Vick.
For the last few years, Andy Reid became enamored with the speed of the team’s wide receivers, especially DeSean Jackson, so he encouraged Vick to hold the ball and look deep.
Kelly isn’t going to ask his quarterbacks to throw deep anywhere near as much as Reid did. He prefers the short to intermediate pass, which can be completed at a much higher percentage.
Right now on May 9th, 2013, I don’t think Kelly and his staff know who their quarterback will be when the season starts in the fall.
We all know about the flaws which Vick has shown the last couple of years, but Kelly and his staff believe they can correct Vick’s flaws. We’ll see. There are other coaches who have thought the same thing, but are now unemployed.
Both Foles and Barkley can’t run fast enough to present a threat in the read option attack.
I believe they would like to have a mobile quarterback, but they’re willing to go to battle with a quarterback, who can’t run as long as he’s a good decision-maker, accurate passer and capable to making plays in key situations to win football games.
Yesssss! Its back!
It’s wide open for the QB Position as it should be..
Vick is at his best when the play breaks down and he gets to improvise and use his athleticism to make a big play, problem with that is you can’t really game plan for that very often…making the proper reads, delivering an accurate pass where Receiveres can catch in stride with the designed play call is what Ielly’s System and most other Coaches game plan is about.. Make the simple reads, get the ball out to your playmakers and key them do what they do best
I am concerned about D-Jax & Maclin’s lack of toughness that Kelly’s short to intermediate passing attack will deman and have real questions if either of these Receivers will make the tough cat he’s and take the hits that will come, hence the trade and extension of A Benn, the kid from Boston College and the addition of 2 bigger targets in TE’s Casey and Ertz..
We have all seen D-Jax in last on how he can mope and lose focus if he doesn’t see nany balks his way early in games or how Maclin can short are his carltches in traffic . If both these guys step up their strength and heart, then this Offense can by dynamic no matter who the QB is, if they don’t and why away from contact and look to hit the turf at every chance, then Defenses can really man-up on the both of them and take them out of the fame plans..
This is something I will be watching g for cone Camp, Pres-Season and early Regular Season Ganes to see how the both if them respond
D-Hax is making big $$$ now and Naclin is in his Contract ahead, if both of
these receivers want to remain as Eagles amd ge regarded as big time Receivers, then they will beed to step up their toughness and heart
And make Plays, if not, both of them could be goners by 2014..
CHIP is looking at 4 things when looking at the Eagles QB
#1 a tall lanky dude that has shown some things in limited action, with 1 year NFL experience
#2 a NFL rookie with lots of promise going into senior season in NCAA, but didnt live up to expectations and now people have concerns about his arm strength
#3 a Practice squad legend “who knows the system” (or not, i think he actually got cut from the ravens practice squad)
#4 the most overhyped and overrated nfl qb in league history, a midget, a coach killer, the human turnover, an incompletion waiting to happen, a sack waiting to happen, a 3 and out waiting to happen, an injury waiting to happen. ESSENTIALLY A TURD OF A QB THAT JUST NEEDS TO BE FLUSHED ALREADY
It is completely illogical to start Mike Vick at QB. There is no future in MV. None.
Andy Reid made the mistake of choosing his own short term future over the long term future of the team. Chip Kelly will not. Chip Kelly seems like a logical guy.
The future may be Foles. It may be Barkley. It may be a high draft pick next year. Rookies require at least 12 games, and preferably 16 to evaluate.
Foles must play now to find out. If he fails is Barkley (after week 10).
Lets review the scenarios:
Play Vick.
Has his best year ever. 14 games 3500 yrds and 22 tds (LOL!!!) 8 -8. (I’m being generous). Then what? Heading into the 2014 draft with an even older injury prone mini-man. A middling pick and no idea abotut Foles or Barkley. Grrrrreeeat. Bad result.
Play Vick.
He’s his usual Vick self. Boooos rain down for 6 games. Kelly makes the switch. Then to Foles with team in troubs…..locker room devided as delusional Desean still proclaims that Vick gives us best chance to “win now” . Media and fan base uestioning Kelly’s every decision. Foles plays for 6 to 8 games and plays same as last year. Greeeat. Get a high draft pick, but still no knowledge if Foles or Barkley are capable.
Two negative results. No future. Stupid.
Play Foles for 12 games.
He struggles. Completely sucks. No improvement. Still the same mistakes in week 12 as in week 1. Bench him for Barkley. Barkley gets 6-8 games (not enough but something). Get a high draft pick with knowledge that drafting a QB early is a good idea. Good result for the future.
Foles is ok. Improves slightly, but still just dropping 225 with 2 td 1 int. nothing spectacular. Barkley comes in 2nd half of season. Eagles discover they have a backup in Foles. Good result for the future.
Foles continues to improve like he did over the final 5 games last year. By week 12 he’s throwing for 65% for 280 2 and 0. Eagles O beginning to hum. Eagles have a franchise Qb for next decade. Good result for the future.
Play Foles. Logical.
If you want the Eagles to compete over the next decade. If you want the Eagles to put together a winning long-term program…it has to be Foles (or I’ll accept Barkley)
If you want to watch another 8-8 roller coaster fumble here, 80 yrd bomb there waste of a season…then Vick is your guy.
“Win Now” with Vick? Or the move to the future with the kids?
Foles is ok. Improves slightly, but still just dropping 225 with 2 td 1 int. nothing spectacular. Barkley comes in 2nd half of season. Eagles discover they have a backup in Foles. Good result for the future.
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225 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT a game? You just described Joe Flacco. Acutally, he’d end up with numbers a little better than Flacco if he averaged that. And Flacco is, what, the 2nd highest paid QB in the NFL?
I agree though, I see no reason to play Vick even if he gives them the best chance to “win now”.
Yup all these posts say it all.
Foles to start the season if he plays well he stays. If he can’t get it done It’s Barkley to end 2013 and begin 2014 or a new QB is selected in Round 1.
Damn Paulman can you fucken write shit you misspell every damn word in every sentence you write.
It’s really not all that complicated when you make it strictly about football and the future for this team!
Thoughts on D-Jax
Great Punt returner…Should be a slot specialist taking slants crosses and bubbles to the house.
Too small for an every down WO. Period.
Yeah Vinnie skip right over the part where Kelly and his staff think they can remake him as a QB, now having said that I am surprised they brought him back so again let em compete and whoever wins plays. I like Foles more then Barkley but that’s not saying much he had 11 turnovers in 6 games and ended up injured it was only six games but he didn’t seize the position
Vinnie if he did Vick wouldn’t be here regardless of your statistics and personal bias. What’s the old saying if you have competition at the QB spot means you have no QB.
The Presence of a rookie changes that old saying. The fact that there is a new coach makes things different as well.
Vick must be cut in order to send the message that no one is handed anything. (I do NOT believe that Vick can outplay Foles at the QB position in a fair competition. I have no fear that he will if the competition is fair.)
Oh and a fair competition does consider age and future of the organization.
what??? how can you say fair competition, but discriminate on age? wtf???
descriminate on age?? LOL.
You’re right…the Eagles shouldn’t “descriminate” on age. Should roll with a whole team of 32-40 year olds.
As long as they have a ‘name’ they’ve got a spot.
No as long as the player is better than the others they got a spot…33 year old player still may be better than your 23/24 year old players, even 3-4 years from now…
you know the Eagles are a fairly young team…you just mad because of who the QB is…and use his age as an excuse, just like his “declining speed”….
It’s nick foles for all you damn morons, and paulman, stop with the vomit posts, if you can’t make your point in three sentences or less don’t bother posting. Barkley will back up, Vick will be cut.
Vick is 33. NFL is a young man’s game (and getting younger)
13 of the last 20 SB QBs were in their 20s. 16 of them under 32. Only 3 were over 32.
Elway, Montana, Brad Johnson.
And SB winning QBs are getting younger, not older….
Only 1 of the last 10 SB winning QBs were over 30!
Age MUST play a role in the “competition”
All Vick fans do is hope for the “exception”
This will be the one year when he produces
This is the year he’ll stop fumbling
This is the year the coach will use him properly
This is the year that a 33 yr old will win the SB
They’re talking about moving on from Brady in NE….but mention that its time to move on around here and its almost blasphemous!
Move on.
You know without vick we may have gotten Andrew Luck! UGH making bad decisions that are short sighted always cost more than doing things the right way!
And if those NFC championship games weren’t losses we might have won a Super Bowl. What a ridiculous statement by the way Reid would have drafted Griffin anyway.
And you wouldn’t want Griffin? I would take him over any of our QB’s prior to his ACL. I would not run him though I would use him from the pocket!
Bottom line
We can all continue to sit here and bitch and complain about Vick and Coaches decision to keep Vick or we can all realize THEY DO NOT GIVE A DAMN WHAT WE THINK!
We all need to trust Chips decisions and support him. I believe the man knows what he’s doing. I personally loved the decision for Chip to resign Vick. He wants to weigh out everyone single one of his options. Most likely Foles ends up starting the season and he does decide the go for the future..
With the 2nd Pick in the 2014 NFL Draft the Philadelphia Eagles select Johnny Maziel
Manziel, will not be a good pro. Your flowing off his college performance, and that doesn’t translate well in the NFL.
JaeVeon Clowney, should be the pick. Defensive players are still going to be need sense we whiffed on them this year.
Early dismissal today !!!!!!!!!!! wooooo hooooooooo weeeeeeeeeeeeeee