Today will be another opportunity for Michael Vick to work on the fundamentals of playing the quarterback position in the west coast offense. They want him to focus on doing the fundamentals.
I'm going to share my view of the way the Eagles are working with with Vick, so expect to hear this and read other places after I put this out there.
You must realize that Vick was given the "Randall Cunningham treatment" while he was in Atlanta. They gave him a basic breakdown of the west coast offense then told him to go out there and make some plays.
The instructions for Vick were to look up his first receiver and sometimes his second, then take off. They didn't focus on making sure he knew the offense through and through. They encouraged Vick to rely on his God-Given talents.
Now the Eagles want him to learn to sit in the pocket and go through his progressions before looking to run. He's being taught to take his three, five and seven step drops, then look for his one, two, three and sometimes fourth option before taking off with the ball.
It's the way Phil Jackson got Michael Jordan to run the offense until the 24 second clock wound down, then he took the ball and went one-on-five in order to score. Similarly, the Eagles want to train Vick to rely on the scheme of the offense before taking things into his own hands.
I think they're trying to get Vick ready to step in for McNabb if he were to get hurt, for a short time or for the entire season. I think Andy feels he could win with Vick if they get him disciplined in his footwork and reading his progressions.
They're going to put in the gimmick stuff later on. I'm sure Andy and Marty are working on it, but they're focusing Vick's attention on running the offense by the book.
