This Young Eagles Team Believes In Michael Vick

During Eagles practice yesterday, Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg stood and talked to Michael Vick in much the same way they did with Donovan McNabb, in years past. 

They’ve got more toys to play with.  These two love to draw up plays and put together game plans.  I can imagine the spread of food they throw down at night when they’re watching opposing defenses and putting together the plan.

You can tell by their body language that they’re excited by this week’s game plan.  Reid gets animated which isn’t much for him, but he was urging the guys to get in and out of the huddle, faster.  

It’s going to be like high-stakes gambling this week because the Redskins are doing a lot of blitzing, which means they’ll be big plays for somebody.  Either the Vick will be escaping elongating the play and Eagles will be torching them deep or the Skins will get some good hits on him.

On the sideline, all the media were standing and watching in awe as Vick was throwing 65 and 70 yard tight-spirals with the flick of his wrist.  

Somebody is always in Vick’s ear.  One minute it’s Mornhinweg, then it’s Reid. During the defensive plays, quarterbacks coach James Urban is wearing his ear drums out.

I think Urban is Mr.Fundamentals, when it comes to Vick.  He goes through throwing motions as he talks to Vick.  It looks like Reid and Mornhinweg talk plays and defenses with him, then Urban talks fundamentals when there’s a break in action.

Vick would get the play from the coaches and walk into the huddle with that swagger that says “I am the man”.  Despite showing a lot of humility off of the field nowadays, it evaporates when Vick steps on the field.  The dude thinks he’s Superman because there’s nothing he hasn’t be able to do if he applied himself to it.

McNabb was always joking around to keep everybody loose before games, while Vick seems to play “Iceman”, because he’s very cool and easy with everything.  He knows the guys get their confidence from him, so he’s not going to let them see him sweat.

Vick must have dropped the cool cover for a while this week because he said, “It was emotional” to describe his interview with his former head coach Jim Mora Jr. which will air at 9am on Sunday morning on the NFL Network.

He put the cool cover back on when he asked if he’s getting caught up in the hoopla surrounding McNabb’s return to the city.  “Really, I haven’t even paid attention to all that’s been going on this week”, Vick responded. “I know our opponent is the Washington Redskins this weekend. It’s just going to be another tough game for me, regardless of who’s out there playing. This is just one game. It’s a big one for us; it’s a big one for [McNabb]. And we’ve got to win it, and go out and do everything we can.”

It’s easy to tell that this football team believes in Vick.  The practices are a lot louder now and enthusiastic.  Yes, Asante Samuel still runs his mouth consistently but the entire team seems to be much more enthusiastic than they were at the beginning of the season.

Vick is always quiet and soft-spoken, but his presence in the lineup has all the other guys wearing big smiles.  Reid had to take this into account when he named Vick the starter.  He had to know how much these guys believe in him.

With all the changes this off season, the players had no idea what to expect when Kevin Kolb was the guy in charge before that first game against the Packers, but they’re believing now.

I think Kolb is showing a lot of character with the way he’s dealing with this situation.  He’s alternating with Mike Kafka on the scout team. 

They were trying to emulate Donovan McNabb this week.  It’s too bad for the defense’s sake that Vick couldn’t have also done the scout team  this week, because he could have given them a good idea of how McNabb moves around in the pocket and occasionally will take off downfield.

Vick is going to need a lot of help if they’re going to do anything special this year, but this team believes they can beat anybody right now.