Vick Will Need To Be Patient And The “O” Must Stay Away From Mistakes

Don’t fool yourself, Michael Vick isn’t going to beat the Indianapolis Colts by himself. He needs to play at a high level, but he’s going to need quality play from his offensive line and his receivers.  Indianapolis dominated the Texans talented offense on Monday night, so the Birds’ job won’t be easy.

They must be focused on the detail of their game plan.  Mistake-free execution is the goal.  Indianapolis doesn’t give up many long touchdowns, so they’re going to force the Eagles to be consistent.

Like a competitor in a tennis match, the Eagles offense must eliminate unforced errors, which means avoiding penalties, dropped passes and poor throws.  They’ve got to stay out of third and longs, while putting together long, flawless drives.

In light of the Colts prolific offense which is sure to put some points on the board, Vick and the Birds need to not only control the football but score touchdowns when they get their opportunities.

They need a big game out of LeSean McCoy, both in the running game and in the passing game.  He needs to continue to make the first guy miss on check down routes, while finding some openings inside in the running game.  It’s nearly impossible to outrun the Colts outside, so you’ve got to run the ball right at them.

Vick will need to get the ball to Jeremy Maclin, Brent Celek and  McCoy underneath, then eventually start hitting them on intermediate routes.

We don’t know whether DeSean Jackson is going to play or not, but regardless of whether he plays or not, they need to take a shot or two deep.  I don’t mean throwing the ball up for grabs, but you’ve got to threaten the secondary deep or Indy’s speedy group will gradually start creeping up until they’ve made throwing short impossible.

Once the safeties are threatened deep, it will give Vick and his receivers more room to work underneath.

Backup wide receivers Jason Avant and Riley Cooper could play a huge role in this game plan.  You’ve got to be able to catch the ball underneath against the Colts and be willing to take a beating after they catch the ball.  Avant and Cooper have the size and toughness to flourish in those situations.

The Colts don’t play as much double-zone, as they have in the past, but they still like to keep at least one safety deep in order to prevent wide receivers from beating them for long easy scores.

We don’t know whether Eagles left tackle Jason Peters will be ready to go this week or not, but they’re going to have to help the tackles block Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, regardless of which tackles start.  King Dunlap and Winston Justice don’t have any chance of blocking the Cots defensive ends by themselves.  It will mean keeping the Celek in at times and chipping with McCoy.

They can’t afford to let either those guys force a fumble or two by Vick, who must make protecting the ball one of his goals in the game.  Kelvin Hayden picked off a pass against the Texans and ran it in for a score and that proved to be one of the reasons for the Colts victory on Monday night.

Vick said he watched Indy’s bend but don’t break style of defense, so he knows that they’re going to try to lure him into making mistakes.  He’s got to be patient while taking advantage of any chances they get deep.

The Birds will have to play well to get the “W” this week.  It’s a good thing that the Colts won’t have a full week to get ready, while the Eagles are fresh from having the previous week off.