Marty Mornhinweg Went Through This With Steve Young, Now It’s Michael Vick

You know what player flashed in Marty Mornhinweg’s mind when Andy Reid let him know that the Eagles were considering signing former number one pick in the draft, Michael Vick.  Mornhinweg had coached a quarterback in San Francisco who like Vick was also left handed and also a great athlete.

“They’re very similar”, Mornhinweg told reporters yesterday in talking Vick and former Niners quarterback Steve Young. “The makeup is there on the field as far as talent and ability. Mike has really worked hard to [get to] the level that Steve worked hard at. Steve ended up being one of the most accurate passers ever in the history of the game; first ballot Hall of Famer.”

Mornhinweg had to be having deja vu when he saw Vick’s amazing ability but poor quarterbacking mechanics.  He also had to remember how great a quarterback Young became.

People forget that Niner superstar came to San Francisco in a similar situation which Vick came to Philadelphia.  Young hadn’t spent two years in a Federal Penitentiary for two years like Vick but he had felt like he was being punished in Tampa Bay for two years of losing every week and being labeled a bust.

Mornhinweg and the Niners coaches worked with Young on his fundamentals for years as he backed up Joe Montana.   They corrected similar problems that the Eagles coaches corrected with Vick.  Athletic quarterbacks who are prone to scramble, make the mistake of throwing the football without resetting their feet to throw.  Many times they unbalanced when they let the ball go.

You can’t throw the ball with accuracy if your feet are set to run, but not to throw.  You must reset them before you throw the ball.  Balance is the key.  Quarterback coaches refer to it as the “platform”.  It’s just like a great shooter in basketball, they must be balanced when they let the ball go.

The other issue is their eyes.  They must keep their eyes downfield as they give the play a chance.  Young and Vick talked about this issue after Monday night’s blowout.

Athletic quarterbacks can be prone to playing street ball, which means taking their eyes off the receivers downfield and scrambling without giving the play that was called in the huddle a chance.  Street ball can work against inferior teams but you don’t beat quality teams that way.  Think about the earlier version of Vick and the young edition of Randall Cunningham.

Vick and Cunningham both had great success in the regular season by playing street ball but neither were able to get to the Super Bowl by playing in that manner.

You must be able to play the game from the pocket.  Young was taught by Bill Walsh, Steve Mariucci, Mornhinweg and others to play from the pocket, now Vick has received that instruction from Reid, Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach James Urban.

The Eagles coaches are starting to reap the same success which the Niners coaches were able to see, but we’ll have to wait and see if they can win it all with Vick at the helm.

Young was labeled a guy who was great during the regular season but couldn’t get San Francisco over the hump, after a number of years of losing NFC Championship games to that great Dallas Cowboys team of the 90’s.  Eventually they put it together, beat the Cowboys, then blew out the Chargers in the Super Bowl.

That annihilation of San Diego helped Mornhinweg get a chance to be an NFL head coach.  If he can figure out a way to keep Vick and the offense going, he could might find himself getting a second chance to be an NFL head coach.