I know everybody was excited by Michael Vick’s heroic runs on Sunday, but that’s got to change if the Birds are going to accomplish their goals.
Vick completed 43.8 percent of his passes 14 or 32 on Sunday. Yes, DeSean Jackson dropped a sure touchdown and Vick made some great throws in key situations to allow the Birds to get first downs.
With the pass rush pressure on him, the fleet quarterback took off and shredded the Rams defense with his speed and elusiveness, but is he going to be able to have success doing this against the elite teams. I say no.
The reason Vick was given the $100 million dollar contract is because of his progress of running the Eagles pass offense from the pocket. His amazing runs are fabulous but will he be able to stay healthy doing that week in and week out. Even if he doesn’t get hurt, will he get worn down come playoff time from taking all of those hits. We must see that offensive line give him the time he needs to run the offense from the pocket.
Who knows when the offensive line is going to be good enough to let him run the offense from the pocket? We still
don’t know if he can get the pre-snap blitz reads and make the adjustments needed to pick them up as he gets rid of the football before the pass rush arrives.
Remember the Eagles offense was struggling last year when teams blitzed them in the second half of the season. The only time the offense exploded was during times when Vick bought time with his legs or came flying out of the pocket with his 4.3 speed.
The first time a defense started blitzing him was the Giants game at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night. Vick was pounded and harassed by the New York defense. He still completed 23-37 passes for 251 yards which was 62.2% completion percentage. This was an outstanding performance by Vick as he led the Eagles to victory despite being battered by the Giants.
The next week the Birds went to Chicago and the Bears defense got after Vick in much the same way as the Giants. Vick still stood strong and made plays. He completed 29 of 44 passes for 333 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also fumbled once under the pressure, as Chicago gave him a pounding. It took its toll as the season continued.
The following week against the Houston Texans, Vick faced another team which was trying to put the pressure on him. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 302 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The Birds won the football game going away.
The next week included a trip to Dallas for Vick and the Birds where they beat the Cowboys. Vick completed 16 of 26 passes for 270 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. His completion percentage was 61.5%, as Vick got the ball into the hands of DeSean Jackson on a couple of big plays and Jackson left the Cowboys in his wake.
The Birds offense was sleep walking for most of the first three quarters against the Giants in Week 15 of the 2010 season. New York was utilizing the blitz to control the explosive offense of the Birds. But Vick and his teammates came alive in the fourth quarter as Vick got outside contain and left New York in a state of shock. He completed 21 of 35 passes for 242 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
The Eagles had their game against the Minnesota Vikings postponed due to weather and they didn’t seem to ready to play when they finally played a couple of days later. Vick completed 25 of 43 passes for 273 yards with one touchdown and one interception, but he committed a key fumble which cost them the game. The pounding from the previous weeks seemed to have taken its toll on the talented quarterback. The Eagles wanted this game in the worst way, but It turned out to be Vick’s worst performance of the season.
Of course we know what happened against the Green Bay Packers in the playoff game. Vick completed 20 of 36 passes for 292 yards with one touchdown and one interception. It wasn’t an outstanding game for him. The Packers were able to keep Vick under control with a controlled blitz package, but the Birds had a chance to win it at the end, but Vick had a pass to Riley Cooper picked off with the game on the line.
Notice that Vick’s best games were at the beginning of the season, but he more pedestrian efforts came at the end of the season. His performance against the Rams was exciting but what is he going to have left, when the playoffs start and the season is on the line.
Is this offensive line going to be able to protect Vick, so that he can work his magic from the pocket and preserve his health? He took off with the ball in the first game of last year against the Packers, but he did his work from the pocket after that game, until the Giants started blitzing him from his left side and forcing him to roll to his right.
Michael Vick will need to be healthy and operating at his best for the Birds to beat teams like the Packers and Saints in playoffs in order to go to the Super Bowl and win it. Some how Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg will need to avoid having Vick running for his life all season for him to be in one piece and ready to take the Birds the distance.
Of course he won’t be in 1 piece if he keeps running BUT what else could he have done in those situations. There are probably a couple situations where he probably could have stayed a little longer and then he would have wound up taking a hit while throwing the ball. It looked for the most part he ran because he had to. The o-line wasn’t great, they were ok but not great. Receivers have to get open as well. Honestly, from an injury standpoint, I’d rather him run than stand in the pocket and take a hit from a 300lb lineman and falls on top of him. At least while running he can somewhat control the amount of contact he takes and that’s what he has to control. If he runs out of bounds or goes to the ground then all is well.
G, you touched on something important regarding better teams. We seen the Eagles destroy a few lousy teams last year and then struggle vs. GB in the playoffs. Good defenses can beat this style of play, thus we need to figure out a way to move the ball consistently via pocket passing. I worry about the offensive line as they are young, inexperienced, and playing for a QB who moves around a lot. (I’ve never seen such drop backs)
ps. You have an extra “be” in your title.
vick can take hits,, the hits im worried about are blind side hits and mis assignment hits ..and poor blocking hitswhee the defensive lineman dash at the knees but the y have been made illegal .. vick know how to run the football.. and he did a great job of it last game.. he didnt do anytng toextrem like he used to he just took what the gave him .. and didnt cut back into the middle of the field like he used to.. GET BRIAN ROLLE ON THE FIELD AT ALL TIMES
of course the o-line has to do a better job but we do have to keep in mind here that if vick didnt use his athletic ability in these situations then most likely he would have gotten sacked….if kolb for example was behind this o-line and was in that situation he would have gotten sacked..so I dont really mind when vick does run out of the pocket or does use his athletic ability to make plays…most of the times he does this he makes plays out of nowhere for which I am thankful…plus unlike last year where vick took off carelessly and got hit trying to make even bigger plays i see him sliding a lot more and going out of bounds to save himself from all that contact..and if any of you were watching the rams game he did slide a lot more then he usually did in the past…i think that is where the pounding took its toll…but if he is careful with his runs and slides when he is supposed to i dont see him taking such a pounding…..and this is the nfl people…quarterbacks do get sacked and hit…it happens…..if i am not mistaken Aaron Rodgers got sacked what 46 times last year?
last year as the season went vick’s play dipped was i think more because of the play calling and the wide recievers not geting open then vick playing bad because of him taking all that pounding..even though the pounding did take its toll you can’t just say that was the sole reason in why his play dipped…
G…get some new material. This is your 99th story about Vick getting hurt. You are bringing on negative energy man. And how is that series about the Eagles match ups against last year’s playoff opponents coming along? Another one part series?? I love you G but you need to clean it up over there. I’ll write for you if you need some help.
mubi…agreed. The O line kept getting worse and the receivers didn’t read the blitzes. Can’t blame everything on Vick getting banged around. The coaches and players did not make the proper adjustments around him either and that factored in just as much as his abuse. And thanks for reminding people that everyone gets hit in football. Its kind of part of the game.
Double ditto on that, jbird. G is more a negadelphian than he realizes.
This article has been live for like 2 mins and no Paulmoron comments? Where’s the talk of all those great Carolina players like Richard Marshall?
I do agree with jbird that the Wr’s as a group are slow to react to blitzes and for those who say they are collectively one of the Top WR Corps in the NFL, I just am not buying it.. Watch the Packers,Patriots,Saints and even Chargers WR’s, and even their young players, they are so “in-synch” with their respective QB’s..
Outside of Avant, I notice the other WR’s run their routes with their heads down for too long and don’t peak back into their own backfield enought to see how their QB is doing and whthere Vick is in trouble are not.. Once the run their ‘planned Route”, then they adjust, they all have to do better and be able to adjust on the fly to become an Elite WR Corps in my opinion…
Stop it, G is only writing what everyone else knows. I’ve never seen so many bromances in my life! Vick cannot slid, which hurts him significantly.
am i the only one who thought that vick outside of the pocket he didnt take any big hits the big hits came when he was in the pocket and thats gonna happen to every qb so we need to take the pampers off of everybody who thinks he’s gonna get hurt if he runs i wnat him to not every play but on those 3rd downs if nowbody is open run keep the chains moving just be smart i never want to take that part out if vicks game if you do that then you will just hav #5 back there again patting the ball with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a hungry pitbull sorry vick lol his legs were the main reason we was 8-10 on third downs sunday they are to afraid to blitz cause he can kill you with his legs or arm so please vick dont listen to g.cobb or anybody else telling not to run cause if you do stop will just hav #5 all over again and come on who wants that really.
larrwd….I agree that Rolle may be a surprise player this year. I love that our top picks suck as usual but here comes another good player in the sixth round. The Eagles should just trade down and draft 20 players in the last three rounds. Nate Allen looks to be another in a long line of second round busts. Look at these legendary Eagles: Barry Gardner, Todd Pinkston and Bobbie Williams, Quinton Caver, LJ Smith, Reggie Brown and Matt McCoy, Winston Justice, Victor Abiamiri, Trevor Laws, Nate Allen and coming soon Jaiquan Jarrett. All shoe ins for the Eagles HOF. Compare this to Sheldon Brown, Michael Lewis (being generous here), DeSean and Shady. Yeah 4 for 16 is pretty good right? Pathetic!!
Spoke too soon mjacobs45,
A man needs to eat lunch one in a while..but actually I had to refill my prescription which is the truth,and probably will make some others relieved… ha ha
Fairytaleadelphians. Denialadelphians. Pussadelphians. kissassadelphians.vs
Realityadelphians AKA Negadelphians
Don’t forget the “Edrendallphians” too, Big E…
G’s not negadelphian – he’s media. It’s the sports media’s job (these days at least) to be negative. It fuels controversy/discussion and panders to the passionate haters. But the behavior – being a broken record about negativity and fortunetelling – is the same.
Vick didn’t take many big hits. yes he plays “recklessly” but the game is in outstanding shape and is able to avoid take the big hits in the pocket. Our o-line needs to play better and keep him clean, but he didnt get beat up nearly as bad as half the Qbs in the league on Sunday.
LOL true indeed Big E
– big so the negadelphs are ‘real’ despite the fact that reality is that the Eagles are UNDEFEATED and what the negadelphs say ‘will’ happen ‘hasn’t’?
Next up Atlanta… One game at a time. Who cares whats going to happen in December. Vick plays, stays healthy then we move to the next game. This is football, players get hurt. Mike needs to maintain his mojo and do what he does.
This whole thing is a work in progress and we don’t really know what we have yet. I’m inclined to think 2012 is our year after we work out the kinks and draft a MLB in the first round. But we just have to see how it goes. So far we outshined a mediocre team with superior talent and despite poor coaching. The game plan and coaching will need to be better this week. This game is much bigger for Atl than us. I tend to think Vick will play well down there. Juan is the one on the hot seat here. He and his assistants have to be sharp or it will be that preseason Steelers game all over again on defense when they mix it up and have us back on our heels all night. The difference is Atl won’t force Vick into three bad picks because their defense is I-AA compared to Pitt. So it could be a shoot out. Whoever makes the big plays on defense will win. And I like us to do that over Atl.
Jason Avant has to learn to adjust, chip or block defensive backs that run past him on blitzes. It was a problem last year and he’s already missed a couple this year. Blitzes from the secondary give Vick problems, if he can learn to pick them up and burn the defense he will be hard to stop.
I’m sick of all the play action fakes that causes Vick to loose sight of 1/2 the field and alows back side blitzers the time to get blind shots on him. Who bites on the run fakes? It’s not worth the hits Vick takes.
This team is Andy Reid Mach III. His first team (Mach I) had a good defense led by Jim Johnson and a fine young QB without many weapons at first. Once he got B West and TO we were ready to make a real run. We came up short and had to rebuild. The O line got better and B West was still in his prime, but the defense became weak. Trent Cole was not as good as Hugh Douglas, Trotter and B Dawk got old and Lito and Sheldon were no Taylor and Vincent. The peak for Mach II was 2008 when guys like Bunkley, Bradley, Q Mikell and Assante picked up our D. But D Mac and B West had their better days behind them and the heart of the O line had either gone insane or gotten old. Again we came up short. Time to rebuild again. This time we retooled with better WRs. We found a suitable replacement for B West, but not for Runyan or Andrews or Dawkins or later Sheldon Brown. Again the defense fell behind the offense as we decided to put the future in Kolb’s hands. Obviously life is funny and we ended up going a different way with Vick. We are now in Mach III. Herremans can be the guy to replace Runyan and Nnamdi is a signiificant upgrade over Sheldon Brown. And lets face it. Guys like Andrews and especially Dawkins are real tough to replace. But we finally have more than one pass rusher. We finally have WRs. We finally have a guy that knows what he’s doign with the O line but it will take a minute. Andy has learned some lessons. Now he needs to learn his lessons with LBs and find at least one safety who is better than average. Next year will be the year. All we have to do is get D Jack signed soon, cut some more dead weight, get some guys like Watkins to step up, sign a FA safety and draft a MLB in the first round and we will be SB champs. Anyone care to tell me the MLB in college that’s our guy? I don’t watch college ball.
Sorry jbird..Im just not ready to be talking NEXT YEAR
wow schiller, you must be an MIT grad to figure out and boldly proclaim that the eagles are undefeated, pure genius
Eagles should stop Play-Action since they don;’t run the ball often enough for teams to honor their running hgame.. DL/LB’s and Blitzers are strictly looking at 1 player on every snap and that’s our $100 Million Man…# 7 …
Well, sure, Vick can make it through the season OK, but he will need some luck…He plays the way he plays, and his running ability is one of his biggest weapons…Of course, he will need to use his head, too…I actually saw him slide at the end of one of his runs against the Rams…That was good…But you need luck to make it through an NFL season, and to win a Super Bowl.
Look at the St.Louis running back…One great run, and then he pulls something…That was bad luck.
I re-watched the game and focused on Herremans. He was beat badly on one play and the rest of the time was a rock. He came off double teams to pick up blitzers. He has his head on a swivel.
There’s two solutions to a blitzing defense and only one that we can implement. It’s the quick throw. Giants and Kerry Collins did it to us for years when JJ would blitz like heck. The other is a running game but we know where that will get us.
Let the line gel and let’s see how it goes. Patience.
Come on G, let’s see how much the OLINE improves as they play more and more together.I remember when you came in and watched you grow. Let’s give this team time to grow….
Damn DixieFan, you were around in the 50’s when GCOBB played?
According to many people here, Vick is supposed to be an Elite QB. Elite. Of course he isn;t, but I won;t continue that here. What I will do is propose this hypothetical…..
Put Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Rivs, Roth (supposedly VIck’s peers) and put them behind the Bird’s line last Sunday against STL.
Do you honestly believe any of them would have put up 43% for under 200 yrds? “Cause if you do….
Lets look at VIcks numbers last sunday (out of 32)
Comp %: 44% 32nd (dead last)
Yards: 187 26th (I think Brady had 187 in 4 mins last night)
Yrds/Att: 5.84 26th (isn’t this supposed to be a strength?
Rating 83 20th
*yawn* @ vinniethevictor
G, Who took worse hits that game Bradford or Vick? answer is Bradford ! we crushed him that game, its part of the game G get over it, and as far as why we paid him the 100million? are you serious when you say cause it was to stay in the pocket? your dead wrong ! it was cause he has more ability to win a game for us by being the threat he is with his legs also, were fine and were only gonna get better !
Hey birdo. Whether you like vick or not or elevate him to diva status like you his play is legitimate inquiry and for sometime now he has not played like an elite quarterback
Hey jakedog,
For “sometime now”? Really? As in the last win before the one against the Rams wasn’t the greatest comeback in Eagles history? Ok.
Please fellas, if you’re going to hate on the man, hate on him for what he did to dogs or because he’s not the prototypical you wish him to be — don’t hate on him with skewed numbers without taking into account what is surrounding him.
how many qbs can throw for 300 or run for 100 on any given sunday? not many
standard is comfortable, were an unorthodox team so hypotheticals are what they are, meaningless
vick is elite at the position, not the most accurate passer but he performs and is a threat nonetheless, and an mvp candidate
#common_sense
Vick is Vick
He isn’t going to change
Exciting as hell to watch
But Vince Young better learn the system
Its all a matter of time for Vick , I can see a blown out ACL knee coming very soon !!!!
I do take into acct what is around him. Desean. Maclin. Celek. McCoy. Brady carved up teams last year with a mini-man, 2 rookie TEs and who? Branch??? Can you imagine the #s he’d put up on the birds? The other Elite QBs I mentioned earlier would do just fine with the skill guys the Birds have thank you.
Wmonell. Who exactly is this guy who throws for 300 and rushes for 100 you talk about? ‘Cause it isn’t Vick. Do you know what his career passing yrd average is? 150 yrds per game. A far cry from the 300 you speak of.
Vick has averaged an Amazing 240 (he’s moving up!!) yrds per game over his last 4.
He had 3 300yrd games last year. And one came against Houston…so that doesn’t really count. 3 300s out of 12.
So please…you may not like the numbers I post here, because they don’t mesh with what your idea of Vick the superstar is…..but don’t invent/exagerrate make believe achievements.
More? He has a wicked average completion % of 55 over his last 4 reg season games (dropping every week..63…51…55….44….)
An amazing QB rating of 85 over the past 4 games.
Is that the elite QB you are talking about?
Common sense says he can’t win unless he’s Scrambling around like a banshee or playing a Wsh team that lays down. Running for 100 will work great against the Rams of the world but won’t ever ever take down a good D on the playoffs.
He was supposed to dedicate himself and learn his craft….but his numbers have gotten worse and worse from November on last year.
Hey….but he’s fun to watch!!
I hear what you saying,
but can you please remove Brett Celek as a weapoin for your list..He is probably in the bottom half in the NFl as far as producutivity as a TE in the NFL..
Today’s younger TE’s are so athletic that the Position has changed some and Celek is brcoming one the older throwbacks who runs a 8 yard button hook, catches the ball and falls down.. These TE are a thing of the past.. In todays NFL many teams who these young,big athletic almost WR lplaying out of the TE position who make big plays down the field and can really stretch the Defense, Players like J Finley, J Graham, T Henrnadez, G Olsen, L Kendricks,Fred DAvis, J Cook, T Moeaki, B Pettigrew, etc,etc is where the positin is heading too and not these slow can’t get away from a LB Coveage of yesteryear… Celek would be nothing but a back-up on 2/3 of NFL Teams in my opinion and I have been saying for 2 years that the Eagles TE position needs upgrading.. Carry on…
There you go again paulman , drawing attention from vinnie’s well researched and thought out post about a so-called franchise qb to make a relatively obscure point about the productivity of the tight end, your jealousy about many here who have more insightful, creative things to post is apparent…
But back to vinnie’s post, nice job vine bringing facts back into the analysis of mike Vick’s productivity of late, everybody wants to ignore the truth in favor of their desire to see a black quarterback under center, that is sad, even though there are a lot of white stiff quarterbacks in the NFL , worse, way worse than Vick, but let me assure you of this, Kevin Kolb is not one of them, and the eagles will regret the day they let him go
This may be true….Finley, Hernandez and Grad are beasts…but again….they do benefit from the guys throwing to them a bit. I am not sure I would be putting Olsen, pettigrew, in that class yet.
Countdown should have read 63, 61, 55, 44……
There certainly seems to be a lot of people who are very willing to “put the blinders on” in regards to Vick’s QBing abilities. There are plenty of talking heads on TV, and on these boards who continually make excuses for his play, and drop a lot of, “if he can just improvehis accuracy/completion/reads/fumbles….then watch out….” It reminds me of the ESPN guys trying to tell me that Tiger Woods is still a good pro golfer. But that’s been going on for years with this Vick. I hope this is not due to a desire for him to succeed only because of his skin colour….but who knows. Its possible.
I agree with you about Kolb. I think there may be a lot of upset Bird’s fans over the next few years. Vick right now is not a strong “traditional” QB. He hides his deficiencies with his legs. He’s on the wrong side of 30 and gets bounced around like a pinball. How long tose legs gonna hold out.
Right now – and for the next 5 years, I’d bet on the 4 year college starting son of a coach over the guy who’s numbers haven’t really improved over the past decade.
How sad it must be to be a “fan” of a team and not even enjoy the quarterback that has a 9-3 record in games that he started and finished. Sad sad sad.
And I saw a post earlier that says Vick had a 83.7 QB rating and brushed it aside like it was nothing……83.7 out of 100 is damn good if you ask me.
Also to take into account — Mike Vick had a total QBR of 66.6 in 2010….putting him at #5 in the NFL. Just facts, nothing more, nothing less.
At seasons end there will be little discussion about who is the better quarterback, andy Reid , either being Andy Reid or told what to do, made the wrong decision at quarterback, the future was with Kolb, the short term decision to name Vick as the quarterback will be viewed as a mistake, now an albatross to the the franchise, exciting? If playground football is your thing, I guess there is nothing exciting about watching a quarterback play the position in the tradition of Unitas, Montana, Moon, Marino, Williams, who rely upon their passing accuracy, their ability to play the position, rather than their ability to make plays, improvise, in the tradition of tarkenton, and others, but look how Brady passed for over 500 yards, short, crisp timing routes, yards after the catch, never was and by his recent reversionary statements, will never be Vick’s game, no super bowl
No self-respecting real Eagles fan would EVER say “no superbowl” — I don’t give a damn if AJ Feeley was my quarterback, I’m hoping and thinking we have a chance at the Superbowl EVERY year….you know…..just being a fan, thats all.
It’s just not Vick birdobeaman, it is more Reid, sorry brother, it will not happen with Reid and all his deficiencies, and now a quarterback who relies on his legs more than his arm and his quarterback abilities, it is sad from a relative perspective, but not that sad at the end of the day, especially since we have the phillies….
Andrew Walter Reid has it all figured out, don’t worry, with all his Super Bowl rings,and great game planning, Vick will have his guardian angels by his side every play and Father Andrew will walk away with the win. Greatest coach in Eagles history!
Damn, Birdo, you’re surrounded by dumb asses!
People just dont understand what 100yards rushing from a QB a game does to a defense….I am absolutely amazed by the ignorance…240 yards a game in the air to go with 100 yards rushing from a QB, I’d take that, not another QB in the league that can do it…If you go by completion percentage, then you’ll see Sunday was the worst game as far as that goes, since he’s been an Eagle….In fact one of his worst games, period (completion percentage)! Guess what? The Eagles still won…
Guess they dont realize that the Elite Qb’s that they compare Vick to play in a totally different system…where they have solid slot receivers, TE’s or the play calling is simply quick outs, screens, flares etc…short passes! sure vick could throw for 60% or better if the offense was constructed that way…
Oh yea, Brees, Brady, Manning, Rivers….may have thrown for more than 180 yards behind the line, but how many INT”s would they have had…How many times would they have been sacked? How many times would they have been able to run for the 1st down because WR’s weren’t open, and pressure was closing? Be fair and consider all aspects of everyone’s game….