To nobody’s surprise, Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s exploits haven’t gone unnoticed because right now he is the leading vote getter for the NFC Pro Bowl team. Vick is second-only to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in the over all Pro Bowl voting.
Vick has received 405,292 total votes and that total trails only Manning’s 496,658 total.
Vick has the highest quarterback rating, 108, in the NFL and that formula doesn’t even take account of the all the damage the left hander has done with his legs. He’s gained 375 yards rushing and run for many key first downs and 5 touchdowns for the Birds this season.
There were no other Eagles players in the top ten. Manning who isn’t really having an outstanding season is the top vote getter but he’s going to have a tough time, holding off Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers.
Brady is leading a team with an 8-2 record and the Patriots beat Manning’s Colts this past weekend. Adrian Peterson, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees are second, third and fourth in NFC voting.
Dreams do come true and people can change.
Giants provide blueprint to attack Vick, but it comes with risks
By Bucky Brooks NFL.com
Analyst
Published: Nov. 23, 2010 at 01:44 p.m. Updated: Nov. 23, 2010 at 02:51 p.m. Liked: 1 | Comments: 57
Email Like Print
Read Discuss
Michael Perez / Associated Press
Michael Vick is hard to stop, but the Giants put more pressure than most on the elusive quarterback.
After watching the Giants seemingly slow down the Eagles’ high-powered attack, defensive coordinators around the league will copy elements from Perry Fewell’s game plan to diffuse the league’s most explosive offense.
In studying tape from the matchup, there are several aspects of the Giants’ game plan that are sure to be incorporated by the Eagles’ next few opponents. The first element is a heavy emphasis on the elimination of the big play. The Eagles have terrorized opponents with the long ball, and the Giants did a terrific job of keeping the ball in front of them. Safeties Deon Grant and Kenny Phillips played with plenty of depth (12-15 yards deep) in their two-deep zones and the cornerbacks made sure to settle underneath any post corner routes from the slot receivers. Michael Vick repeatedly found open windows in the middle of the field, but the Giants were content to let the Eagles drive the length of the field on an assortment of short and intermediate throws. By eliminating the quick strike, the Giants played the odds that a negative play (turnover, penalty or mental miscue) would end the drive and force the Eagles to punt or kick a field goal before they reach the end zone.
Of course, the key to executing a game plan that features soft-zone coverage is finding a way to contain Vick with a four-man rush. The Giants’ depth along the defensive line allowed that strategy to work for most of the game. Osi Umenyiora, Chris Canty, Barry Cofield and Justin Tuck were able to generate enough push to keep Vick from fleeing the pocket through huge seams up front. Fewell sprinkled in some TEX stunts (defensive end and defensive tackle run a cross game with the end penetrating inside and the tackle working around the corner) to complement their conventional four-man rushes. The discipline of their defensive ends keyed the upfront pressure, as Tuck and Umenyiora didn’t fly too far up the field to create an easy escape lane for Vick. This kept him confined to the pocket, and eventually resulted in a sack. Although he scrambled for 34 yards on 11 carries, Vick didn’t hurt them with the game-changing runs.
When the Giants didn’t sit back in their conservative zones, they attacked Vick with a host of Cover-0 pressures from the quarterback’s strong side. These pressures, which remove a free safety from the middle of the field and attack the quarterback with one more defender than the number of blockers, forced Vick to identify the hot receiver quickly or take a wicked shot from the unblocked defender. This proved especially effective when the Giants won on early downs to create long-yardage situations. While the risky strategy exposed the corners to one-on-one coverage against DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the decision to bring the blitz from Vick’s left (his throwing side) made him escape the pocket to his right, which is a more difficult throw for a left-handed quarterback.
The Giants’ tactics clearly disrupted the rhythm and timing of the Eagles’ offense, but the strategy has serious flaws that can be exposed. The use of only four rushers with zone coverage behind it gives Vick a lot of time to identify open receivers down the field. Furthermore, it allows him to get the ball to Jackson and Maclin on the move in the middle of the field. While the duo didn’t hurt the Giants with their ability to run after the catch, their speed and explosiveness could result in big gains as they elude defenders in space.
The use of all-out pressures also has the potential to backfire against the Vick-led Eagles. His ability to get out of jams could lead to huge plays if he gets past the initial wave of rushers. With corners locked in man-to-man, Vick could have a free run to the end zone against an undisciplined Cover-0 blitz.
If Vick’s running skills don’t act as an effective counter tactic, the Eagles have the potential to exploit the one-on-one coverage against Jackson and Maclin. Even though the Giants avoided being victimized by the duo, the Eagles will design a few quick-strike plays to take advantage of the all-out blitz in the future. Quick posts or quick outs from their slot receivers are an option, but the team could also incorporate some pre-determined rollouts to get Vick away from the pressure while buying him more time to push the ball down the field.
The Giants put some interesting concepts on tape for opponents to sample, but others will soon see if the risks are worth the rewards against an explosive offense.
Question for Paulman:
Who will the Eagles pick up to replace Hobbs?
Wait don’t tell Vinnie that Vick is leading the NFC in votes. That would mean that fans, peers and coaches actually think he’s playing well. According to Vinnie, he shouldn’t even be playing. Maybe he should ask Reid about that.
*****PREDICTION ALERT*****
Birdo Beamen predicts that the Eagles will sign some no namer off the Giants practice squad. You heard it here first.
Is Macho out there anywhere? Nice CB/Safety/ Returner/SP Teamer all from the bench. He’s not a starter, but he would be a great depth guy who could handle a game or two in a clutch.
Monolith, Macho signed with the Skins today.
Has anyone else noticed. Ernie Simms isnt very good at anything. He cant cover. He cant tackle. If I have to watch 1 more attempted head tackle and miss from him. I can see why Detroit let him go.
Dag, Simms played pretty good ball Sunday night, he even got ecclades from the night cast crew, he is coming along , I like him.
Hey Jax them Skins beat us to the punch Huh? I didn’t know that dang. I like Macho, now I have to root against him also arrrrrr. Anyway thanks for the update brother.
I think the bears might just try to play the Giants game plan on defense, and I think that it will back fire and leave them withno back up plan. I beleive that even as we speak a plan is being built by our coaches that will sucker the bears into committing to the giants plan and we will then mount the bears on our vicotry wall withthe other animals: Jaguars, falcons, lions.
No problem Monolith, I like Macho too was kinda upset when they let him go, If the Bears try that game plan then they’ll get beat as well the Birds were a couple of completions away from beating the hell out of the Giants, the only thing they accomplished was keeping Vick under 50 yards rushing.
Love this guy.
Drummer. I read that article and had heard others speak about the Giants giving other teams a blueprint when playing the birds. In my opinion, compared to most defenses, the Giants best defensive unit is their front 4. They were able to get pressure, and they are all pretty tall which can cause issues for Vick’s delivery. While I understand that they illustrated some ways to attack and slow down the birds offense, I don’t believe that many of the teams have similar types of D-line units.
That being said, I have a concern about Peppers this week. The Bears have a strong defense, but have not really faced alot of high powered offenses this year, and still won the game. Cutler is a turnover waiting to happen, Assante should be adding to his int totals.
Green, Vick had time to throw, it was a contained rush, didn’t allow Vick to escape, no long plays to Jax or Mac. A more conventional west coast over the middle routes could counter, but small Jax isn’t going to work. It will be more challenging for Reid, Vick going against better teams, coaches, especially into the playoffs. This will not be easy
24 -38 258 yards if thats the blueprint
i’ll take it every week
I know PW…the thing that kept occurring to me was that the Giants lost the game and the Eagles had over 100 yards in penalties and dropped 2 TD passes. If that is a successful blueprint I guess someone else is measuring success.
C’mon Phil, I called for the traditional, controlled O, the type that keeps fast, undersized D off field and you killed me for it LOL
Really? The blueprint to stopping Vick is allowing 258 yds in the air, one rushing td, domination of the clock, and hoping his receiver drop not one (desean), not two (avant), but THREE (Maclin, albeit with a defender over top of him, GREAT receivers make that catch) touchdown catches? If thats what teams need to HAVE to happen to consider it a “blueprint to stopping Mike Vick” — I’ll take that any day of the week.
Phillywill, agree 100%. Why is everyone talking like the Giants stopped/contained/beat Vick, they didnt. he controlled the football and the tmepo of the game and was a few inches/catches away from leading an absolute beat down. Ok, the Giants succeeding in Vick not putting up 400 yds of offense and 6 tds, but I will take an efficient game and a win any day of the week. One turnover, but give credit where credit is due, Osi made a nice play. Thats all the did, I will take a 63% completion percentage and big throws all over the field any day.
Drummer that was an awesoem article.Word brothah..
Birds signed some corner named Pennard or something or other. Lindley gets a chance too step in so that should be another player with some energy.
Sims plays fast and is learning the nuances of the d. He’s part of one of the tope 3 defensive units in all of football. Think about our squad and its’ strengths..its built too win in this NFL. Explosive pass offense…lock down secondary too stop explosive offenses. Explosive runners in the backfield with a sprinkle of tough running…ability too stuff any run game in the league.
exactly and i dont want to tak anything away from the o line or shady mccoy
but i think wo vick in game those lanes arent open and they r certainly keying on shady on 4th and 1
instead their entire front 7 was concentrating on some type of vick keeper
50 yars game winning scamper the result
like i said bring on this blueprint next week also please
Andy Reid press conference where he talked about the defensive pressure and he was asked about adjustments the Eagles will make…He basically laughed at it…We’ll definitely see some quick outs, screens, get Vick moving on rollouts…The Eagles will make the appropiate adjustments, eventually teams are just going to have to learn, they will just have to pick their poison.
Not too mention he blew by 4 defenders within 4 tards for a score.THATS CONTAINMENT!!!GIANTS SUCK!! There goin in the tank as usual round this time of year. The next time we play them they’ll have turmoil.
And there fans are the biggest d-bags in this area. WTF wears there yankees gear too the game.Violation.
This scheme is really nothing new…they used to “mush rush” Vick in ATL. He has been more patient and has better recievers here. The height of the D-line can become an issue, but Vick is no shorter than Brees and with a deep drop he can get a better angle. A good rushing gameplan or screens will also help to open things up.
Ernie Sims flies to the ball. Oftentimes though he’s out of position. That’s his biggest problem. But I don’t think you have anyone on the roster who’s better than him at the position. Even though he’s out of position a lot, you need his aggressiveness and ball attacking ability out there. Did anyone see how he blew Jacobs up in the backfield? I just want to see Sims attacking the line of scrimmage and blitzing. I also think with Dixon playing so well it has allowed our LBs to play a lot better against the run because those guards aren’t getting to the next level. They still can’t cover TEs worth a lick but I guess we can’t be perfect everywhere. But with the way they are playing now, I’ll take it.
They will have to use this “blue print”, or a variant, as the teams get better and the weather gets colder
Yeah green I agree. I would have liked to see some more screen because the Giants blitzed from the strong side all night. You give McCoy enough chances over there he’ll make a big play. And when you burn a defense that keeps blitzing, the players and coaches now become hesitant. But Vick did good by staying in the pocket and not panicking. The old Vick would have broke as soon as he saw the blitz coming. That type of rushing shouldn’t be a problem as long as he stays patient and our receivers catch the ball.
I like what Maclin can do in one on one situations. He can either run by a CB or stiff arm them out of his way. We need him to be the more physical receiver that’s going to make a CB pay. And he did that a couple times on Sunday. I think Andy and marty saw what the Giants were doing and didn’t think too much of it to change their gameplan or protection schemes. They wanted to see how Vick would handle it and he didn’t do too bad. See he did good against it, I think Andy was saving the counter to that scheme for a another team who will try to mimic it.
Dixon’s play biggest reason for D’s improvement Scorp
scorp, the TE coverage is STILL a problem. Bradley is always chasing them. It has been a problem with our defense for years, and teams that play us regularly know it.
Could we use Coleman more in a role like we used to use Dawk on some of these coverages?
I think Andy’s biggest concern coming out of the Giants game was Vick’s ball security. Throughout his career he has had a history of fumbles (I beleieve that he ranks second amoung active qb’s, Kitna is 1st, on fumbles per game). When taking off he tends to lower the ball, and sometimes his eyes, both of which MM has been trying to get him out of (according to Steve Young). I think he has improved from his dys in ATL, so I am confident that it won’t be a big problem this year.
green, I’m with you. I don’t even remember the last time we had linebackers that could cover TEs. I’m not sure if that’s us or just the evolution of the TE position. Whatever it is, we still are poor against it. I think we may just have to live with it and hope our LBs can run with the TEs to the safety. Because it we put an extra safety in there them teams will then try to run against it. Maybe it’s worth a shot but I think it’s something we will have to live with for now. I think if we played more man coverage then it wouldn’t be as bad because you could match up Allen or Mikell on a TE when needed. But our CBs play a lot of off coverage and different types of zones so that kind of prevents being able to match up one on one with a safety. We will see.
Scorp, yeah, I think it is the evolution of the te position. And let me ask you this, while sure, the eagles give up yards and big plays to opposing TEs, but have the eagles lost a game this year because of it? I say no. And to me that’s the bottom line. If TEs are bending us but not breaking us, fine with me.
It’s been alot better with the TE coverage……. I think this year is probably the best i’ve seen in the past few…… Stewart Bradley is a big ? because of his previous injury last season…… Its been the Rb’s who have murdered us/ Javid Best had a field day on us…… Cooley had average #’s against us the first game……. Mercedes Lewis he did ok jags only had 3 points total……Jermichael Finley did decent against us nothing killer……. Oh yea for got about Tamme from the Colts…… He played good…… But you have the best Qb in the league to make you look soo much better……. Vernon Davis Killed us…. but he’s nothing but a big WR…….. With speed that is un-real……. To big for a corner…… Too fast for a safety…….. Kevin Boss didnt do much……. Tony Gonzalez got redzone scores but didnt kill us all game long…….. Just a few games here and there nothing consistant…….
When we had Gocong and Trotter in coverage…… It was field day……Fantasy points for TE’s…….. I remember guys at my job saying…… LOL!……. I’m picking what ever tight end against philly on there schedule”….. “Cooley, Boss, and Witten”, “They always play well against philly” LOL,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I hated the BS
Alot also to do with the TE’s is that the Birdz have been aggressive……. Alot of Blitzing….. And just biting alot of PA…….. We couldnt stop a stretch run to save our lives years back…… Because we had trouble stopping the run…….. So let alone whe Qb’s PA pass the birds will bite and a TE will get open on a passing route……. I think with the new edition of the front four…… The birds can play better coverage with the TE’s and kinda solve the issue with the TE’s……… The Colts use to murder us on playaction and stretch passes……. The Cowboys exposed us with the fake pass and handoff draw play which exposed us……… We bite off of it and we all see the results of the losses….. i think we’ve gotten Better………. (KNOCK ON WOOD)
I feel you schiller, but there’s nothing wrong with discussing it. We are certainly at liberty to do so. If we want to discuss some weakness of the team there’s nothing wrong with that. Yes it hasn’t hurt us to this point but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to get better for the end of the season/playoffs. I’m pretty sure the team is discussing the things they need to get better even if those areas hasn’t cost us a game. Nothing wrong with fans doing to the same.
jroc, I agree and I think we are just as vulnerable against good TEs now but the difference is that our offense can score so many points. So when you get those leads on teams, the TE almost disappear. It will be interesting to see how good we are against them when games are consistently close and you need all aspects of your defense to be able to do their job effectively. Of all the issues that we could have on defense, that is one I think we will have to live with and I’m fine with that…. for now.
Scorp I feel you bro…….. LOL!!!! Its been our cript to night to stop Te’s for years my man……. Alot to do with guys not playing in there natural position……. Gocong was a DE in college and we made him into a LB, Witherspoon was a natural outside Lb, played some middle with the Panthers…… was small……. and with Stl excuse me………. And when we had them playing the musical LB’s wth Gocong playing middle trotter was too slow….. Jordan playing strongside/weakside a whole big mess…… I think the most solid Lb crew we had was when we had Trotter/Emmons/ Gardner/Caldwell…… Emmons played with his hand broken on the field and was still effective on the field……. Dahani Jones was ok when he was with the birdz later……..
Scorp, absolutely. But I still think its important to differentiate between an area to improve on and a problem.
Well schiller, I didn’t say it was a problem. I concurred in the fact that we’ve always had trouble covering TEs. Greenfan mentioned it as a problem. You can call it what you want, weakness, problem area of concern or improvement. The point is, we still can’t so it very well. And if we want to discuss that, I don’t see a problem with it.
Jroc — The only running back that “murdered” us this year is Jahvid Best. That’s all and that’s it.
Birdo you are correct from an individual perspective. But we didn’t play the run well against the skins with both Portis and Torrain and also Green Bay with Grant (getting injured in the 2nd) and then Jackson in the 2nd half. So I do agree that not one RB has killed us beside Best but we did have other troubles against the run. But it seems since the Redskins game the issues were addressed and fixed especially with the addition of Dixon. So hopefully we can stay this stout against the run going forward.
To Drummer,
Good anaylis of Giants strategy of what worked in slowing down Vick and the Eagles Offense and I do think we will see versions of it but not many Defenses will not have the “Athletic Depth” up front that the Giants do to do this over an entire game. If the Eagles utilize the middle of the field (Avant/TE’s/RB’s) and rushing the ball will make teams play more honest .
Hobbs onot IR for the Season means T Lindley moves up to 4th CB and J Calvin wwill most likelt be the 5th CB as well as return KO/Punts would be my guess, they may reach out for CB G Pope if available, since he played all spring and is familiar with the system or possibly CB D Pender who was also in camp this year for depth purposes
Paulman’s list of Eagle Pro-Bowl Players
Offense –
QB Vick, RB McCoy , WR J Maclin, RT W Justice
Defense –
DE T Cole , CB A Samuel
Special Teams
K – D Akers
Alternate players
WR D Jackson, LT J Peters , DT A Dixon, LB S Bradley, S Q Mickell, P S Rocca
The last Eagles linebacker who excelled at covering tight ends was Carlos Emmons. He was a big and fast with long arms who regularly neutralized the opposing tight ends. I remember Trotter saying his height (he was 6-5), speed and unusually long arms made him a physically ideal linebacker for covering tight ends. Loved me some Emmons.