The Philadelphia Eagles were looking for Michael Vick to
give them an encore of his 2010 performance but the Eagles’ super-talented
quarterback was not able to deliver. It was not for a lack of trying though.
As a matter of fact Vick could be accused of trying to do
too much last season. The Eagles made changes on defense last season which
affected their ability to keep their opponents out of the endzone.
Vick tried his best to compensate for the defense’s
inability to stop anyone but ended up getting battered and bruised for his
trouble. The Eagles allowed five teams to score 30 or more points on them last
season. Needless to say they lost all five games.
But on the eight occasions that the Eagles were able to keep
their opponents under 20 points, they won. Philadelphia’s defense struggled to
put together consecutive games where they were able to keep the opposing team
under 20 in their first 12 games.
Things came together at the end of the season though as the
Eagles held their last four opponents to an average of 11.5 points-per-game.
The Eagles were victorious in all four games.
The Eagles can’t afford for Vick to miss a whole lot of time
this season though. Quarterbacks Mike Kafka and rookie Nick Foles look to be
his main backups this season and they have a combined four games of NFL
experience between them.
All four of those games were situations where Kafka came in
off the bench to replace Vick. Kafka was pretty accurate completing 11 of his
16 throws but he threw two interceptions and zero touchdowns.
Coach Andy Reid has had lots of success with backup
quarterbacks over the years but if you ask him who puts them in the best
position to succeed and his answer will always be Vick. Vick gives the offense
a dynamic that no other quarterback can give them so having him on the field is
vital.
But he has got to get Vick to learn to pick his spots more.
Vick hates to throw the ball away and in his zeal to become more of a
pocket-passer, he has chosen to dance around in the pocket more as opposed to
using his speed to get downfield.
His desire to become more of a conventional quarterback is
hurting the team though. His insistence on staying in the pocket takes away the
one thing that makes him so dynamic: his running ability.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he learned how to throw the ball
away in order to avoid hits but he hasn’t. And with him being one of the
smallest quarterbacks in the league he doesn’t need to take the abuse he
subjects himself to.
Vick won’t change his game though until he truly realizes
how valuable he is to the team. Vick threw eight more interceptions than he did
the previous year. If he can learn not to force the ball and how to take the
opportunities to run when they present themselves then the Eagles can go back
to being the unstoppable force they were two seasons ago.
And if the defense does its job this year then Vick will
feel even less pressure to either create something out of nothing or subject
himself to needless injuries. That way Eagles’ fans won’t have to worry about
getting acquainted with Mr. Kafka or Mr. Foles anytime soon.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
No comments:
Post a Comment