About The Michael Vick Experience.
Mike Vick showed us a lot today.It’s clear that he’s made significant strides in his development, and he understands the importance of playing smart, mistake-free football.
In all seriousness, what a joke. This is why in my predictions article last week, I had serious doubts that he had made any kind of effort to change. I stated that even when he’s on the field, his issues protecting the football were an even bigger concern. He was just flat out brutal today. Four, count them, four interceptions. He played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen him play today. The quarterback’s most egregious error came in the second half when he threw an interception that was run back for a touchdown to give Cleveland the lead. Can you imagine if he played this poorly against a quality opponent? What’s also scary is that he could have thrown at least one more interception on the final drive, though the Cleveland defender dropped the pick in the endzone.
Vick just can’t handle blitzes. Whenever the Browns sent extra pressure his way, he became unsettled, and made mistakes.
I’m sorry Eagles fans, but none of you can possibly convince me that this quarterback is going to lead this team to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl.
Many Vick and Eagles apologists have pointed to the fact that the Eagles have had record-setting offenses in terms of yardage during the last few seasons. I hope you all took notes today, because the Eagles outgained the Browns by over 200 yards, and managed just a one-point victory while scoring only 17 points. It doesn’t matter how explosive an offense is if it isn’t efficient and turnover-free.
The Defense Shows Up
We just reviewed the most alarming/negative aspect of the game. Now let’s talk about the positive.
Juan Castillo’s defense was a key to today’s win. They weren’t exactly facing a competent quarterback in Brandon Weeden, but they were able to shut the Cleveland running game down and came up with some big stops when they needed it most.
Castillo’s unit played the run very well throughout the game, it was nice to see one of the serious questions on this Eagles team receive a positive answer in the first week.
With the Browns threatening in the redzone in the second half, the Eagle defense tightened up and got off of the field on third down, forcing Cleveland to settle for a field goal.
On the final drive of the game, Kurt Coleman was able to seal the victory with his second interception of the game.
They also got a number of great individual performances from guys like DeMeco Ryans and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Ryans turned in what was easily his best performance as an Eagle. He was around the football, and made a great play to stuff the run on a third and short. For the first time in years, I felt that the defense was being competently run by an effective middle linebacker.
DRC also had his best game in green. His coverage was superb throughout the game, and he recorded two picks off of the rookie Weeden.
I also have to give Nnamdi Asomugha some credit. He struggled early in the game, but finished strong was broke up several passes.
Reid Falls In Love With The Pass…Again
Well, it didn’t take us very long to have issues with the run-pass ratio. One of the most highly debated subjects in the Andy Reid era became an issue once again. Even though he held a lead through most of the game, the head coach had completely abandoned the run, repeatedly entrusting the team’s fates to an erratic Mike Vick.
Early the fourth quarter, the Eagles had called just 18 rushes to 41 passes. It wasn’t until Vick was at the height of ineptitude (following his pick-six) that Reid finally decided that getting the ball to LeSean McCoy would be a wise idea. The Pro Bowl running back finished the game with 110 yards, but could have had much more had the offensive line not been called for so many penalties.
It says a lot about how bad Vick was today that Reid switched the offense to a run-first mindset on the final drive with the game on the line.
Quick Thoughts
- Alex Henery did his part to help the Cleveland Browns in their attempted upset by missing a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. The second-year kicker was very fortunate that his miss didn’t come back to haunt the team. Meanwhile Henery’s predecessor David Akers tied the record for the longest field goal in NFL history with a successful 63-yard attempt for the 49ers.
- The Eagles got some quality contributions from rookies Fletcher Cox and Brandon Boykin. Cox picked up his first career sack, and Boykin performed well as the slot corner, breaking up a pass to kill a Cleveland drive.
- Solid game from Jeremy Maclin, who finished with seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown.
- Chas Henry had a nice game punting the ball, averaging 42 yards on six punts.
Final Thoughts
A win is a win, but Eagles fans can’t possibly feel good about this one. While we know Michael Vick isn’t really this bad, he had a lot to prove in this game and all he did was give his doubters a boatload of ammo to use against him. The only thing I can offer in Vick’s defense is that I do think the fact that he missed all of the preseason clearly had some impact on his game. He just wasn’t prepared to play at a high level.
What is clear though is that there has been no dramatic change to the way he approaches the game. He’s the same old Mike Vick he’s always been. And the same old Mike Vick is made out of a lot of hype and little substance.
Much steeper challenges await this football team, and they’ve got a lot of work to do if they plan on meeting their lofty expectations. A legitimate Super Bowl contender will play on Lincoln Financial Field next week, and it isn’t the Philadelphia Eagles. The Baltimore Ravens are up next, and I’m not feeling particularly optimistic about the Eagles’ chances right now.
There you Basens see it wasn’t that hard to give Nnamdi his due was it
Vick hasn’t learned anything and obviously Reid hasn’t either. Throwing throwing throwing like we were down 3 td’s!! 3-3 10-3 10-6. Still throwing??? Finally found a rhythm running in the 4th quarter, but will revert back next week fo’ sho’!!!!!!
” The only thing I can offer in Vick’s defense is that I do think the fact that he missed all of the preseason clearly had some impact on his game. He just wasn’t prepared to play at a high level.”
All the more reason for the Eagles coaching staff to have taken a more balanced even mix or pass/run and brought Vick along slowly with screens, draws, traps and a spread offensive alignment to give him better vision down-field. The coaches HAVE to do better from the selection of players for certain situations to the selection of plays.
There is NO defending him!
Spot on Danny a horrible game by Vick and things should only get better ???
Brutally honest assessment of Vick, the most telling and alarming point is that with the game on the line Reid didn’t allow Vick to throw another pick until he had to throw it and Vick threw his fifth pic only to be dropped by the rookie linebacker , Vick sucks, he just sucks
What coach throws 56 times when he has a lead and his QB is playing a horrible game? Reid still can’t adjust during the game. Does anyone think that AR will do anything different this year? Sadly, we need a new coach.
You rip him and make judgments about not making the p-offs based on a pretty rusty day and a defense that was more then up fo the challenge?I admit and will say he was very erratic. How bout the multiple times he hucked it out of bounds,made the slide early to avvoid big hits?
And hey Denny…he was clutch when we neede the throw. He threw a perfect pass to Mac two straight downs.
Nmandi struggled early? How many balls did that guy catch?He saved a td off a really nice gadget.
Ryans in his best performance as a Bird?You mean his first one.
How about the horrible safeties?
Dline plays like that all year and qb’s are goin down.
It’s week one…and i know they had 5 turnovers but it’s 1-0,Browns will beat a few teams in that tough division,and i like the way the ofense sucked it up and got it done.
What we all learned today was that Vick still has not learned how to play the QB position and this team has no chance with him behind center.
He dances around to much and doesn’t know how to read a defense…he sucks
Paulman why aren’t you crowing about how wrong you were about Ryan’s? The guy can play, same with Namdi.
Vick is terrible. They cannot go deep with him. Looks like the d is for real, I know it was just the browns but Vicks highlights are negated by his terrible ball security. No qb controversy …..YET
Rookies played better than Vick. Look at the Redskins. How many months did Reid and Marty game plan for this game. Vick looks like he made 0 progress and Reid still refuses to run the ball to give Vick some leverage against the blitz.
75% passing, 5 turnovers and 12 penalties and it could have been worse. Vick is not going to take us to the Super Bowl. Defense was good but remember it’s the Browns!
Lets start talking about that offensive line. That offensive line was the worst in the NFL today.. They made the Browns look like the Steelers. They couldnt block anyone. They didnt even have time to set up a screen pass. lol So what do they do? They keep throwing. No max protection.Vick takes some blame but AR and MM take most of it. You drop that little man back 56 times with that pahetic protection and wonder why he is skiddish. Try putting him in a better position for once. This is the same shit with McNabb, As soon as McNabb would get hurt the whole game plan changed and worked. All of the sudden they could run. All of the sudden you had max protection and the offense moved. This is MM and AR fault.
Men Vick is a pile of dog shit. Can’t even begin to describe how bad of a qb he is. Probably bottom 5 qb in the league bottom 10 for sure
Helluva game by drc
Awful gameplan we had the lead basically the whole game and in the 4th quarter Vick had 40+ pass attempts to mccoys 11 rushing attempts. Everyone is worried about Juan when the real problem is the morons calling the offensive plays. Inept!
Did anyone notice Akers. When he was with the Eagles he barely kicked in the end zone.Hell over half his kickoffs wouldnt make it to the endzone. When he was with the Eagles his FG limit was 52 yards. Now he kicks every ball out of the endzone. He kicks 63 yard FGs. Last year he added 10 yards to his leg. Something just isnt right. Im just sayin.
His longest was 57 and they moved th kickoff spot upm5 yards… That’s the difference
First half Birds were bit by the penalties. 2nd half was all vick…. I always stand behind our qb’s… no matter who…. but today was a mess. Another game like that and we will need to bench him for the game or forever.
Gonna preface that i didnt read the other posts, i just need to vent. Wow 7 rushing attempts for lesean in the first half, cant imagine y the birds barely won. Clearly thats the reason y the birds kept all those runningbacks, for the massive amount of rushing attempts per game theyre gonna have.
And for the moron who told me peters injury wasnt gonna affect mathis where r u? Hes the one who got beat when vick got hurt in the preseason, he was getting manhandled, how many times did he get beat, or called for holding….which the browns apparently never did once. That is all…
You do not call 56 pass attempts with a rusty qp who was struggling big time. Reid will never learn. He made this game much closer than it had to be. Some of you in your zeal to rip Vick miss the real problem. Reid
Also Paulman and mhenski both you guys were ripping Nnamdi in the preseason. So just for this week, you two should give props to him for playing well today.
Vick needs to play better or retire so Foles can step up. Browns have a good defense but a lot of teams in the PO will have good Ds so not making good decisions from the QB position will kill this team going through the season and if they make it to the PO. Also run the ball more. I’m happy they kept Polk and Brown but you have to use them. I never doubted Ryans so I’m glad he showed out today. Props to DRC, Allen and Coleman. The oline got better as the game went on but they need to be more consistent. The worst part of the team today was Vick, which speaks volumes to how important the position is especially in the Eagles playbook. His play depressed me and I hope he puts it together for next week and beyond.
God I hate Andy Reid so much as a head coach. Maybe Banner will hire him to be the Browns head coach next season after Lurie fires him after another 8-8 season. He can take Vick with him to Ohio.
Its a passing league- True
Most teams are now unbalanced- True
MCCoy had 100+ on the ground- True
Mike Vick is a Real QB- False
I’m changing my predictions…… 6-10
Andy will continue passing and will lose.
If a defense knows you’re not going to run the ball they’ll tee off all day.
Play calling helps QB’s stay healthy.
It not only helps qbs stay healthy, but maked perfect football sense. All this bs about a passing league doesn’t absolve a hc from not making proper adjustments when a qb isn’t playing well. If Vick sucks so bad; can’t read defenses or whatever how come Reid can’t see this and either get the right player who can or adjust to Vick’s strengths or another aspect of offense? None of the other coaches who’ve actually won a chip employ his idiotic philosophy.
“Play calling helps QBs stay healthy”
At this point who the hell wants Vick to stay healthy?
well coldB – if Reid has to treat Vick like a rookie – why not just play the Rookie??? Maybe Foles wouldn;t throw the ball into triple coverage or would plant his feet and not try to sling it sidearm? True – the O Line could have done batter – but two of those picks were just plain and simply bad throws/bad decisions..
I will jump on the ‘we need to run’ more bandwagon.. why, if you are gaining 5 yards a pop on the run and having a problme with negative yardage plays on first down, did we not run more…
anyway – bottom line is after all the bitching moaning and teeth gnashing – the only thing that matters is the birds are 1-0 – Baltimore should be a good test.
Vinnie – can’t say that thought did not cross my mind – funny to have a game where each team wanted the other teams offense on the field – no go ahead – you can have the ball!
Seen the niners today?
now, that’s a well coached team right there with a plethora of talent on both sides of the ball. By the way guys…..How Randy Moss is looking?
The Eagles will never win a championship because Reid is fundamentally flawed.
This is not arena football.
We got pushed around by the Cleveland Browns?
Told you guys….Baltimore will kill us next week.
I am not a Vick fan but the guy had no pre season so Reid should have adjusted and run the ball, but Reid has a mental block, and hence the result.
Vick did suck it up on the last drive and make the big play, and Reid actually put in a balanced series of play calls.
You want to see a master QB, watch Peyton Manning.
It’s looks like Alex “Bum Ass” Smith outplayed your Bum Ass” Mike Vick” Songs..
“Ryans turned in what was easily his best performance as an Eagle.”
That’s hilarious. His first game is his best game as an Eagle. Also his worst game, but it certainly felt more like something you’d want to use “best game” to describe.
Vick, he probably had his worst game as an Eagle. Oops.
if vick threw for 300 yards, 3 tds, and 1 int.. and with 1:40 left threw an incompletion on 4th and 7 and they lost the game. Everyone would of killed him… so why would anyone care about anything except a game winning drive? if he threw 4 picks in a playoff game, and led the team down the field to win it in the end, who would care about the INTs?
besides throwing some terrible passes, I thought he played better than last year. He got down when he ran, threw balls away and made some really nice throws besides the picks (and yes he made plenty of bad ones).
Denny you have zero credibility since u hate vick.I on the other hand dont love or hate him, im down the middle. The coaching staff threw the ball 56 times with a lead , are u kidding me!!!!mccoy is the best player on the team, not vick. he should get the most touches..This coach and his philosophy will never win a championship. Never!!! But anyway 10-6 relax its game one, and we won
OK everyone that ripped me a new one about defending VICk and how he is the one to lead this offense…. KISS MY ASS hahahahahah!!! you believe in him now? All the talk about reading defenses was CRAP all talk likei said. YOU saw Foles pick the same team apart first string defense or not he didnt look like that. Vick should have been benched. WWHATCH WHAT THE RAVENS WILL DO TO US.
OH KISS MY ASS AGAIN>>
Cripes Zoltek, I care about how bad he played, because his 4 picks are what made that game close. It really shoulda been 5 picks but the Browns defender dropped a ball right in his hands. People are upset because you project that type of performance against a better team (like Balt) and the Birds are gonna get pummeled. The O line did not play well, they threw the ball a lot. Both are true, but he made some throws/decisions that a vet QB shouldn’t make.
Do I really have to spell that out for you? If you want to defend him fine, but you also need to be honest when he plays like crap like he did yesterday.
Also kinda lucky that the Browns head coach is stupid.
10-6 Eagles and Browns had 4th and 1 on the 4. Kicked FG. I thought that was a bad decision that heped the Eagles.
Later, Browns score their TD to go up 15-10, but then didn’t try for 2 conversion.
Wouldn’t overtime have been fun? Vick and Wheeden doing everything in their power to give the ball to the other team for 15 mins.
The decision by Pat Shurmur to not go for two was inexcusable. But it perhaps spoke of the lack of confidence he had in his offense against the Eagles D. But it’s not like the offense wrapped up an 80 yd drive with a TD and then decided to kick. their offense was shut down for most of the game so Shurmur took the points. No matter, I still thought it was the wrong decision.
For those of you disgusted by the horrific pass to run ratio there is good news. Next year Gruden will realize that this line can’t pass block and that his QB is inexperienced and that he has TWO really good RBs. He will run about 45% of the time like he did with Watters when he was here and had Rodney Pete. He will pass more as he realizes that his QB knows how to get the ball out of his hand quickly and he gains more confidence in the youngster.
He will also probably sign a stud FA LT because he will be smart enough to realize that Peters is finished as a LT and he will put Peters on the right side and move Herremans back to OG and bench/cut Watkins since he is a bust. We should go 10-6 and get back in the playoffs in Gruden’s first year. We will draft a corner in the first round to replace Nnamdi since they are not paying him 15 Mil next year to be average. They will also sign a good FA safety if Nate Allen does not have a breakout season this year.
I have to start looking at the 2013 FA list already for LT and safety. At Least Jeffrey painted himnself into a corner and cannot find an excuse to bring AR back after he goes 6-10 this year. And he is in win now mode and has a lot of talent here so he will not bring in another assistant next year. He will want a proven commodity. And they have tons of money so look for Gruden to be the man. He would also love the job because he will be sure he can win a trophy with this talent Reid has squandered proving himself to be a genius and loved eternally in Philly. Gruden’s huge ego would be on steroids.
Jake Long is a FA next year. I am sure he will be glad to leave that shit hole and play for a better team. There are not any good safeties but we could try Sheldon Brown at FS next year if Allen proves he can’t play or tackle well.