Vick takes a hellacious beating
NEW ORLEANS -- We watched the sideline at the start of the second half for any clues. Michael Vick warmed up, Nick Foles warmed up, and it all seemed the same as always. The defense started on the field and, as they watched, Vick wore a baseball cap and Foles wore a baseball cap. Same as always.
Vick takes a hellacious beating
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
NEW ORLEANS -- We watched the sideline at the start of the second half for any clues. Michael Vick warmed up, Nick Foles warmed up, and it all seemed the same as always. The defense started on the field and, as they watched, Vick wore a baseball cap and Foles wore a baseball cap. Same as always.
Then, after Brandon Graham sacked Saints quarterback Drew Brees, forced a fumble and recovered it -- and, no, that was not a misprint -- Vick put on his helmet and jogged easily out to the huddle. The game was still his. Trailing by 21-3, his team lacking even a hint of a spark, Vick remained in charge.
Then, bang -- a 77-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson, one of those play-action, rollout deals from 2010.
Then, bang -- the Eagles recover a Saints fumble on the kickoff. But they had to settle for a field goal.
After that, whatever the Eagles had gotten going all dribbled away. The final score was 28-13. The team has lost four games in a row and is now 3-5 at the halfway point of the season. The prospects look more grim by the day.
Where is this headed? We all sense that coach Andy Reid could go to Foles at some point because, well, just because. You wonder how close he came to making the move at halftime. We will never likely know. And it is fair to say this: Vick played with more fire in the second half, more of the “swag” he promised to re-discover.
But they can’t get it blocked, and he does sometimes make the line’s job harder, and some of this is on him. But only some. And to make the move would be to turn a very big page, and probably irrevocably. It is not something to be done lightly.
But you wonder.
How close did it come to happening?
The only justification for making a change would have been an attempt to create that spark, to resuscitate a really dead-looking team. Vick was not the biggest issue on Monday night, and did not deserve to be benched. The offensive line, which lost right tackle Todd Herremans during the game, is now four-fifths backups -- and it is playing like it.
Vick’s toughness has never been questioned, and it will not be now. He is taking a hellacious beating, but he always gets up for the next play. We do not know how Foles, the rookie from Arizona, might wear the same beating. Maybe he would get the ball out quicker and get hit less often than Vick does, but even acknowledging that possibility, this line is so threadbare right now that Foles would be seriously tested, and tattooed.
So does that make sense?
Vick was sacked seven times against the Saints. Most of them were almost-instantaneous suffocations. There was little he could do.
This entire discussion, ongoing for weeks now, is becoming exhausting. Because, on the one hand, there is the beating Vick is taking. But, on the other hand, there are some of the plays he is making/not making -- like the wide throw near the goal line to tight end Brent Celek and Celek barely tipped with one hand -- tipped it right into a 98-yard interception return the other way.
On the one hand, there are the plays he does make and there is the toughness -- which really does need to be underlined. On the other hand, though, there is his inability to sense pressure on too many plays where there is an alternative to getting clobbered.
All we know for sure is that this offense has ground completely to a halt in the last month. And that the Eagles were 0-for-5 in trying to score touchdowns in the red zone. Even on a night where they ran for more than 200 yards (including Vick’s scrambles), they could not find a way to put up the requisite points against a truly lousy defensive team.
If the answers were obvious, Reid would have already tried them. And, to repeat, most people figure he will make a change at quarterback at some point because he will have no other alternative. It is just the nature of the deal.
And while it is not all Vick’s fault, well, you can be sure that Reid knew very well, as he walked off of the field on Monday night, that he would another long night of thinking ahead of him.
Reid looks and talks like a man who has had a prefrontal lobotomy.— dasher- Vick cannot be blamed for Bell's awful play..in one period he hurt the team on at least three successive plays. No QB could stand up to that kind of beating...no matter what, no matter who. This team has awful team players...and the glib Andy Reid says again...he needs to do a better job. Time to jettison Andy and his entire coaching staff....don't wait another game...the players we have are Andy's players, ones he chose...and one he is flaming out with. We will be lucky to win one more game...what in the world can be done to stop,this embarrassing team performance.— 5thstrretpast
- DUMP VICK....He had plenty of time but threw an awful pass that was intercepted for a 99 yard touchdown, that was on Vick, not the line.— Bob112
- This team is really bereft of talent on both sides of the ball. Other than McCoy would any of these guys have a job in the NFL on any other team?— coloradoeagle
- Change the QB? And what will that do? Our offensive linemen don't belong on the field. Fire Bell immediately. What exactly has Mudd done to fix anything? Change the offensive line approach! It hasn't worked for 18 consecutive games! Get a clue already. Offensive line genious? Give me a break. How about the pressure our defensive line put on Brees? Trent Cole still on this team? The Wide 9 is a great scheme. Working great. We now have a bunch of players for an offensive and defensive line scheme that is a complete faliure. I wouldn't put Foles in with this line. Next year, start dumping Jackson, Maclin, Celik, Vick and the rest of these losers and startrebuilding the lines. Enough for me with this team. See you next year or the year after next. I could care less what these guys do.— MikeP
- Most enjoyable Eagles season in a long time. SInce they signed Vick I have been rooting for rock bottom. Its here.— Scope33
- Andy needs to go home and take care of his family. Drugs killed his son and his judgement. Football is a game. Losing a son isn't. He needs to clean up his own house. He knew his kids were on hard drugs and a path of self destruction, and ignored it, expecting things to be business as usual. Only a matter of time before the other one dies the same way. If you can't be a father to your own kids, how are you going to motivate a bunch of barely post adolescent millionaires.— blanc_chat
- completely completely agree.and he's gotta hav $$10-25 MIL IN THE BANK!!! so why would he stay ?? and ill bet when the birds finally dump him he WILL take another job!!because he's money hungry / or power hungry or some quality that is worthy of suspicion... i mean he literally is a simpleton : he is way too experienced to answer the way he does / actaully thinking that "fundamentals" is the answer at this point / playcalling, game management ..IM STILL PISSZZED the way he stared cluelessly at his play cheat sheet in the final minute of th Super Bowl!!!..suspicious behavior reminds me of why the JoePa was so adamant about staying in power at PennSt... (HTML deleted)
— daveH - i had just clicked back from my umteenth viewing of REDICULOUSNESS to see the 1st & Goal in the 4th qtr .. thot to myself : "Self, how the heck ar ethe birds gonna F this one up ??"
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i couldd not even in my wildest fears write a script as F'd up AS WHAT THEY DID!!!
also >> EVERYONE IN THE FREAKIN WORLD KNEW THE 1st PLAY OF THE GAME WAS GONNA BE A BOMB TO DJAC !!! RIGHT ?? announcers called it MY WIFe CALLED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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it was the first of many HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA texts to my west ocast bud— daveH - From the Eagle's financial perspective, Vick will stay in at QB because of his large salary. They are not going to pay him all that money and sit him. And, they look at Foles as their qb of the future and are not going to ruin that precious asset behind this offensive line.— joranan
- I wouldn't play Joe Montana, Namath, or Steve Young in their prime behind our very OFFENSIVE line. Simply, they stink. There was no Plan "B" after Jason Peters went down, except to throw in Kelce, Reynolds, and any unproven, under-sized rookie. It looks like Vick plays a schoolyard game of rush the passer. At least you can gameplan for the opposing defense, whose job to seek and destroy Vick. Perhaps a sneak or two, end around, screen pass, or just letting Shady do it are viable options when you players who are just bodies on a field, no skill, no talent, no game sense.— PhillyboyinNYC
