Vick's first real test coming
The Giants game will give us a better idea about how the Eagles might use Michael Vick.
One leftover from Monday night was a late post-game conversation with Michael Vick. The whole Wildcat thing has been a bit on the underwhelming side, you might have noticed. Vick completed one pass for 5 yards against the Redskins and ran three times for 9 yards with a long of 9 -- a run around the left end in which he actually, kind of looked like his old self. It has been one of the first times.
There are two theories operative now about the Eagles and Vick and the Wildcat. One is that it just hasn't looked very good in practice, and therefore hasn't looked very good in the games, and therefore they aren't using it that much with Vick in the game. The other theory is that they are keeping a bunch of stuff in their back pockets, stuff that will be unfurled starting with Sunday's game against the Giants.
So I asked Vick if they were hiding stuff for the Giants, and he said, "No, we're not hiding anything. Every week, we come up with something new. Next week, we'll have some different looks in and some different plays."
A couple of other things:
On that 9-yard run around the end: "It was the first time I was able to get out on the edge. They had been boxing me up. This time, we hit them with a different look, a shift and a quick count, and they really couldn't get adjusted to what we were trying to do. So it felt good to get out on the edge, good to open up a little bit."
On if he needs more playing time to get better: "I don't think I need to play more. Obviously, you want to play more. I wish I could play quarterback but that's not going to happen here right now."
On the job defenses have been doing so far against him: "They have to spend extra time getting ready for me, and it's tough on them sometimes -- but they've been doing a good job."
After the game, Eagles coach Andy Reid talked about how the Redskins were kind of crowding the line of scrimmage against their Wildcat looks. There are two ways to deal with that: get the running back outside rather than between the tackles, or throw the ball. And, well, we'll see. The Wildcat, like the rest of the Eagles' team, gets its first real test on Sunday.