Reid: refs need to watch hits on Vick
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Reid: refs need to watch hits on Vick
Jonathan Tamari
UPDATED with new Vick comments below ...
Andy Reid has seen his starting quarterback take a beating, and he hinted Friday that some of the hits involved may have crossed the line, but have not drawn a penalty flag.
"It bothers me," Reid said when a reporter asked about some of the big hits Vick has absorbed when he runs. "I see the same thing you're seeing. He does run, but he's still the quarterback and there has to be, you can't treat him like he's a running back there. That's not what the rules state."
Vick took another big heaping of abuse Thursday night from the Texans and got up slowly at times. He spent part of his time on the sideline riding an exercise bike in an apparent effort to stay loose.
Vick said Friday night that he is looking for penalty flags, to no avail.
"If you go back and watch the film, I’m getting hit after I throw the ball repeatedly, it’s time after time after time. I’m getting my face mask pulled, I’m getting hit in the head, the calls are not being made," Vick said in an appearance on 610 AM WIP.
"Every time I get hit I look up at the ref and I see no flag. And I see other quarterbacks standing in the pocket, the minute they get touched there’s a flag on the field," he said.
Vick said he should get the same protection as any other quarterback, but that he gets treated differently because he is so mobile.
"This has been happening for the last 4 or 5 weeks, and I haven’t complained, I haven’t said anything, but it’s getting to a point where I’m getting tired of getting up off the canvas," Vick said. "The defense is going to continue to do it because it's not getting called."
Reid declined to get into details when asked if he would address the hits on Vick with the NFL.
It was a mostly happy day-after press conference for the coach, who has seen his team come through a tough stretch of games with an 8-4 record.
Tackle Winston Justice has a knee hyper-extension that will bear watching, but Reid said Asante Samuel and Juqua Parker should both be back in practice when the team gets back together Wednesday.
Reid and his players have some time to rest -- he encouraged those not getting rehab to take their minds of football for a little while -- but Reid was critical of his team's tendency to take penalties. They had 11 for 85 yards Thursday night.
"You make it tough on yourself," Reid said. "It's going to be tough anyway, it doesn't have to be that tough."
He said Houston's center was using dramatic movements with a silent count Thursday, which may have led to some of the Eagles offsides penalties.
"Against good football teams, like we played here, you can't just shoot yourself in the foot. It's not a good thing, it's not productive," Reid said.
He said coaches have to stress discipline in practice and work with the scout team to duplicate opponents' techniques and prepare the starters for what they will face.
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Vote: Grade the Eagles' performance
3-2-1...let the haters begin with the Vick/beating comments.— Mabus
I'm glad that he mentioned the Houston center. I don't know why linemen have to be set, but the center, a second before the snap, can make a flinch with his body to start looking back at the QB. I know one offside was directly because of this, and I'm pretty sure a second was that way too.— joeags
After the first 15 scripted plays, there are too many successive pass plays. Where's Kevin?- I'm not normally the person to make sensational comments like this, but why is Vick not getting the roughing the QB calls? 2 obvious facemasks, a low hit, and some borderline hits, and he gets 0 flags. what gives? Trent cole touches peyton's helmet and its 15 yards, but vick gets his head twisted and its play on. i dont get it. i'm not going to suggest racism, but there is something about him being treated different b/c he is fast/mobile, which is not fair to Vick, and not in the rules. Once again the NFL is stuck not being able to consistantly enforce rules.— sasquatches
Comment removed.- Everytime Peyton Manning or Brady hits the ground a flag is thrown. If any receiver that Peyton or Brady is throwing to is granted pass interference when the pass isn't completed. Some justify this arguement by saying Peyton & Brady has earned the right to have special treatment. The NFL doesn't want the QB position for dual threat QB's, this is their way of preserving this position. I don't think it's neccessarily about race, because the Steelers have been complaining of the same problem with Ben R.— gditty
Agreed. It seemed to me that Houston got away with a lot more yesterday than the Eagles, with a lot of non-calls and missed calls.— jp8899- the ref's have been terrible in the past 5 eagles games. the crew's are obviously biased and not only does johnson not get suspended for fighting, but he gets away with an obvious PI call, terrible but you have to rise above it. Don't let the ref's affect the outcome of the game— xlGmanlx
Refs must also be doglovers.- since most of them need seeing-eye dogs
- Is it true that all the Zebras were recruited from the ASPCA?— TBear
- The worst thing you can have in officiating is inconsistency and in this category the NFL is unfortunately going the way of the NHL...different players and teams get different calls and punishments and as this gets worse it alienates the fans and the players from the league!— cujat13
- There were a number of times roughing the passer calls should have been made on the Texans, but the refs did not call them. On one play late in the game, the Eagles were called for holding, but on the same play, one of the Texans had Vick's face mask but that was not called. Also, did you take notice to Joe Theisman's obvious bias against the Eagles which was evident before the game even started? He was rooting for the Texans hard. He even tried to make a case that Brent Celek did not convert the 3rd and 19 play. He also downplayed Vick's performance this season, and that Vick should not be a front-runner for MVP. No wonder ESPN fired Theisman. Hopefully, NFL Network will soon do the same.— jimqk
- It's great that Reid has brought this point up, because all of the Eagles remaining games have been moved to primetime. This allows the public to see clear ref bias against the Eagles, and makes the NFL answer to the court of public opinion.— gditty
- Comment removed.
