How teams attacked Vick in 2011
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How teams attacked Vick in 2011
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
As part of the research for my article on Michael Vick in the 2012 Eagles Almanac, I took a detailed look at how teams defended him last season.
Here's a look at how many pass rushers defenses sent at Vick. Of course, there's always some guesswork involved, but the numbers came from charting every snap where Vick dropped back to pass - sacks and scrambles included.
| No. of Pass Rushers | Percentage of Plays |
| 3 or fewer | 9.9% |
| 4 | 54.7% |
| 5 | 24.9% |
| 6 | 8.3% |
| 7 or more | 2.2% |
If we count a blitz as any play in which the defense sends more than four rushers, Vick was blitzed 35.4 percent of the time last year. More often than not (64.6 percent), defenses stuck with four rushers or fewer.
How did Vick perform against different numbers of pass rushers? Here's a look at completion percentage and yards per attempt:
| No. of Pass Rushers | Comp. % | Yards Per Attempt |
| 3 or fewer | 77.5% | 11.8 |
| 4 | 57.8% | 7.4 |
| 5 | 64.1% | 8.9 |
| 6 | 52.8% | 4.9 |
| 7 or more | 42.9% | 3.1 |
Rushing three was not the way to defend Vick. The Eagles’ offensive line was able to protect him in those situations, and the team’s pass-catching weapons can still get open, even with eight defenders in coverage. Vick was 31-for-40 for 470 yards when teams rushed only three.
When teams rushed four and dropped seven into coverage, Vick’s numbers were pedestrian. He completed 57.8 percent of his passes and averaged 7.4 yards per attempt.
Vick’s numbers against five rushers look great – 64.1 completion percentage and 8.9 yards per attempt – but he was sacked quite a bit on these plays. Vick was sacked 8.1 percent of the time when defenses sent five rushers his way; that number was only 2.6 percent when defenses rushed four. In other words, just one extra rusher made a huge difference.
The numbers against six or more rushers were not good. Vick completed just 22 of 43 passes (51.2 percent) for 199 yards (4.6 YPA) on those plays.
Overall, against the blitz, Vick completed 60.3 percent of his passes and averaged 7.6 yards per attempt. He completed 60.7 percent of his non-blitz throws and averaged 8.1 yards per attempt.
Looking ahead to 2012, I would expect teams to choose their spots with the big blitzes of six rushers or more. If the Eagles send their receivers deep downfield, and Vick breaks the line of scrimmage, those plays can lead to huge gains and are risky for opposing defenses (think back to the comeback game against the Giants in 2010).
The best way to defend Vick is probably with four or five pass rushers. A lot of this comes down to the play of the Eagles' offensive line. Teams were not effective at sacking Vick without sending extra pressure last year. That could change if Demetress Bell doesn't adequately fill in at left tackle for Jason Peters, or if Danny Watkins doesn't improve at right guard in his second season.
But by sending four or five, defenses force Vick to go through his progressions, and they protect themselves in the event that he takes off and runs.
Anyway, this is just part of what I focused on in my (long-winded) analysis. I also covered Vick's injuries, sacks, turnovers, passing targets and more. As I mentioned yesterday, the Eagles Almanac is chalk full of good information and well worth your time as we count down the days to Lehigh.
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Buy 2012 Eagles tickets - It's pretty easy to say you would have done things in retrospect. I think you need to remember that JPP was considered very raw coming out of USF. And it's not I'm pretty sure the Chargers would have rather taken Peyton Manning instead of Ryan Leaf... Shoulda, coulda, woulda.
Maclin had a serious health problem last summer that led him to lose a ton of weight and time in practice, but he still performed very admirably last season. After packing on the muscle he has you still think he's too small? Small receivers can still perform whether it's what you like or not (think steve smith, greg jennings, and wes welker).
I agree at times that Reid can do things unconventionally, but you also need to acknowledge that in the past three seasons the Eagles have had three different Defensive Coordinators with different styles. Learning a new system is not something you do, especially as a dumb jock. Plus how many coaches are above .500 over the course of 8 years?
Bill Cowher and Gruden have both said they weren't coming out of retirement, so they aren't real choices anyway.
It's easy to say what you would have done without any way to be assessed, so please acknowledge that no one's perfect especially not people commenting on an article.— phillyfan062 - Wait. What was I thinking? usedtobefromphilly and penncrow19 are satisfied with the status-quo. I will not root for Dallas. I have been a fan of the Eagles for over thirty years. I am just tired of continuing down the same path and expecting different results.— rubicon24
- Before anyone says anything, here's my prediction for the season:
Week 1 (@ Cle): Win
Week 2 (Bal): Loss
Week 3 (@ Ari): Win
Week 4 (NYG): Loss
Week 5 (@ Pit): Loss
Week 6 (Det): Loss
Week 7 (Bye)
Week 8 (Atl): Win
Week 9 (@ NO): Loss
Week 10 (Dal): Win
Week 11 (@ Was): Win
Week 12 (Car): Win
Week 13 (@ Dal): Loss
Week 14 (@ TB): Win
Week 15 (Cin): Win
Week 16 (Was): Win
Week 17 (NYG): Loss— rubicon24 - My prediction takes in to account that the team will somehow learn to stop the Falcons offense and Larry Fitzgerald and Andy Dalton. The Eagles, unless they get a better quarterback, are going to continue to fall farther behind the rest of the division.— rubicon24
- It seems to me that those other articles you mentioned you wrote in the "Eagles Almanac" are articles you already posted on line in "Moving the Chains". No?— izzylangfan
- People act like Maclin is a midget when he is 6' and 200 pounds. It's a good thing Philly "fans" weren't drafting, or else they'd pick Mike Williams because he's big instead of drafting for talent. Pierre-Paul is great, but I don't think it's because he's 275 pounds. And Graham doesn't have only 3 sacks because he weighs 265; it's because he got hurt. If he doesn't perform this year, THEN he sucks.— operagost
- Hey Ruby, take a chill pill. This is only June, but by looking at your preditions:
1. We will beat Det, no running game adn thier QB will be under pressure from our DL.
2. I see us beating DAL both times.
3. I see us maybe slpitting with NY, you have us losing both times.
4. By my account that's 12-4 but in the off change we do lose to NYG both times, that's still 11-5 and will get us in the playoffs.
5. That's when the real season begins.
Sorry for the point by numbers. Positive Attitudes leads to Positive Solutions.— eagles-fan-in-texas - izzylangfan: Confusing. I have used similar logic before. It's a shame I need to repeat myself so often.
operagost: Graham is a lost pick. He's one in a long line of poor first round defensive picks.
eagles-fan-in-texas: 12-4! Really? What did we do in the offseason to improve by four games? DeMeco Ryans? The same coaches? The same quarterback? The loss of Jason Peters and the effect it will have on the running game? I'm positive too. I'm just a realist.— rubicon24 - rubicon24 = captain hindsight— JTR
- Would it surprise the haters out there if they knew that the "great" Eli averages LESS total yards per game, LESS total tds per game, and MORE turnovers per game over the past 2 seasons than Vick?— Penfold18
- Not to mention that as poorly as the Birds played last season, we still went 5-1 in the division. How does that equate to falling behind in the division, rubicon24? We sucked and still dominated the division. We should have been 6-0 in the division had our defense not had the melt down and were afraid to tackle Cruz.— TNEaglesFan
- Penfold: Eli does have MORE Super Bowls, right?— rubicon24
- @Rub: You are obviously missing the point. It shows that Vick is doing enough and not the reason the Eagles aren't winning SBs.— Penfold18
- JTR: Again, being "Captian Hindsight" does not mean that I'm wrong.
Penfold18: Vick is not doing enough. His record with the Eagles is 15-10. Not being the reason they're not winning the Super Bowl is NOT enough. Since when did "Vick is doing enough and not the reason the Eagles aren't winning SBs" become enough for fans?— rubicon24
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