Jaws: Vick can be top-5 passer
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Jaws: Vick can be top-5 passer
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Ron Jaworski continued his QB countdown today, naming Michael Vick his 12th-ranked signal-caller in the NFL.
Vick landed ahead of guys like Matt Schaub (13), Matthew Stafford (14) and Cam Newton (15).
During the segment on ESPN's SportsCenter, Jaworski discussed Vick's running ability and how it hurts him at times as a passer.
"The issue I have always had with Vick has been his willingness to run, to play the position outside of the pocket, outside of the structure of the offense," Jaworski said. "There’s no question he’ll always make plays, but he also leaves throws on the field."
Jaws then showed a play against the Buffalo Bills where Vick took off to run, despite having a clean pocket from which to throw the football. He was tackled after a short gain, while the film showed he had Jason Avant wide open in the middle of the field.
As I've written about at length here, deciding when to run will be something Vick continuously works on until his career is over. The official stats show that Vick ran 76 times for 589 yards last season. That averages out to 5.8 runs per game and 7.8 yards per attempt.
But I dug deeper into the numbers this offseason and found that 53 of those runs were improvised, meaning they occurred on plays that were originally designed for Vick to pass. So he took off to run on pass plays about 4.1 times per game. He averaged 10.2 yards per carry on those improvised runs, which is a huge number, but it's important to remember he was also sacked 23 times.
According to Jaws, Vick was hit more than 11 times per game.
"Vick always reminds me of something my former coach Dick Vermeil says: The problem with quarterbacks who can run is they run," he said.
Jaws also brought up a point that we probably don't discuss often enough: Vick has shown that he can make plays from the pocket.
"Vick has shown he is capable of throwing the ball exceptionally well from the pocket," Jaworski said. "His overall throwing skill set can be top five in the league. His objective in 2012 must be to play that way more often. It becomes an availability issue. You can’t be an elite NFL quarterback if you can’t be counted on every single week."
Earlier this week, I wrote about how Vick performed last year against different kinds of pressure. Many readers probably focused on his numbers against the blitz, but take a look at Vick's numbers when teams only rushed three: 31-for-40 for 470 yards. He was deadly (77.5 percent completions, 11.8 yards per attempt) when he felt comfortable sitting in the pocket and was not worried at all about the pass rush. Even though teams had eight defenders in coverage, Vick effectively found targets and delivered the ball accurately.
Jaws seemed confident that Vick can take another step in his development this offseason and lead the Eagles to big things in 2012.
"A more disciplined player will result in fewer turnovers," he said. "I would not be surprised if we’re getting ready to see the best year of Vick’s 10-year career."
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Buy 2012 Eagles tickets - For you punctuation wasn't needed, you understood quite well, even with a different name.
— charmaine - The key is "Felt Comfortable in the Pocket". We are talking about rehabilitating a running Quarterback who often was in a collapsing pocket last year. Granted by the end of the year that pocket was better, but Vick was punished behind the Eagles line. (HTML deleted)— Dexter
- of course he meant top 5 in the NFC East. Who's better: Brady, Rodgers, Rivers, Eli Manning, Brees, P Manning(if healthy).— palmyra21
- Vick is a $100 million bust...there are MANY QB BETTER than Vick, they are Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Big Ben, Rivers, Stafford, Romo and more..plus even the young kids Cam Newton and RG111 are 10 years younger and bigger, faster and more accurate than the old fraud Vick....LOL.— phil500
- lol - Vick = 7-9 if he could finish the season that is.— osi is hurt boohoo
- we will see what vick can do once he has confidence in his line,he already has that with the recievers,i'm gonna go all in and put my whole allowance on the birds to win it all ,at 14 to 1 odds i will surely be able to buy a new vick jersey— greensob
- I think Jaws is right. Vick IS a pretty good passer when he stays in the pocket. First priority is for Vick to stay healthy throughout the season. We don't need him running for 50 yards per game, that's how QBs get killed.— p-diddy
- Zeru, Reid has trouble calling "timeout" ,let alone the right plays.— Geno D
- 77% completions when not rushed. What does that tell you? Give the guy protection!!! Vick has proven that he wants to pass first. His problem is he won't "give up" on a play. He'll roll out, he'll run, he'll try to hit a receiver when the odds are slim. Remember, he got this job because the O-Line sucked two years ago and his running ability was the only chance the Eagles had. Had Kobb kept the starting job he would have been killed. Fix the O-Line and Vick will light it up. Read again; no pressure = 77% completion rate. Note to Howie: We still need another offensive tackle.— Craig321
- Vick had his shot earlier with the Birds when he was truly listening to AR. AR has his faults but he is a great QB coach. The fall of the empire came after a victory against Dallas (Dec 2010, with DeSean dancing like a fool in the background) when Vick stated he was "going to play his way". The not so slow fade to mediocrity began at that exact point in time.— 2ndNlong
- My problem with Vick is his jaded lack of good judgement and discipline on and off the field. It seems with age he is starting to mature somewhat but whether that translate to the field remains to be seen. However, Vick has to be Vick in order to be successful. That means he has to run the ball. I would prefer for him to convert to a pure pocket passer and manage the offense via his arm. He would stay healthier become a 4000yd passer and possibly take this team to a SB. But Vicks has his adoring fans that he must entertain and just like the fact that he can not learn to slide (as a RB can not learn to slide feet first) M. Vick can not learn to be a pure pocket game manager. What would his adoring fans say then? They would say Vick has become a punk? With Vick you will have the risky play, the attitude and the blame everyone else mentality. Although I admire his attempt to dispel his thuggishness, he is what he.— thegooddre
- L11, no prob. It takes a man to admit a mistake. We all make them. I made one yesterday when I thought I made a mistake...:) Oh well, an oldie but a goodie.— tpizza
- All of his injuries sacks came when he was in the pocket, and he only improvises runs on pass plays 4 times a game? 4 times a game doesn't sound excessive to me.
I understand that conventional wisdom says Vick must run less to avoid injury, but the numbers never seem to back up that assumption.— bc3030 - "0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 2:40 PM, 06/29/2012
Yeah the freak Charmine, who sleeps with Vick's jock under her pillow came out...LOL...McNabb was better than Vick, McNabb won many playoff games and took the eagles to SUPER BOWL...the loser Vick has not even won a stinkin' playoff game...LOL."
I don't know, I saw him in the 2004 NFC Title Game that he lost
against one of the NFL's top 5 Ds, he had to have won at least
two playoff games to get there, unless my math is wrong??
He is 0 n 2 with the Birds, but 1 game was sloppy cleanup, his
first year against Dallas, and if he hits Riley Cooper in
the end zone, the Eagles would of beaten the future SB
winners GB, in OT, I'm sure, who blew out the other teams after
the Eagles??
— mikey48 - every time someone attacks charmaine i report abuse its only fair under my other name when i attacked the haters philly.com deleted my comments for attacking other posters. well im doing my job what about you philly.com?— defroe
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