Mike Check: Why Vick has struggled
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Mike Check: Why Vick has struggled
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Michael Vick completed just 15 of 30 passes for 208 yards, a touchdown and an interception Sunday against the Dolphins, returning from a rib injury that had sidelined him for three games.
In his last three starts, Vick has completed just 51 percent of his passes, averaged 5.38 yards per attempt, thrown one touchdown and been intercepted four times.
Turnovers have been an issue all season, but other aspects of Vick's game are now cause for concern. Is he regressing? Or is he just playing hurt?
I'll take a look at those questions and more. As always, let's start with pass distribution against Miami.
| Targets | Catches | Yards | Drops | |
| DeSean Jackson | 6 | 4 | 59 | 0 |
| LeSean McCoy | 6 | 3 | 33 | 0 |
| Brent Celek | 5 | 4 | 39 | 0 |
| Jason Avant | 3 | 2 | 35 | 0 |
| Jeremy Maclin |
3 |
1 |
13 |
0 |
| Riley Cooper |
2 |
1 |
29 |
0 |
| Clay Harbor | 1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| TOTAL | 26 | 15 | 208 | 0 |
Vick had four balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. I could only tell on one of them exactly who he was targeting, plus he threw one ball away. That's why there are only 26 targets, even though he attempted 30 passes.
Jackson had a good game with four catches for 59 yards, including the 34-yard touchdown.
McCoy had the nice 26-yard catch and run in the first half.
Celek probably should have gotten the ball more. The Eagles have had a lot of success going his way in recent weeks.
Maclin returned to action, but only played 24 snaps. He had a shot at one pass over the middle, but I didn't count it as a drop. It looked like he almost ran into Celek on the play.
And Cooper's 29-yard grab came on a play where Vick escaped pressure and improvised.
AGAINST THE BLITZ
The Dolphins blitzed Vick quite a bit - 19 of 36 dropbacks - and were very successful.
Vick was just 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) for 23 yards (1.77 YPA) against the blitz. He fared much better when the Dolphins only rushed three or four, completing 12 of 17 passes for 185 yards.
Here's the full breakdown:
| No. of Rushers | No. of Plays | Completions | Attempts | Yards |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 46 |
| 4 | 14 | 9 | 14 | 139 |
| 5 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The Dolphins were extremely effective when they rushed five. Vick was only 1-for-7 in those situations, and all four sacks came on five-men blitzes. Vick took off to run twice - both against five-men blitzes. Of the 13 times Miami sent five rushers, Vick failed to even attempt a pass on six of them.
As you can see, he didn't fare much better against the six- and seven-man blitzes either, completing 2 of 6 passes for 6 yards in those situations. I wrote about this earlier in the week, but the struggles weren't all on Vick. The offensive line had all kinds of problems in pass protection (and run blocking).
Earlier in the season, Vick had shown progress against the blitz, making quick decisions, although not hitting on a lot of big plays. Against the Dolphins' blitz, though, he really struggled.
SUCCESS BY DISTANCE
Here's a chart of Vick's throws by distance. I used the same ranges that Football Outsiders uses so we'd have a point of reference. Short is 5 yards or less. Mid is 6 to 15 yards. Deep is 16 to 25 yards. And Bomb is more than 25 yards. These are measured from the line of scrimmage to the point where the ball is touched, hits the ground or goes out of bounds.
| Completions | Attempts | Yards | |
| Short | 7 | 11 | 48 |
| Mid | 6 | 10 | 97 |
| Deep | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bomb | 2 | 3 | 63 |
The two Bomb completions were to Cooper and Jackson.
Really, there's not a lot to analyze in this part. The Eagles took their shots deep with varying degrees of success. Given the issues in protection, they were wise to rely on the short and intermediate passing game at times.
OVERALL
In 22 starts with the Eagles, Vick has completed 50 percent of his passes or fewer three times. But two of those times have been in his last two starts against the Dolphins and Cardinals (the other was in this year's opener against the Rams).
And it's not a case of Vick hitting on big plays and attempting lower-percentage passes. He's averaging just 7.3 yards per attempt, which ranks 13th in the NFL.
Turnovers have been an issue, but since Vick suffered the rib injury against Arizona, he's been a different quarterback. Before the Cardinals game, he was completing 62 percent of his passes and averaging 7.76 YPA. In the past two games, Vick is completing 48.4 percent of his passes and averaging 5.25 YPA.
Vick wasn't the only problem last week. The offensive line had probably its worst showing of the year, and the team couldn't run the ball at all.
But this much is clear: It's not enough for Vick to just be on the field. Along with avoiding turnovers, the Eagles need him to be healthy when he plays. Because as we've seen the past two weeks, an injured Vick often times means an ineffective Vick.
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Comment removed.
I really wonder if Vick sees more blitzes now that he's shown the progress as a passer with Philly. You'd think when he was bolting from the pocket at the drop of a hat, the defenses were more likely to mush rush and spy him, right? That also means easier passing lanes. Now that everyone knows he's hanging in the pocket longer, and that he can slice you up down field, they want free running blitzers on him. Before, that seemed like the last thing you'd want to do, put Vick one-on-one with a defender.— KNuff- he struggles because he's NOT A QB!!!!!! he's a sprinter/WR!— With all this talent who needs a real defensive coordinator 2011
- He was healthy in the first part of the season when he only won three games. Vick got his money and now has quit. Romo didn't miss a snap with broken ribs and myn source tells me Vick only had bruised ribs, that's why Reid is hiding the ex rays and will sit Vick down against the Jets so he don't look bad, making for a 2-14 2012 season. But I guess you like those years.— mario1239
- Vick has quit? Okay...have you looked at this pathethic defense the Eagles is fielding? Also, you don't have any sources don't make yourself seem more important than you are. — PSU_Chuck
- Vick's not the long term answer at QB but he's here now and next year as well so one can only hope and be patient as a fan.— greenbloodVAEagle
- Why are pressure and tough hits on the QB only issues when Vick is playing? Answer- He cant read the blitz, he never gets the ball out and hes the same player as he was in Atlanta. Huge test for him this week vs NYJets with Revis and Co.
— FABER - Faber,
Wrong again. Any expert worth their salt will tell you, and show you that Vick is not the same QB as he was in Atlanta. For starters, in the Atlanta offense he had one primary and one secondary read. If neither guy was open he took off. In this offense, he has three reads and a check-down. He is getting hit because he is holding onto the ball too long, not by running outside of the pocket.— PSU_Chuck - play design and pass protection influence the QBs effectiveness as well. thinking most folks would agree that vick and the entire offense have regressed since last season. vick against pass rush where blocking assignments are missed is a reason. getting hit too often (FOUR SACKS) is also a reason. not being able to rushing with shady effectively is another reason. hmmmm.— Smashmouth
- Vick STINKS...Vick is an awful 4-9 in his 13 starts....Vick is a $100 million bust...LOL.— frank105
- If he his a $100 million dollar bust, then what is Nhamdi? How about Jason Babin, who is the Bobby Abreau of the Eagles. How about the dead money pumped into Steve Smith? Sounds like someone belongs to the Angelo Cataldi fan club. Just blurt out nonsense and see if anyone pays attention. — PSU_Chuck
- That $100 million dollar contract is eating you alive isn't it Frank105 LOL LOL ........GOOOD — charmaine
- He just started looking at tape and calling audibles. I repeat, he just started looking at tape and calling audibles. WTF.
Plus he is short. Dump him and get a QB 6'2" or better who has been looking at tape since high school.— Casin055 
A offensive line that sucks. Bad play calling. And a defense that couldnt keep a 30 point lead pass halftime. These problems would have sent Joe Montana into retirement...— Zeru- One thing everyone refuses to discuss is the post-traumatic stress that African-Americans suffer after being bullied into going into jail by publicity-hungry white prosecutors. I am sure Vick is still not mentally all there as a result of the treatment he received, which of course he would not have received had he not been a black man. Since he was prosecuted by the feds under the Bush Administration, no one should be surprised at how Republicans treated him. Republicans have left millions of women, children, minorities, and gays with post-traumatic stress from all of the horrible things that were done under that criminal administration.— eldiablodelsol2009
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