Mike Check: Why Vick has struggled
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
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.
You can follow me on Twitter or become a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
- This post is succinct and 100% accurate. If you go back and look at Vick last year and see how lucky he got at times. The idea that a 32 year old QB is going to improve to the extent that Vick needs to is pretty is a far-fetched scenario. The Eagles draft has been locked. They will either draft an O-Lineman or a QB in the 1st round next year.
— UncleStosh - man, i wish we still had kevin kolb. he stays healthy and he has his team on track for a long run in the playoffs. he help AZ. beat the eagles.— coachbarnes10
- Vick is a 31 year old LOSER...next year Vick will be an OLD 32 year running QB loser...and Vick will NEVER WIN ANYTHING...LOL.— frank105
- And next year you will be a year older loser, still whining on the internet, and of course you will never win anything. — charmaine
- Don't blame the line, they protected Young fine. Vick just holds onto the ball too long, always has. He is not a good QB, never was, never has won meaningful games.— Sidewinder7
- "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." WTF?— Warhound
- eldiablows is either a racist nutcase, or a white troll trying to make black guys look bad. Either way I don't know whether to hate him or pity him. Pity, I guess; it's less self-destructive...
- Vick blows. Always has, always will. he's not a good QB, he never has been. I root every week against him and Andy. The Birds are doomed until they both are gone. I am on sabbatical as a fan until then.— homerjay99
- Ranks #22 in QB rankings. Not even close to putting us in a position to win a SB.— 4thand10
Vick and Pronger two Injury bust big Contracts and little playing time— Kevinmac- DUH...How about the fact that he has a no talent center, a cast off guard and a dud first round pick guard.......No talent means they cannot protect him....and we can thank Andy and the mail boy turned JB's valet for that......and some may wonder why Andy made him the QB of the future.,...and it is not brain surgery to say, the arrogant one knew he had a no talent offensive line and he need to find a scrambler to make anything happen.....You haters can blame Michael all you want.....but remember Andy and GM valet boy picked the o-line talent, the linebackers, and hte safeties......and Michael is just trying to survive......— nuggett
- Offense line with All-Pro tackle Peters is much improved and very solid now, that was not ever a problem when Young played those three games...Vick is just DUMB and can't decide who to throw the ball to quickly, Vick holds the ball too long becuse he can't make quick decisions.— frank105
- Completes 50% of his passes when he's at his best,. Plays a maximum of 10 games a year. 9 years in the league and still can't tell the difference between zone and man defense. ......At 100 million, the Eagles got off easy. I'm sure he would've made a lot more if they let him hit the open market. Good job by the front office in wrapping this "GEM" up long term.— Geno D
- He got his $100,000,000. He could care less if he is good or bad. Idiotic Eagle fans that jumped on the DOG KILLER'S bandwagon. This is what you get.— sackvicknow
- Vick got a name down in Atlanta, "Coach Killer." It was perfect. Vick can play one game where you swear he is the best Qb ever to play and the very next week he will look like he has never play the position before. A tremendous talent that never took the time to learn the game. If he would have learned how to read D's and scan the field he COULD have truly been great, unfortunately Vick will always be known as a "Coach Killer."— golson@florida
Follow
Sheil on Twitter. And become
a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds
coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Download it here.
