Mike Check: How Vick picked apart the Cowboys
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Mike Check: How Vick picked apart the Cowboys
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Michael Vick completed 21 of 28 passes for 279 yards and two touchdowns in the Eagles' 34-7 win over the Cowboys Sunday night.
It was one of Vick's best performances as an Eagle, as he completed 75 percent of his passes, averaged a season-best 9.96 yards per attempt and produced a 129.9 QB rating (second-best mark of the past two seasons).
How did he do it? That's what we look at in the weekly Mike Check feature, starting with pass distribution:
| Targets | Catches |
Yards |
Drops |
|
| Brent Celek |
9 |
7 |
94 |
0 |
| Jason Avant |
5 |
5 |
74 |
0 |
| Jeremy Maclin |
3 |
3 |
54 |
0 |
| DeSean Jackson |
6 |
3 |
31 |
1 |
| LeSean McCoy |
3 |
2 |
15 |
0 |
| Clay Harbor |
1 |
1 |
11 |
0 |
| Owen Schmitt |
1 |
0 |
0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 28 | 21 | 279 | 1 |
For the second straight week, Celek was the Eagles' most-targeted receiver. But there was a huge difference in the Vick-Celek connection from the first six games. Before Sunday, Celek's catch rate (receptions per targets) was 43 percent. But on Sunday, Vick connected on seven of nine passes to Celek (78 percent).
Vick completed all eight of his passes to Avant and Maclin for 128 yards.
Jackson was the Eagles' second-most targeted receiver, but his longest catch went for just 14 yards.
McCoy had a nice-looking catch and run on a screen; Harbor too; and Vick looked for Schmitt in the red zone.
Riley Cooper played, but was not targeted, and Steve Smith was on the field for zero snaps.
AGAINST THE BLITZ
All week, we talked about Rob Ryan's plans to bring a heavy blitz against Vick. Overall, the Cowboys blitzed (defined here as 5 or more pass rushers) on 18 of 36 dropbacks, or 50 percent of the time. On the season, Vick has been blitzed on 115 of 270 dropbacks, or about 42.6 percent of the time.
How'd he do? Against the blitz, Vick was 8-for-12 for 103 yards (8.58 YPA); all four sacks came on blitzes; and he ran twice when blitzed.
The non-blitz numbers are more impressive. Vick completed 13 of 16 passes for 176 yards (11.0 YPA). He was not sacked and ran twice. In other words, Vick picked the Cowboys apart when they rushed four defenders or fewer. When they rushed five or fewer, he was 20-for-24 for 267 yards.
Here is the breakdown by number of rushers:
| No. of Rushers | No. of Plays | Completions | Attempts | Yards |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 85 |
| 4 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 83 |
| 5 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 91 |
| 6 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
While Vick's numbers overall were good against the blitz, he still struggled against six or more pass rushers. By my count, all four sacks came when the Cowboys sent six. And Vick completed just 1 of 4 passes for 8 yards against six rushers.
On the season, he is 14-for-28 (50 percent) for 145 yards (5.18 YPA) against six or more rushers. Those numbers still need to get better.
THIRD DOWN, RED ZONE
As a team, the Eagles went 7-for-12 on third down. Vick had the ball in his hands on nine of those, and the offense converted five of them. Overall, Vick was 5-for-7 for 76 yards on third down. He also ran once and was sacked once.
The offense converted four of six red-zone trips into touchdowns. Vick was 3-for-7 for 20 yards in the red zone, completing touchdowns to Maclin and Celek. McCoy took care of the other two scores.
On the season, the Eagles are scoring touchdowns in the red zone 45.71 percent of the time, which ranks 24th in the NFL.
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 | 11 | 14 | 104 |
| Mid | 7 | 11 | 111 |
| Deep | 3 | 3 | 64 |
| Bomb | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What stands out here? Well, first of all, Vick attempted zero Bomb passes, as he explained, because the safeties were playing so deep.
He attempted three Deep passes (16-25 yards from the line of scrimmage), and completed all of them - one to Avant, one to Maclin and one to Celek.
Vick did an excellent job of not forcing the ball downfield and working the Short and Mid areas of the field.
OVERALL
This was Vick at his finest. The fact that he changed the play at the line on the Maclin touchdown is a great sign. And it looked like he did that on one of the McCoy touchdown runs also. As a passer, he was consistent, accurate and made good decisions. And he ran seven times for 50 yards. Vick is on pace to run for 964 yards, which would be the second-highest total of his career.
Turnovers can be tricky. Sometimes the ball bounces your way; sometimes it doesn't. For example, Tony Romo got credited with an interception, even though it was largely Martellus Bennett's fault. Vick, meanwhile, was stripped by DeMarcus Ware, but Todd Herremans recovered the fumble. Overall, though, Vick was smart with the ball. There was only one near-interception on a slant to Jackson, and that may have been the wide receiver's fault.
Last year, Vick threw his first interception of the season against Chicago. He'll have to take care of the football Monday night if the Eagles want to win their third straight and improve to 4-4.
If you missed it from earlier Wednesday, here's my post on what they're saying about the Eagles.
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As a falcon fan and a Vick fan I can say that i have seen every game that this dude has played going all the way back to his college days. when he was with the Falcons he was in a system intially with Dan Reeves where he would have been taught how to play the position and been held accountable to be a pro, however Reeves was fired by Auther Blank for being too tough on Vick and wanted to go in a different direction. First they had Wade Phillips in the interim role and then they hired Jim Mora Jr. who was more of a buddy to Vick than a coach. Vick wasnt challenged to learn the proper way to be a QB. He didnt audible because he knew when the play broke down he would simply out run everyone. hes always had the arm and is as accurate as he's ever been however he now has legitimate wide outs (he did have Roddy White as a rookie but just as he does now he was notorious for dropping catchable balls). The biggest difference to Vick now versus back then is that he is being held accountable for his actions on and off the field and he respects the coaching staff.— I-am-a-realist- What NFL Quarterback turns the ball over any more than Drew Brees, or Bret Farve? Do you people really watch the game or do you take the nonsense distributed by the Philly Beat Reporters?
I may be wrong, but based on the reasoning in some of the post on Philly Dot Com, Phila doesn't have one beat Reporters who's ever played a down of Football.
Based on the Football Experience in Phila at the High School and College level, you people have been lied to and lead astray for a long time. It's obvious a lot of you don't understand the game or the strategy within the game. Who would expect five new guys playing instrumental parts on a defense without much practice time to start the season without many major flaws?
A student of the game wouldn't even question this.
— Dexter - Nothing against Maclin and, or Jackson, but Maclin dropped in Atl, and Fumbled to close out close wins, Jackson and Celek early in the season could not catch a cold.
All of that is chalked up to inexperience.
Both are still on rookie contracts. I'll tell you what, if Favre was the Philly Quarterback after all those drops and fumbles in crunch time, neither would see a pass in an Eagles uniform again.
Shady, as good as he was, he used to fumble, now the entire stadium holds it's breath when he has the ball swinging from his body as he does. That's how Shady keeps his balance and we will have to learn to live with those appearances.
The Eagles are still a rebuilding team with a ton of new faces on offense and defense and our featured skill players are still pretty new to the NFL Grid-iron, not to mention a Quarterback that's been in the system 2 years, in his First year as the go to guy.
Relax, the Eagles offense is still pretty much playing pick up street ball. Those rookies anchoring the Offensive line aren't just yet as good as they will become.
The noise will be made next year baring any key injuries. The 2009 losses to end the season should still be fresh and just as humiliating to real fans that are witnessing the transition since.
Let's not forget the master plan would have had Philly playing the role of Arizona this year, had we keep Kevin Kolb.
— Dexter - Javic, exactly who, or which teams in the NFL, are standing in line to hire or interview Mora? How many years has it been since he's hung up the head phones in Atlanta?
Mora isn't fit to bring alone quarterbacks. Name one he's developed.
The other point about the blitz for some of you who have obviously not ran a route in your life. Three or Five Steps don't matter if the receivers in the route don't cut off their primary routes when they recognize a blitz to provide the quarterback some option other than trying to extend a play until some opening is available.
Tony Dungy on Sunday night clearly in the pre game show on NBC pointed this out for the nation to see.
What was different against Dallas is that both Maclin and Jackson were running shorter routes in anticipation of the Dallas blitz, henchforth, the Maclin slant worked perfectly, and the Maclin screen check down was brilliant.
Receivers making adjustments happens once they become familiar with defenses that only experience provides. Maclin and Jackson are still very young and inexperienced receivers. Next year both Maclin and Jackson are going to be miles better than ever.
— Dexter - Vick? When Reid thinks it's Mike's team and let's him win the game they look like the winless Dolphins. Reid finally understands he has McCoy, Celek, Jackson, Macklin, Avant and is putting a muzzle Vick's wild and unstable antics. Just manage the game dum-dum and let your great supporting cast do what they do best. But if you are dreaming of a superbowl, forget it.— mario1239
- Too many numbers, this isn't baseball. One of the big keys Sunday night was the play of the O-Line. Give Vick time and he can pick a defense apart. Mike's biggest problem is when he is under constant pressure. He trys to do too much at times and throws balls to receivers when he should throw the ball away. If the O-Line continues to play like they did Sunday night, this offense is un-stoppable. Oh and another thing, comparing Vick today, to Mike Vick in Atlanta is just plain stupid. They are two completely different people. This is one of those rare times when a pro ball player with a huge ego, got in trouble and actually changed his life and attitude.— Craig321
- Too many numbers, this isn't baseball. One of the big keys Sunday night was the play of the O-Line. Give Vick time and he can pick a defense apart. Mike's biggest problem is when he is under constant pressure. He trys to do too much at times and throws balls to receivers when he should throw the ball away. If the O-Line continues to play like they did Sunday night, this offense is un-stoppable. Oh and another thing, comparing Vick today, to Mike Vick in Atlanta is just plain stupid. They are two completely different people. This is one of those rare times when a pro ball player with a huge ego, got in trouble and actually changed his life and attitude.— Craig321
- I'm not convinced Vick would have been the difference in the Eagles winning SBs under Zeru's hypothetical scenario. So far the evidence is Vick turns the ball over too much. Say what you want about McNabb but her rarely turned it over. If Vick can keep turnovers reasonable from here on out I like our chances in every game.— Mike in LA
- One game and everyone is putting Vick in the Football Hall of Fame. And once again, after a great game, Reid is a genius and quarterback maker - although he could teach McNabb to throw an accurate screen pass.— ej610
- It was nothing more than a horrible game plan by Dallas DC Ryan. He rushed 3 or 4 the whole game...never sending linebackers. Vick's troubles come when he is under pressure and needs to think quickly. Ryan let him off the hook.— Carlos2
- AR and MM mixed in timely screens and draws to frustrate RR's blitz strategy and keep the boys' D off balance. The interior OL's blocking techniques have improved (cutting down DLinemen) giving the shorter MV passing lanes more often to hit Avant and Celek over the middle. Let's hope we can keep it up against a Bears team which will have a few more cans of film to use in devising a strategy to counteract AR's schemes.— barrywil
- Zeru I couldn't have said it better man u had go watch the actual games to know this stuff as I did. I remember Vick used to check the defense before the snap and just shake his head in frustration knowing the play would not work. He complained about not being able to check off and be in more passing situations the next game he played the steelers and threw his career high at the time 4 touchdowns! Priceless lol! Jim Mora was joke and was starting believe Andy Reid was a joke but he is convincing me that he is stating to get it.— shaad
- Interesting points, Zeru. Vick's accuracy is very good and the coaching is here is very good, too. I think both Vick and Reid have learned some valuable lessons over the years and it's showing on the field. As for McNabb, I think he was done a disservice here. While McNabb was taught to be an effective QB in the West Coast offense, Reid never took full advantage of the great running backs we had here during the McNabb years. Imagine if we would've leaned on Duce or Westbrook in the same way we are now leaning on Shady. We wouldn't have had to be as frustrated by McNabb's accuracy problems or the predictable nature of our offense. We would've had a balanced attack to keep foes off balance, and we might have even had a Super Bowl or two. Remember that playoff game when Duce was on the sideline next to Reid, leaning on his helmet and looking at the coach like, "Please put me in the game," as the clock wound down on yet another heartbreaking playoff loss? I do. Duce was off to Pittsburgh the next year.— kingsolomonsmind
- If you replace Mcnabb with Vick on that 1999 NFL draft day.. The Eagles would have at least 2 superbowl wins and Vick would have hall of fame numbers right now. We'd be talking about him being one of the greatest qb's of all time.— Zeru
- Whats pitiful is that Jim Mora had a talent like Vick and never ran a conventional offense. Vick got bored with that run and make the best of every play offense they were encouraging in Atlanta and now he has a coach who is willing to teach him the in's and outs of the qb position. Better wording he has a coach who is CAPABLE of teaching him the ins and outs of the Qb position.
Non-sensible/ Jasvic park / ribs / Thugnificent / 2ndNdumb.. Vick didnt learn the Qb position in Atlanta because Mora was unable to teach him. The quality of coach he was is reflected in his overall record without Vick and his overall record in the nfl and his employment opportunites since then. Here is a history lesson for you. When Dan Reeves had Vick he was on his way to being a superstar. Atlanta fired Reeves after that playoff run and hired Jim Mora with Gregg Knapp. After only one year Vick questioned the offense's qb'ing style and openly wondered why the offense didnt have more short to intermediate passes since was supposed to be a version of the west coast offense. He complained about it for years because he was getting hurt as Atlanta's Qb/Rb duel. Atlanta's entire offense was running the ball with Dunn and Vick and throwing a checkdown to Alge Crumpler. Vick complained about the offense constantly and they still sent him out there to freestyle a run instead of teaching him the fine arts of Qbing. Vick finally has a coach with the belief in him as a passer and Vick is without a doubt the most accurate Qb I've ever seen in a Eagles uniform bar none. Now I taught you something. Glad I could help.— Zeru - That's called revisionist history. Coaching means nothing if the player isn't willing to learn. Vick has literally come out and said he wishes he worked harder in Atlanta, this is a known fact he didn't put the effort in he should have.
I don't disagree that the teachers he had in Atlanta were not as good as he has now, but he didn't take advantage of what he even had then. It took prison to turn him around, and now he's taking full advantage of it.
Now hopefully YOU learned something. It's like you're the Atlanta coaches and I'm the Eagles.— jasvic - Sheil, wasn't that "almost interception" due to contact beyond 5 yards of the line of scrimmage?— borntosuffer
- Blessed8251 no one said anything about his footwork so why dont you read the post before you comment on it. Blessed8251=Jacka&&.— nonshad
- Not as much as nonshad=ignorant Jacka&&, this would included all of your comments combined. — charmaine
- it may be pitiful, but it was well known that Vick was signing with the Eagles so he could be taught how to be a quarterback.— reb
- This comment has been deleted. — Thugbuster
- Vick knew how to look for a reciver and RUN if his first option wasn't open before he came here. He is clearly and obviously now transformed into a real QB who makes his reads and runs as a last resort (or on called QB run plays). Btw your avatar looks stupid. — KannonWired965
- No, he didn't, and he's pretty much admitted as much. In Atlanta he didn't put in the effort and relied solely on his athleticism, and it showed. He was an amazing talent, but bad QB. Now in Philly he's putting in the effort and learning the position, and guess what, it shows. Now he's an amazing talent that also a good QB, which will make him deadly. It's not "hating" to point out facts and the obvious. If anything, it's giving him credit for turning himself around, so relax. — jasvic
- A fine win but getting excited that Vick, at 9 years in, is finally learning to read a D and change at the line is pitiful.— 2ndNlong
- Yes I talking about the great white-hype Kolb go cheer him on fool — Blessed8251
- Another ignorant comment by some trash who maybe should have packed his bags and moved his trailer to Arizona, he can't read coverage and is still working on his footwork, Really, I wonder what team you qb moron. Stop watching there is always Tebow — Blessed8251
- They need to stay committed to the run game to help Vick be effective. Vick is a good passer but not at the level of a Drew Brees or Aarons Rodgers.— soulman386
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