No excuses for Vick in 2012
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No excuses for Vick in 2012
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
The Eagles and Evan Mathis agreed Saturday to a five-year deal, meaning the offensive line will have all five of its starters back next season.
From 2010 to 2011, only one Eagles lineman, Jason Peters, returned to play the same position. Todd Herremans was also a carryover, but he of course moved from left guard to right tackle.
Peters was an All-Pro. Mathis put together a solid, consistent season after starting only 22 games in his first six years in the league. And Herremans was a nice fit at right tackle.
The jury is still out on the two rookies. Jason Kelce improved as the season went on, but there's still plenty of work to do. And Danny Watkins had more issues in pass protection than any other lineman. He faces an important offseason working with Howard Mudd.
But this unit has a chance to be a real strength next season. Mudd had to implement his system during a shortened offseason. Herremans spent most of training camp practicing at left guard. And Watkins got a late start, spending the first four weeks on the sideline. It's reasonable to expect this group to be much improved in 2012.
Barring injuries, Michael Vick will be protected. He'll also have a running back in LeSean McCoy, who piled up 1,309 yards, averaged 4.8 yards per carry and led the league with 14 runs of 20+ yards. At wide receiver, Vick will have a happy DeSean Jackson and a healthy Jeremy Maclin. That was not the case last year when Jackson was being paid $600,000, and Maclin was dealing with a virus that took months to diagnose.
He'll also have a tight end in Brent Celek, who averaged nearly 70 yards per game in the final 10.
There's no lockout to worry about. Only some new limitations on how closely coaches are allowed to work with players prior to May 1. Vick will get his first full offseason as a starting quarterback since 2006.
All those factors mean there are no excuses for him not to deliver the best season of his NFL career. The pieces are in place around him. Vick got a new contract in 2011, and he turns 32 in June. His completion percentage went from 62.6 in 2010 to 59.8 in 2011, and his yards per attempt fell from 8.1 to 7.8. Not huge dips in production, but dips nonetheless.
The interception issues have been well-documented. In 2010, he was picked off once every 62 attempts. In 2011, it was once every 30.2 attempts.
Football Outsiders did a great job of digging deeper into those numbers, using a metric called adjusted interception rate. They took into account interceptions that were dropped by defensive players, interceptions that were the result of drops or tips by wide receivers and interceptions on Hail Marys or desperation throws late in the fourth quarter.
They found that defensive players dropped six potential interceptions against Vick. He had one Hail Mary pick and another ball that was the receiver's fault. That brought Vick's adjusted interception total up to 18 and his adjusted interception rate (interceptions divided by pass attempts) up to 4.3 percent.
Here's how Vick's rate compared to some of the league's top quarterbacks:
| QB | INT RATE |
| Aaron Rodgers | 0.8% |
| Tom Brady | 2.5% |
| Drew Brees | 2.6% |
| Eli Manning | 2.9% |
| Michael Vick | 4.3% |
Of the 34 quarterback who attempted at least 200 passes, Vick finished 26th in adjusted interception rate.
Is it all on Vick? Of course not. Jackson, Celek and McCoy combined for 19 drops last season, according to STATS.com. Four of Jackson's drops came on balls that traveled 20 yards or more from the line of scrimmage, per Pro Football Focus. Catches would have significantly impacted Vick's yards per attempt number.
We all know the defense has question marks. And on special teams, the Eagles got nothing from their return game.
The offense, meanwhile, ranked eighth, according to Football Outsiders' numbers. And the Birds averaged 24.8 points per game, which also ranked eighth.
But with the moves the Eagles have made in re-signing Mathis and extending Jackson, the pressure is on Vick to take the next step in his development and help carry this offense into one of the league's elite.
If it doesn't happen for him in 2012, chances are it's never going to happen.
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I will agree on your point Sheil, about Mudd having to get a line integrated into a different system on short notice, but overall it does not fully wash. The line I think will be better this year, but it only goes so far if: 1) Vick does not discipline himself to remain the pocket longer, 2) does not force the ball constantly, 3) Reid does not permit more running plays.
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Vick remains a question mark to me, because of his play last year. He reminded me of someone who still thinks he's playing at Virginia Tech. Sure, he's a great athlete and a playmaker, but he can't make plays when he's injured.
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I'm sure there will be plenty of excuses to go around if the Eagles stumble out of the gate. Reid will say his usual, Vick will say his usual, and that'll be that.— MidStaterUXB- Based on the fact that Eli Manning threw a whopping 25 picks last season, I'm hopeful that Vick steps up, but it's definitely now or never.
- @midstaterUXB what are u talking about him playing like he's back at v tech he got hurt I'n the pocket 3 times this year so the he gotta stop running so much arguement is a hoax stop listening to the main stream for your opinion and watch the game and analyze it yourself. I mean tell me what Vick is supposed to do to stay healthy if all his injuries came from while he was I'n the pocket (atl game, giants game, and cardinals game all I'n the pocket)— shaad
- Ummm...the Atl game injury was him trying to run in a TD through two colliding defenders. All he had to do was slide at the 2 and let Shady do the rest, as every good QB would do in that situation. The Giants injury was him holding onto the ball too long and then Canty nailed him very late (and we got no flag). As for the Cardinals injury, I remember there were some questions as to when it actually occurred. The team called a press conference to say it was early in the game, but the players said it was much later (before they knew what the company line was). But IF it happened when the team said it did, then, yes, that one was due to poor protection. So of the 3 injuries, 2 of them were Vick's fault, one the O-line. I don't know what you're analyzing...
- You have a very poor memory, Bobby. Reid absolutely refused to give Shady the ball in the red zone until 10 games into the season.
- This is Sheil's memorial to Kevin Kolb his man crush. Symbolically sending the message. I may forgive ( Being traded to Cardinal's for a King's ransom) but I'll never forget. (While "Open Arms" by Journey plays in the background).— Zeru
- Yeah, Sheil swore Kolb was the man. It was Kolb this and Kolb that. Now, you can't even get him to mention Kolb's name.
Not only can't Kolb play, but he's both scared and injury prone.
Despite being "handed" two starting jobs and millions of dollars, Kolb's played only 10 games in 5 years. - There will be plenty of excuses for Vick, just like there was for McNabb. Many of us knew years ago that McNabb was not a superstar...same with Vick. A few exciting plays misleads the uninformed for years.— 4in5out7gone
- How much cap room do Iggles have...be great if you/another Philly writer would fill us in.— rnorth21
- http://eaglescap.com/
After that, try http://www.giyf.com/— gdibig - I agree this season will come down to Vick. If Vick can cut down on turnovers and running the ball and getting hurt the Eagles should win the NFC East.— soulman386
- The reality is the M. Vick has the same excuse that all of us have- he's just not good enough. He is no better than the 3rd best qb in the eastern conference, and if Griffen is everything everybody says he is, Vick may be the worst qb in the east. He is not a top ten qb in the NFL, and if future potential is factored in may be 15 or lower. His shortcomings are made even more obvious by playing for a coach that does not play to his strengths, and refuses to use the run as a basis for his offense.
By the way, McNabb, for the first six years of his career, was a top five qb. But unfortunately, his talent was wasted because he played fr a coach that refused to run the ball and give him talent at wide receiver. Another wasted career.
The Eagles are not a Superbowl caliber team. When things go bad this year, don't blame the players. Blame the coach.— angrybear - ssheil,he had no excuses last season,,it's the same ole same oel with mcvick and mcNabb,but when Kevin Kolb suffers a concussion he's losses his job,mark my words the BIRDS will never ever win a SB with mcVick..BOOK it!!..MV=00SBs....wolf.— wolf 4
- Fraud 4, you complain about Kolb losing two starting positions, but you fail to mention that he never "earned" either. It's time for your boyfriend Klob to get on with his life's work.
- There will always be excuses for Vick by the racists who insist he can do no wrong. He cost the team the playoffs last year and will do it again. He has more turnovers per game then anyone else who ever played the position, and has just 2 playoff victories in over a decade of football. He hurts this team more then Reid does.— Sidewinder7
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