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Vick vs. Manning a matchup of top draft picks

Before Michael Vick had even thrown an NFL pass, there was the Powerade commercial that cleverly depicted him throwing a football so far that it left the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Michael Vick will start this Sunday against the Colts. (Yong Kim / Staff Photographer)
Michael Vick will start this Sunday against the Colts. (Yong Kim / Staff Photographer)Read more

Before Michael Vick had even thrown an NFL pass, there was the Powerade commercial that cleverly depicted him throwing a football so far that it left the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Such is the life of a No. 1 overall NFL draft pick: Hype exceeds reality.

When Vick returns from an injury-induced, monthlong layoff on Sunday, his counterpart will also be a member of the top-draft-pick fraternity. But Peyton Manning, unlike Vick, has delivered upon the burdensome expectations of being a quarterback selected first.

Since the inaugural NFL draft in 1936, 28 quarterbacks have been drafted first overall. And while a meeting between two from this group is not rare - it actually happened earlier this season when the Brothers Manning faced off - the Eagles-Colts game on Sunday is notable for reasons beyond Vick's and Manning's pedigrees.

Aside from their draft positions, the two quarterbacks couldn't be more different. Manning is your prototypical pocket passer, a type-A personality who throws with surgeon-like precision. Vick is Mr. Dual Threat, with the confident coolness to burn you with either his fleet feet or his cannon-like arm.

They met only once before - six years ago - and the result was a disaster for Vick. But the "new" Vick is not the same as the "old" Vick. He's hoping to measure himself against "the best quarterback in the game," as he called Manning, and in the process take another step to fulfilling the hype from all those years ago.

"This is what it's all about," Vick said last week. "You've got to play against the best, and you've got to want to be the best, so it's going to be a great matchup, very intriguing."

Of the 28 No. 1 quarterbacks, Manning (first in 1998) would have to go to the top of the class, along with John Elway and Terry Bradshaw. Vick (2001), however, would have to be placed next to Jeff George - not a complete bust like Tim Couch but a quarterback who fell shy of expectations.

Vick, though, still has time to change that standing.

In their 2003 meeting, Manning's Colts pounded Vick's Falcons, 38-7. Manning was nearly flawless, completing 25 of 30 passes for 290 yards, five touchdowns, and zero interceptions for a 146.5 passer rating. Vick, meanwhile, had one of the worst starts of his career: 6 of 19 for 47 yards, one interception, no touchdowns, and a minuscule 19.0 passer rating.

But that was then - pre-incarceration - and this is now - post-Andy Reid/Marty Mornhinweg instruction. So while Manning is as good as ever, Vick is a more-disciplined quarterback who still has the ability to extend a play with his athleticism and elusiveness.

"You may have a No. 1 read on a route to where a backside guy may not think he's getting the ball," Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said. "But with Vick back there you can never take a play off."

If this were a month ago, before Vick banged up his ribs, the Colts would be facing a quarterback as hot as any in the league. But now there's the rust factor. There's also the way in which Vick was injured.

In his first two starts, Vick mostly ran only when necessary, which was fairly often considering the Eagles' porous offensive line. But Reid and Mornhinweg encouraged their quarterback to run more often and to not abandon what makes him so hard to defend.

But Vick was taking "unnecessary shots," as he called them, and the final one - when he was sandwiched by two Redskins during a scramble that ended just shy of the goal line - knocked him out.

"There's a time and a place where you can slide and get down," Reid said. "But it's not going to affect his game at all. That's how he plays."

Even though the offense must readjust to Vick after Kevin Kolb took the reins for three games, the Eagles don't plan on baby-stepping back into a game plan with Vick at the controls.

"We turn him loose," Mornhinweg said. "You can't play any other way."

But, for the first time this season, Vick will face a pass defense that is not ranked in the bottom half of the league. The Colts are seventh but may be without cornerback Jerraud Powers and definitely minus safety Bob Sanders.

That could make the Indianapolis secondary ripe for Vick's picking, especially on deep passes. Vick has always had one of the strongest arms in the game. Last week during practice, he effortlessly flicked a bomb about 60 yards in the air at the Eagles' indoor facility.

Asked afterward if that was a full-strength throw, Vick gave a reporter a chiding look.

"I can't give it my all in there because I'm afraid [the receiver] might run through the wall," Vick said.

His longest throw, Vick said, came when he was at Virginia Tech. The coaches, after watching the film, measured it out at 81 yards.

That's not as far as trick photography made it seem Vick threw in that old commercial. But maybe hype isn't that far from reality.