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Vick's heroics: We never saw it coming

HERE'S WHAT Redskins linebacker London Fletcher said to the Washington Post Monday night about Michael Vick: "If he's not , I don't know who is."

Michael Vick was named the NFC offensive player of the week for the second consecutive week. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)
Michael Vick was named the NFC offensive player of the week for the second consecutive week. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)Read more

HERE'S WHAT Redskins linebacker London Fletcher said to the Washington Post Monday night about Michael Vick: "If he's not (the best player in the league), I don't know who is."

The Hall of Fame confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that it has requested and expects to receive Vick's jersey from Monday night's record-setting, 59-28 Eagles victory over the Redskins.

Have to say, didn't really see this coming, certainly not in 2009 when Vick stepped out of his prison jumpsuit and completed just six of 13 passes as a totally out-of-leftfield Eagles character reclamation project. In fact, I thought he was a pointless distraction.

Still didn't see it coming, less than 3 months ago, when Vick completed one of five passes with two interceptions in a miserable preseason loss at Cincinnati, Aug. 20.

Wondered if Andy Reid had lost his mind when he abruptly switched from a concussed Kevin Kolb to Vick less than 2 months ago, following the second game of the season, in which Vick had played well.

Still wasn't sure such a huge reversal of field was completely necessary last month, as Kolb was leading the Eagles to wins over the 49ers and the Falcons, looking like a budding Pro Bowler in his own right, while Vick recovered from rib-cartilage tears.

Now, however, I finally get it, keen observer that I am.

The pie-in-the-sky that offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg mused about when the Eagles brought Vick out of purgatory - what if you could take this guy, maybe the best athlete who ever played the position, and instill the mind-set and the footwork and the vision that was missing all those years in Atlanta? - well, the pie is no longer in the sky, it is sitting on the table right in front of them, fresh from the oven. (Insert Andy Reid joke here.) Now, the Eagles have something nobody else has. Consequently, this is not at all the season we envisioned. Suddenly, everything is possible.

Fletcher said Monday night's Vick was nothing like the Falcons quarterback he used to face, when Fletcher played for the Rams.

"He always could run, but now, nobody else has a weapon like him in the National Football League . . . He's got my MVP vote. I don't have one, but if I did he definitely would have it because of his ability to extend plays," Fletcher said.

Reid said last night after his radio show that he could see at Lehigh this summer Vick was all the way back physically. Still, nobody came away from a preseason game or practice convinced that the Eagles simply had to start Vick, or that he was an MVP candidate.

"I think really what it was was putting together back-to-back-to-back plays," Reid said. "Getting back into the rhythm of the game. I thought that was the last step he needed."

Remember how we used to fret that running Vick onto the field for a snap here or there was keeping Kolb (or last year, Donovan McNabb) from really getting into sync? Guess the reverse was also true.

"All of a sudden he was able to get back in the swing of managing the game, playing the game," Reid said.

It's interesting to ponder whether Vick would ever have gotten into that swing if Kolb hadn't been slammed to the turf in the opener by Packers linebacker Clay Matthews.

Physical conditioning and timing weren't the only factors at play. The other part was getting Vick, at age 30, to set up differently and to see the game differently than he did when he was the league's most exciting player (but definitely not its most effective QB) in Atlanta.

Reid credited Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach James Urban there, but more than them, he credited Vick. When Tim Tebow talked of changing his passing motion last spring, some observers scoffed and doubted the change would hold up under pressure. Tebow was 22.

How often does a veteran pro - a successful veteran pro - change what Reid calls the throwing "platform'' the way Vick has transformed his?

"I think it's unique," Reid said. "Now, listen, he didn't have to learn French in a day. He just had to learn small things - he needed to learn where to place the verbs. Building a consistent platform to throw from, that was the No. 1 thing. And then, being able to take that platform and move subtly in the pocket, and still throw with accuracy and velocity."

It can't be as simple as Vick is making it look.

"It looks like Mike's out there playing a video game, really," Eagles tight end Brent Celek said last night on Comcast SportsNet's "Daily News Live."

"I didn't know Mike before. All I know is him now, and he's a hard worker," Celek said. "He wants to be great. He wants to be the best player in the NFL. He's working toward that, and it's showing in games."

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.

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http://twitter.com/LesBowen.