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Les Bowen: Further Review: Past time for Eagles to reinvent Vick

Here in the refined atmosphere of beat-writer world, we like to consider ourselves above the panicky overreaction of the multitudes.

As of Monday, 2012 Michael Vick was the 29th-rated passer in the NFL, at 66.3. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
As of Monday, 2012 Michael Vick was the 29th-rated passer in the NFL, at 66.3. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more

Here in the refined atmosphere of beat-writer world, we like to consider ourselves above the panicky overreaction of the multitudes.

We tsk-tsk your sweeping conclusions, your certainty that each loss exposes massive fraudulence and incompetence.

But we're three weeks into this 2012 Michael Vick thing now, and, well, dang.

Not too sure overreaction is really possible. He has been that bad.

I was flying back from Phoenix and couldn't witness the day-after news conference Monday. But I doubt there were gasps of shock when Andy Reid was asked what happens if the turnoverfest continues, and he said: "Right now we're with Michael and that's what we're doing. We'll evaluate as we go."

(Part of that evaluation, as I imagine it: "Is there any chance whatsoever we make the playoffs and I keep my job if I scrap everything and go with Nick Foles soon? Probably not, right?")

A few hours later, Reid said on his radio show: "Michael's our quarterback, period."

To recap, Vick was dreadful in Cleveland, throwing four interceptions, but he led a last-gasp touchdown drive for the win, and hey, he might have been rusty from a lack of preseason work. Then he was much better at home against the Ravens, an effort marred by a really bad interception, but again, Vick led the late winning drive, seemed headed in the right direction.

I expected Vick to play well at Arizona. I figured he'd heard enough criticism of the turnovers, questioning of his decision-making. Figured he remembered how the Cards made him look bad last year at the Linc, and would come out sharp and poised.

OK, the juggled offensive line was awful, and the wideout corps without Jeremy Maclin was much diminished. The Cards' defense was even more fearsome than advertised. But remember how Vick won the starting job from Kevin Kolb two years ago? The Eagles' offensive line was a mess. Mike McGlynn, Max Jean-Gilles and Winston Justice were starters. Part of Andy Reid's reasoning seemed to be that Vick, with his elusiveness, his ability to throw on the run and make plays with his feet, would give the

Eagles a better chance to win under those circumstances than Kolb.

I'm still not sure where the 2010 Vick went, but after watching the 2011 season and three games this season, I feel safe in declaring he isn't coming back. As of Monday, 2012 Vick was the 29th-rated passer in the NFL, at 66.3. His completion percentage of .552 was actually a few ticks below that of the Cleveland rookie, Brandon Weeden. The sooner Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg come to grips with that, the better chance they'll have of coming up with an offensive plan that might actually put points on the board, and win games.

Vick, at 32, isn't making ridiculous escapes from sure sacks for 30-yard gains anymore. He isn't hitting receivers in stride on the run. His eyes tend to be on the guys who are chasing him down.

I'm not sure what a successful offense with this version of Vick would look like. It certainly would involve more than four first-half carries for LeSean McCoy, even if, as I suspect, new center Dallas Reynolds can't run-block to save his life. I think it might be largely no-huddle, with short, crisp throws to get the QB into a rhythm, something that never happened Sunday, as Reid acknowledged Monday. It wouldn't involve Vick standing in the pocket forever, trying to process the third or fourth option and then throwing the ball late, into coverage, just as he gets clobbered. The QB who could make that setup work was Andy and Marty's Vick fantasy, built on what they saw early in 2010. It was a mirage.

During the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld famously said that you go to war with the army you have, not the army you would like to have. Andy and Marty need to craft a plan for the Vick they have, or they will be gone, and so will he.

DEVELOPING STORY LINES

- Fletcher Cox was limited to 31 of the 62 defensive snaps by what the Eagles said was a migraine. Cox tweeted Monday morning: "Wide awake, head still bangn."

- The punt return on which Damaris Johnson fumbled, he was doing an amazing job of breaking and evading tackles. Until he fumbled. And, there was a fair catch inside the 10, second week in a row. Easy to see why the coaching staff likes Johnson's potential. Harder to see how they're going to live with his mistakes.

- Disappointing day in the desert for the safeties, who had been a real pleasant surprise the first two weeks. Back to missed tackles and botched coverages.

- Whose absence was felt more profoundly this week, building a better case for a new contract, the referees or Jeremy Maclin?

- The longest Arizona scoring drive covered 55 yards, ending in a touchdown. The Eagles mounted drives of 73 and 77 yards. Fumble, field goal.

OBSCURE STAT

Michael Vick has fumbled 81 times, losing 37, in 114 NFL regular-season games. Twenty-six of those, 10 of them lost, have come in his 40 Eagles games. Vick's two lost fumbles Sunday ended drives of 50 and 73 yards.

WHO KNEW?

That Larry Fitzgerald was really, really, good? Apparently not the Eagles, who came up with a clever plan to cover him with whichever guy happened to be assigned to the area where Fitzgerald lined up.

EXTRA POINT

Had a bad feeling Sunday when I saw Jon Dorenbos down on the field after a punt; he eventually got up and limped off, but Andy Reid announced Monday that Dorenbos had suffered a high ankle sprain.

The Birds' 32-year-old long snapper has played in all 88 games since he arrived in 2006. If he's ever authored a bad snap, I don't remember it. We don't know that he won't play against the Giants - there are differing degrees of high ankle sprains, and theoretically, you can snap the ball with one, you just can't run down the field. Can you support yourself well enough to block after snapping for a field-goal try? We might be about to find out.

The Raiders lost a game recently when their long snapper went down. The Eagles have more than enough going on, without drama at their most reliable position. The backup there is Brent Celek, by the way.

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Contact Les Bowen at bowenl@phillynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @LesBowen. For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily NEws' blog at eagletarian.com.