Marcus Hayes: Vick relying on defense to help Eagles win games

RANDALL Cunningham never got it, but Rodney Peete learned.

Donovan McNabb sometimes understood.

Ty Detmer and Jeff Garcia, bless their hearts, knew it from birth.

Quarterbacks rarely win games. Often, and much more easily, they lose them.

Michael Vick, finally, is learning this.

Never before has there been a weapon like Vick. Even now, at 32, no one combines arm strength and foot speed and elusiveness. Sorry, Donovan, and Randall, and Fran Tarkenton and Steve Young.

None of them was able to win anything by himself. Each of them benefited from an outstanding defense.

Vick now has an outstanding defense. And he is letting the defense win the games.

In each of the first two games, both one-point Eagle wins, it took Vick three quarters and a dozen hits to acquiesce to this reality. He threw five interceptions in those six quarters and nearly lost those games by himself.

Vick said he learned to trust his defense for good before the loss at Arizona. Indeed, he was better; but, still, a loss.

Sunday night, Vick was excellent.

Sunday night, he deferred to the defense. Taking two fourth-quarter sacks might be his best plays of the season.

"I've been trying not to force things down the field. I take pride in protecting the ball. I've always done that," Vick said. "It's easy to pull it down."

Easy, perhaps, but not always done. Sunday night, it was done.

The defense noticed.

"They played really smart. They took care of the ball," defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. "That kept points on the board. Got us the lead back. You can't ask for more than that."

On third-and-2 from the Giants' 13, Vick rolled right, had nothing, found himself in the shadow of linebacker Chase Blackburn, tucked the ball and crumpled.

No interception. No fumble. No problem.

The Eagles were left with a short field goal that extended their lead to six points.

So, when the Giants scored on the ensuing possession, the Eagles needed only a field goal to regain the lead.

They drove 81 yards, and there they were again, inside the 2-minute warning, at the Giants' 2-yard line.

Vick rolled left, had nothing, saw Osi Umenyiora bearing down . . . and took the sack. He stayed inbounds, forced the Giants to use their final timeout, and, after another short kick, watched his team take a two-point lead that stood.

The defense, energized by his faith in them, stiffened and held.

"That third down-and-goal, Mike rolls out, and I see him slide . . . you start to hear some people booing, or whatever. I knew right away exactly what was happening," Jenkins said. "He didn't have anything, he gets down. He forces them to use their last timeout. Without that last timeout, maybe they're able to save it to the end, run another play on third down and get a little bit closer.

"Little things like that, that some people don't catch, are huge parts of the game."

How good has the defense been?

Consider: The Eagles turned the ball over 12 times in the first three games. The defense surrendered only 26 points off those turnovers.

Momentum-sucking turnovers that often flip field position, skew time of possession and exhaust the defense.

Twenty-six points.

Little wonder Vick trusts the defense to win it for him.

"It's a good feeling to be trusted," defensive end Darryl Tapp said.

Trust is earned.

The Eagles blew five fourth-quarter leads in 2011, the chief issue in a ruined season.

Don't imagine the offense didn't fret about that nonsense.

The difference so far this season: Nobody is pointing fingers from the defensive side.

"We're keeping a lot of the things we've got going on in-house," Tapp said. "Like last year. Those are the things that got us last year."

They are a different team from last year.

They subtracted Asante Samuel, a zone specialist and ballhawk who is rooted on the left side. They replaced him in the starting lineup with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who was miscast in the slot last season.

DRC's three interceptions have equaled two wins.

They subtracted safety Jarrod Page, who was benched 6 weeks into last season, and replaced him with Nate Allen, who was injured. They subtracted linebackers Casey Mathews and Brian Rolle and replaced them with veteran free agent DeMeco Ryans and rookie Mychal Kendricks.

Perhaps most significantly they added Fletcher Cox, a first-round tackle playing in place of injured starter Mike Patterson, and playing extremely well.

They added minicamps and a full training camp.

So far, it adds up to efficiency. The Eagles stand sixth in yards allowed, but first in the NFC East.

The Eagles shared the league lead with 50 sacks last season, and teams have altered their schemes to protect their quarterbacks; this season, they have seven sacks, but that just means few bodies to cover downfield.

Jason Babin, who went to the last two Pro Bowls, bookends the line with Trent Cole. Teams are terrified of them. The two averaged 1.8 sacks per game last season. They are averaging 1.0 this season.

The Eagles are 3-1. Last year, they were 1-3.

The sack numbers matter less than the win total.

"They want to be the best defense in the NFL," said Juan Castillo, embattled last season as a first-year coordinator. "The only way to be the best defense is to win a championship.

"This feels good. It will feel good . . . until Wednesday. Then, you have to prove yourself all over again."

Not to Vick.

He already believes.

Contact Marcus Hayes at hayesm@phillynews.com.

For recent columns, go to www.philly.com/MarcusHayes.