Vick: Bears' deep safeties surprised us
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
Vick: Bears' deep safeties surprised us
Daily News staff
The Chicago Bears limited the Eagles big plays down the field, in part by playing their safeties much deeper than the Eagles anticipated, quarterback Michael Vick said.
"I've never seen them play that deep.," Vick said on his weekly radio show on ESPN Radio 94.1 in Virginia Beach. "That was very surprising to us. If we would have game-planned for that, we would have had a good strategy to take advantage of that. We still had a good game plan and we still put ourselves in position to go up in the football game. We just didn't capitalize."
The Bears also tried to limit Vick's opportunity to run and when he did run force him to move to his right.
"I was still able to get outside of the pocket and stick in the pocket and make plays when I needed to," Vick said. " I'm going to go out and play my game and not try to change a thing and let the game come to me."
Overall, Vick said, "They are going to make you beat them ... They did a good job in forcing us to check the ball down and take away our deep passes. They had a good overall game plan. I think we had a chance to ice the game at times, especially down at the goal line when I threw that interception."
Other subjects that Vick addressed with host Tony Mercurio:
* On the short turnaround until Thursday night's game: "I have a mixed feelings about it. I am happy that we can get this game out of our memory banks and have an opportunity to get back on the football field again and prove to our coaches that we are capable of doing everything that they ask of us. At the same time, you want those extra days of rest. We win this game and we'll have a nice weekend."
* On how he feels physically: "I took some shots but today is the best I felt after any game this season that I played in. I don't know what that's about, but I just have to give glory to God and be ready to move forward.
* On a postgame conversation with Julius Peppers: "He told me he enjoyed chasing me around. He hated it but he enjoyed it. It brings out the best in him. We have the utmost respect for each other."
* On Bears-Eagles being the top-rated game of the season: "I can see why. Everyody wants to see the best go head to head. That was a good game for us and obviously it was a good game for them. I am glad that I can bring that excitement to the NFL, not only myself but my team. It's a credit to the NFL."
* On being on SportsCenter: (laughing), "I'm going to have to get some stock in SportsCenter at some point in time. I'm on there enough, I can tell you that."
* On the SI cover jinx: "I got my own beliefs and superstitions and that's not one of them. But, hey, it could have jinxed me for that one game. We're going to move on and get better and think about playing a good game against the Houston Texans."
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His surprise at their safeties is honest, but that sort of thing is something an offensive coordinator should be able to adapt to on the second series. There are plays in the playbook to be dialed up for various kinds of defenses.— tacklinjoe
Reid went into deer-in-the-headlights mode when he saw the deep safeties. Any other decent game-day coach would have had a field day.- Hmmm, deep safeties seems designed to be picked apart by a "west coast offense" scheme. I guess we really don't have that in Philly, nor do we have have very reactive offensive coaching minds.
— Bazalite - The jints put in the "force Vick to the right" defense. Chicago added the deep safety wrinkle. And both games, the coaches don't make changes. What will Houston add that will dumbfound the coaches this week?— P Even
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- It's a Cover-2 defense. The safeties are suppose to be deep and take away the big play. Why was that a surprise?— RockStar
- rockstar
b/c they were 30 yds off the ball. thats why— Iggles21 - If Andy Reid would just run the ball more to expose the cover 2 this game would've been an easy win. running the ball would make the safeties come down or drop the linebackers out of coverage. Easy pickings for Vick if the Eagles would rely more on the run. Coaching has to step-up especially since the Eagles weaknesses have been televised.— Don_the_Hun
- Where I come from (here!), that's called being out-coached!! First with the initial scheme, followed by a lack of an adjustment by our offensive coaches. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! RUN THE BALL! THROW MORE SCREENS! GASH 'EM! RUN A FEW DESIGNED VICK RUNS! FORCE THE SAFETIES TO COME UP CLOSER TO THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE!— 5NOT4
- Yea it's simple run the dam ball. You have a couple of great running backs use them. You are not going to win every game with deep passes. You will win them with a decent run game, which we actually have but won't use. They better use it Thursday night or this game will get ugly fast. The texans are holding on by their fingernails and have to horses on offense to take it to us...FLY EAGLES FLY!!— piercit
- didn't we hear this in the 1st redskins game - that their safeties played deep which was why we couldn't throw the ball down the field(funny, it didn't work well in the 2nd game)? Ergo, play your safeties deep and stop the eagles offense. Seems a bit simplistic.— figgypop
- Yeah Vick Just like you surprised all those dogs.... Worthless thug.— Calabrese10
- Perspective is a good thing. We outplayed them in almost every stat category. Sadly score wasn't one of them. We've been in every game and with a few breaks could have won all 4 losses. This is from a team that has had lots of injuries, fill in replacements and had to shuffle nearly every facet of its game. Lighten up folks. This is a team with very good talent and an excellent future.— jjthree
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