Regarding Vick

Written on October 8, 2012 by in Eagles

Michael Vick turning the ball over. This is an all too common sight lately.

The Eagles are 3-2 and they’re tied for the division lead. We’ve gutted out 3 close wins. We lost to the Steelers by two points. Everything is good. The Eagles are 8th in yards allowed per game on defense, 10th in scoring defense, 11th in yards per game on offense and 8th in the NFL in rushing attempts. Things are going well, right?

Wrong. Oh, so wrong. What I failed to mention is that we lead the NFL in red-zone turnovers, Michael Vick is the most hit QB in the NFL, we’re the second lowest scoring offense in the league only above the Jacksonville Jaguars (!!!) and we’re once again at the bottom of the league in turnover ratio.

People who are going around saying that “We’re 3-2, we’re a-okay!” are oversimplifying things, they’ve taken things so out of focus that they’re not able to actually evaluate the team’s performance. It’s easy to say “We’re number one!’ without looking further into the problems the Eagles have. Yes, we’ve won three of five games but there are 16 games in a season and unless things start shaping up quickly, we could easily see this unfocused picture change very, very quickly. The problem(s) the Eagles have don’t appear to be being solved, it’s the same thing every single week and soon, it will come back to bite this team again just like it did Sunday.

What’s the problem? Michael Vick, otherwise known as “Mr. Turnover” (I made that up, aren’t I clever?). Since the start of last season (that’s 21 games), Michael Vick has missed 3 games and in the other 18 games he’s played in he’s turned the ball over 29 times. I repeat, Michael Vick has turned the ball over TWENTY NINE TIMES IN EIGHTEEN GAMES. In that same span he’s scored 26 times. Vick is turning the ball over more than he is scoring the ball. And just for funsies, there have been 3 QBs to take snaps for the Eagles in the past 21 games and they’ve combined for a whopping total of 40 turnovers.

  • Michael Vick has attempted 185 passes, 7th most in the league
  • Michael Vick has thrown for 1321 yards, 8th most in the league
  • Michael Vick has completed 58.5% of his passes, 24th in the league
  • Michael Vick has 7 touchdown passes, 17th best in the league
  • Michael Vick is averaging 7.1 yards per attempt, 17th worst in the league
  • Michael Vick has 6 interceptions, the 6th worst mark in the league.
  • 34.1% of Michael Vick’s passes have been for first downs, the 20th best mark in the league
  • Michael Vick has 18 passes of 20 yards or more, 10th best in the league
Michael Vick is top 10 in yards but that is simply because he’s throwing so many passes. The other stats indicate that Michael Vick is playing below average thus far. And on ProFootballFocus, Michael Vick’s accuracy percentage, deep ball accuracy, completion percentage under pressure and accuracy percentage under pressure are all in the bottom third of qualifying QBs. It just hasn’t been a good season from Michael Vick.
But a lot of problems aren’t quantified by numbers and statistics. He’s holding the ball too long. He’s not getting the ball out on time. He’s not getting the ball out accurately. He’s starting to throw off his back foot. He won’t step up in the pocket. He’s starting to get skittish and he’s focusing on the pressure. He’s just so inefficient as a QB, his game lacks basic fundamental structure despite the fact that he’s been in this league for 10 years now. It’s incredibly frustrating to watch.

http://youtu.be/ec_xUOQELSY?hd=1&t=20s
Start at the :20 second mark (I already marked it, just press play) and you’ll see a perfect example of Michael Vick holding the ball too long. He gets good protection initially but he needs to get rid of that ball. Hell, you can see Jason Avant get open at the top of your screen but Michael Vick just misses it.
http://youtu.be/ec_xUOQELSY?hd=1&t=57s
Again, Michael Vick just needs to get rid of that ball.
I hate to be that guy but with each passing week, I wonder more and more what Nick Foles has. Some fans would have you believe you were unseating Tom Brady in favor of Koy Detmer the way you here them address our QB situation but the reality is that Michael Vick isn’t play well and he isn’t even playing like a top 16 QB this year. All Nick Foles would have to do to be better is be average and hold onto the ball and I kind of want to see if he can do that. I’m not ready to pull the plug on Vick nor am I saying we should but I think we should stop pretending that Michael Vick is a star QB.
Oh and Vick is the 8th highest paid player in the entire league this year and he’s playing like this. We’ve got almost 220 million invested in Vick, McCoy, Jackson and Maclin and the only team we’re outscoring is Blaine Gabbert and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Pathetic.
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