Some of you who read it questioned what the purpose was
behind our dissection of Michael Vick’s supposedly MVP-caliber season in 2010.
That was over two years ago, and a fair number of you believe as I do it’s a
foregone conclusion Vick won’t be on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster for much
longer anyway.
Only it’s not a foregone conclusion for many others, fans
and members of the media alike. Some see Vick as the best option under center
for the Eagles in 2013. Even more think he would be a perfect fit in Chip
Kelly’s spread offense in particular. I almost have to laugh, but this is
serious… there is actually a belief being perpetuated that Kelly could squeeze
the last of the good years out of Vick.
And I’ve got to ask: what good years, when?
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Was 2010 really a good year, or was it two memorable games
and an easy redemption story for sports writers? Decide for yourself, but I
suggest you at least take the plunge and have a closer look. 10-6 and the
decisive interception in a first-round playoff exit isn’t exactly the type of
season we celebrate around here, and without a few fortunate bounces, the
Eagles aren’t even in the tournament at all.
There are some who would disagree with that assessment, who
would discount that luck was involved even though his 1.6% interception rate
was more than a full-point below his career average, and nearly half of what it was
during his stint in Atlanta. Those are probably many of the same folks who
remember all those “good years” Vick had with the Falcons.
It’s funny what a player’s popularity can cause people to
forget – and just so there is no ambiguity, I’m talking specifically about on
the field. Before Vick went away, his act was already wearing thin in Atlanta,
the hype surrounding the “most dynamic athlete to ever play the position”
finally dying down. They had just missed the postseason in back-to-back years, while Vick actually managed to regress in his development as a passer.
In six seasons with the Falcons, Vick had a disappointing
75.7 passer rating, a statistic that measures the efficiency of passes
attempted. Sure, he ran for 3,859 yards and 21 touchdowns, and that ability
often kept the offense afloat. Overall the offense was erratic though, with the
tendency to vanish whenever defenses were able to be confine Vick to inside the
pocket.
News
That rating was largely a product of an embarrassing
Tebow-esque 53.8 completion percentage, and a mediocre 71 touchdowns to 52
interceptions. Plus, that speaks nothing to an astounding 9.8% sack rate – an
average of 6.2 yards were lost on one of almost every 10 dropbacks – and 52
fumbles.
Again, this is all over six seasons, of which only two of
them the Falcons made the playoffs not surprisingly. Yeah, they reached the NFC
Championship game one of those years, where they got smacked down by the Eagles
of course, because by pro-football quarterbacking standards, Vick simply wasn’t
able to compete on that stage.
This is an athlete who became famous more for his prowess in
Madden Football than his physical accomplishments on the gridiron. He rose to
prominence because ESPN could package his breathtaking runs and Houdini escapes
to popular music, and as long as the Falcons occasionally won on Sunday, no one
cared or noticed they were only marveling at the sideshow to Tom Brady’s
circus.
Vick has improved quite a bit since coming to Philadelphia.
After four seasons, his completion percentage is up to a respectable 60.1, his
sack rate down to a more manageable 6.8. Neither number is very good, but they
do demonstrate that Vick has finally progressed in some measureable way as a
quarterback.
The problem for the Eagles however, or any franchise that
might be tempted to view Vick as a short-term solution, is that a) it still
wasn’t good enough, not by a long shot, and b) there are aspects of his game
that are beyond repair.
It’s too late for a 33-year-old Vick to become a
quick, sound decision-maker with the football. There are too many bad habits there,
whether it’s because he’s behind the curve on reading opposing defenses, or
because he’s so used to being able to buy extra time with his feet. Whatever
the case may be, the more he slows down from age and injuries, the more the
game becomes much too fast for him.
All of which is to say renegotiating Vick’s contract if he
were to suddenly change his attitude on that front – and given nobody in the NFL is going to pay
him $15.5 million next season, he might – would be a foolish mistake for the
Eagles to make, Chip Kelly or no. It was a mistake to ever go with Vick in the
first place.
They would have been better off seeing what Kevin Kolb could
have done over the long haul, or if they were just going to abandon that ship at the first sign of a choppy wave,
doubling down on Donovan McNabb. But now that we’ve gone down this road, give
me practically any of the other options. Is Nick Foles going to be a star
quarterback in this league? Probably not, but I don’t know, and that alone
makes him a more attractive choice.
Play Foles, trade for Alex Smith, draft another quarterback.
Just don’t waste another year trying to salvage Vick. There’s no denying he has
the pure talent, and we get to occasionally see glimmers of it, like the time he
authored his defining performance in Washington on Monday Night Football, or during a miracle comeback
like that one cold afternoon in the Meadowlands.
Vick has proven time and time again that he is unable to
sustain that level of play for any meaningful length of time however, which will always make him a poor choice to quarterback your football team – or any
football team for that matter.
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
