I believe that teams have found a way to limit his effectiveness. They just keep hitting him every chance they get. After 4 or 5 games, he is just an ordinary quarterback. Andy needs to get an extremely competent backup if he wants to get to the playoffs this season.

I agree completely. Vick needs to avoid hits in regular season games. He needs to save his running for important late-season games and the postseason. Since it's still likely he'll miss a couple games, backup QB is very important. I think Kafka will beat out Trent Edwards and I think they can win with Kafka in there. Foles will be an understudy.

Well said. Only time will tell, but hopefully the backup QB situation isn't a factor and Vick can play smart enough to stay healthy this season. Realistically though, the Eagles should have a backup QB that can play above and beyond the level of an "average" QB in case Vick is injured early in the season. Is Kafka or Edwards capable of leading a team to the playoffs and the Superbowl? It'd be a great story but I extremely doubt it. Go Birds!

As long as the defense improves, the birds will be fine. I think some of vick's turnovers were due to tipped passes and just bad luck. But in many of those cases, if our defense had a clue, many of our turnovers would not have been as costly. This article should be titled, "eagles go as defense goes."

Porter, I agree that the NFL has adjusted. However, the way he played in 2010 was, like you said, attributable as much to his passing touch as to his unique style. If he can get that back, he won't have to run as much, won't take as much punishment and the offense will hum. Up to the coaches to get him back there.

With Peters out (yes they got Bell but he's not Peters) I expect Vick to be on the ground more. Sincerely
JPP

Have to compliment you on Phil McConkey. Losing Peters hurts, but Bell is solid. Also, since Vick is left-handed, the left tackle isn't on his blind side. Herremans will be protecting that like a brick wall.

Losing peters could have the greatest impact on Shady...

Mike Vick has regressed not only in his play but also in his humility. He claims responsibility for his part in last year's debacle then bristles at questions about what changes he plans to make in order to better protect the football going forward. I admire Vick's resilience and the composure he displayed during last year's tumultuous season but his rhetoric is starting to sound eerily similar to another dazzling talent from Newport News who used to rule the hardwood named Bubba Chuck. I wanna believe, but it's going to take a lot more than words of bravado to convince me. Prove it.

If we can get a guy like Colt McCoy for a late round pick that would ease my concerns somewhat. He's not that great, but he's been a leader of a big-time team at Texas and he's been the starter in the NFL.

Don't see it with Kafka, don't want it with a guy who thinks he's a star on the bench like Vince Young.

The only thing good about Colt McCoy is his name. He has developed a strange, cult following seemingly composed of fellow undersized people featuring toddler-sized hands. Trent Edwards was brought in to push Kafka who has proven to be, at the very least, competent. Foles appears to possess all the physical tools necessary to be a successful quarterback and will be force-fed into rapid development as the current NFL trend of forcing diaper donning qbs into duty continues. Go Birds!

I don't think McCoy's useless, I just don't think he's appreciably better than Kafka. Obviously, McCoy hasn't impressed Holmgren that much in Cleveland. So, I think he'll probably be a competent backup in the NFL, but he can do it in Cleveland and we can roll with Kafka and be better off just because he's already here.

I say let Vick go out and play his game but Andy should be ready to pull him if he doesn't protect the ball. He's got to or the Eagles are going to loose. I also think if we could get McCoy cheap, we need to. I like what I see in McCoy.

I hope Vick realizes he does not have to be THE man and that he needs to rely on his teammates. Shady is a monster, and look for D-Jax to bounce back. Maclin will be healthy from the get go. If Vick understands that those guys have equal share in moving the ball maybe he won't throw as many picks or fumble as often. As you said, turnover margin is critical.

You’re giving Kafka too much credit…he’s terrible, and they know it. Which is why they drafted and signed a veteran backup....HOLN

You guys just need to ask yourself "Are these back up QB's as good as Jeff Hostettler?" He was a backup that won a Superbowl

Great point on Brady. Poor point on misspelled Hoss. That's so rare that we should just figure if Vick goes down for the year, we're done. If he goes out for a few games, we need a backup who can allow the Eagles to survive that stretch- they had that in 2010, not in 2011. More focus needs to be on Vick for now, not who the backup might be.

What was the first health-related issue Reid had? Far as his stability if he loses Vick. Hate to tell you, any coach who loses his starting QB for a long time gets a PASS!

Porter: Jeff loves Andy because he keeps fans coming to the games which makes Jeff money.
Porter: Even if no fans come to the game, Jeff makes the same money.
Huh?

Great article, nice job!

You can't look at a team and say their current QB won't make the HOF so they won't win a Superbowl- too much unknown info. If Vick were to win a Superbowl, he would make the HOF, but it's immaterial because it's unknown. You have to let it play out.

Not sure that Kurt Warner was starter from Day1 that year, but I think you're right.
Kurt Warner is a Hall of Famer HANDS DOWN!

One of many tear-filled Vermeil pressers. I think the Warner season in question was 2008 with the Cards, but I could be wrong.
You're right, no NFL owner can really go in the red from owning a franchise.

They can't "opt-out" of the contract, but they gave themselves an obvious out after 2 years. I believe because the "signing bonus" is converted to a roster bonus from the 3rd year forward, meaning if they didn't want to pay it they could cut him with no negative cap repercussions.

This season will definitely all come down to Mike Vick. The defense has improved immensely and will be solid, if not spectacular. They're not going to lose five 4th quarter leads again so a lot of these games are going to rely on the arms and legs (and health) of Vick. He'll never learn to slide. He can say whatever he wants about being smarter but when he's in the moment he'll always go for that extra yardage. Let's just hope none of his injuries (because he will get hurt) are season threatening. I think if he misses 3 or less games then the Birds are back in the playoffs.

I agree with EVERY point you made. He will get dinged, but if it's relatively minor like the last 2 seasons have been- about 3 games each- they should be able to weather that storm. However, we tend to forget that last season, he missed the end of the Atlanta game and the end of the Giants game- both of which were losses and probably would not have been had he been in there. As always, we'll see...

I don't trust Vick to be smart enough to protect either the ball or himself from injury. Yet another reason to establish the run - get the ball out of his hands.

I agree with Reed Rothchild concerning the gross negligence Andy and the front office will be guilty of if Vick goes down and they don't have a legitimate Plan B. Everyone knows he will miss games, the question is how many. As evidenced last year, the difference between one win and one loss determines your ultimate fate more often than not. In today's NFL, preparation for worst case scenario is a requirement not a luxury. There are NO free passes! Just ask all the former employees of last year's Colts organization. Go Birds!

You're right, but I'm not going to accuse them of "gross negligence" before it even happens. If they judge that whomever ends up as their backup can win a few games, they'll be held responsible for that when the time comes. If he can, they should be lauded. If he can't, like you said, 1 game often makes the difference, and they'll be crucified. But we're not there yet.

Great point about how teams figured out and adapted to Vick. It is alarming how quickly he went from as you said "miraculous" to "pedestrian." Thanks for the article, can't wait to check out the next one.

All about getting him back to what we saw in 2010. Big Red has to figure out how to adjust to the adjustments.