Michael Vick's INT Similar to McNabb's Old Ways: New QB, Same Deal

The Eagles lost to the Green Bay Packers 21-16 in the wild-card round of the postseason.

Quarterback Michael Vick threw an interception in the end zone with 33 seconds remaining, eliminating any chance of an Eagles comeback and effectively ending the season for Philadelphia.

But this is nothing new for them.

Donovan McNabb has thrown his fair share of clutch interceptions with the Eagles.

However, I can’t think of one he ever threw that was as poorly timed as Vick’s today.

McNabb’s interception touchdown to Ronde Barber of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2002 NFC championship game was brutal.

But the Eagles were down 20-10 with three minutes left and would have been a long shot to win the game, even if they cut the lead to 20-17.

McNabb’s interception by Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX was horrible. It ended the Super Bowl and clinched a dynasty for the Patriots.

But the Eagles had virtually no chance to win that game. They were backed up inside of their own 10-yard line. McNabb’s throw, which bounced off the hands of tight end LJ Smith, was almost more of one of desperation.

Vick’s interception today was just horrible. There’s no way to disguise it.

First of all, the Eagles needed to go 27 yards in about 44 seconds. They had no timeouts, but they did not need to score on one play.

Vick admitted after the game that he “got greedy” and went for the game-winning touchdown instead of hitting running back LeSean McCoy for a short completion in the middle of the field.

Second of all, Vick’s throw was pretty bad. He underthrew Riley Cooper by several feet, enough that the Eagles’ receiver couldn’t even reach back and knock the pass to the ground.

The pass was easily intercepted by Packers’ cornerback Tramon Williams, who fell to the ground, ending the game.

And third, most of the Eagles’ offensive players thought that Vick was going to spike the ball!

“Once I caught that slant, coming back, I thought he was going to spike the ball, stop the clock,” Cooper said. “He didn’t. Not a big deal. He called ‘All-go,’ and that’s what we ran. What happened happened. It’s over.

“There was no confusion…Everyone knew what was going on. Everyone knew we had all-go on. Because he did not spike the ball, that has nothing to do with the outcome.”

Cooper wasn’t the only one thinking they would spike it.

“That’s what I was trying to say. ‘Just down the ball, just spike the ball, just kind of get back to the huddle and regroup.’ But he called ‘All-go,’ ” receiver DeSean Jackson said. “We just ran what was called so that’s neither here nor there. It’s just unfortunate.”

It’s unfortunate that the Eagles' season needed to end this way.

It ended in the same way it has so many times with Donovan McNabb at quarterback, with the team scrambling to get ready and nobody really having a clue what was going to happen (although to be fair, at least the Eagles always knew if McNabb was going to spike the ball).

The only difference between those Eagles and the Eagles we saw yesterday was the quarterback.

I'm not denying that Vick wasn't the number one reason why we were in the postseason in the first place. But there's no denying the inevitable.

Vick is the one who blew it for the Eagles this time. Not McNabb.

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