Michael Vick: Enigmatic QB Must Improve for Philadelphia Eagles to Win

Michael Vick must do better. 

Even though the Philadelphia Eagles survived on Sunday afternoon with a 17-16 win over the Cleveland Browns, that statement is probably painfully obvious right now. Sunday's stats speak for themselves:

29-of-56, 317 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions, one of which was returned by D'Qwell Jackson for the go-ahead touchdown, two fumbles and lots of ugly throws.

But his need to be better isn't apparent only because of those puke-worthy stats. 

He needs to be better because he is clearly the Eagles' most important player. That became apparent on Sunday afternoon. Just take a look at some of the highlights—if that's what you want to call them—from Philly's victory.

Rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden was 12-of-35 for 118 yards, zero touchdowns and four interceptions. At one point, his age was nine times as big as his QB rating. 

Trent Richardson, soon-to-be star running back, ran for 39 yards on 19 carries.

LeSean McCoy totaled 136 yards on 26 touches. 

Even Chas Henry got into the mix, booting three punts over 60 yards and constantly giving the Eagles the advantage in field position. 

If you were to read those last four paragraphs, you would have thought, "Oh, the Eagles won by 35. Nice."

And that's understandable. The Eagles absolutely dominated this game. They were lights out on defense. McCoy, Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson all looked explosive when they touched the ball. Everything was good.

Except Vick. He was anemic, and it resulted in a narrow win against a team that won four games last season. 

The problems shouldn't all be tossed on the enigmatic QB's fragile shoulders. McCoy needs to touch the ball more. The offensive line needs to protect their quarterback. Andy Reid shouldn't be drawing up 60 passing plays.

But the fact of the matter is simple. The Eagles were, without a doubt, the better team on Sunday in almost every facet of the game, but a poor performance from Vick helped the Eagles almost make history. 

There are certainly other important players on this team, but if the Eagles are going to re-enter the elite class of the NFL, Michael Vick has to re-enter the elite class of quarterbacks. 

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