Philadelphia Eagles Preseason: Grading Michael Vick's Performance So Far

Two down, two to go.

Well, more like two down, one to go for Michael Vick. With the veteran QB unlikely to play in the Eagles’ final preseason game, Vick had best be warming if the Birds want to get a quick start out of the gate this year.

It is already clear that Vick will be the single most scrutinized player on the Eagles this year. Not Nnamdi Asomugha or any of the new kids, not the combustible DeSean Jackson, Vick.

His level of play last year combined with the Eagles’ noisy offseason and the clear leadership role he’s assumed has placed him squarely in the the media cross-hairs. And even though he never declared the Eagles a “dream team”, the burden of those expectations will fall on him.

So how has MV7 fared this preseason?

Meh to meh-minus, a rating earned by way of one perfect drive (against the Ravens) followed by four pretty crappy ones (against the "Stillers").

A mixed bag isn’t the worst thing in the world, especially when facing a couple of elite defenses. Add the fact that these games don’t count, and our bag of “buts” should be robust enough to quell any hyperventilation and allow for a perfectly levelheaded evaluation of Vick’s preseason performance thus far.

Shall we?

Throwing Accuracy

Vick threw a couple of perfectly placed balls in the first preseason game against the Ravens, most notably the quick-strike touchdown pass to Brent Celek. The window around the goal line was tight, as it always is, and Vick showed the ability to make a big third-down completion.

At Vick’s size, he can’t throw over the defense in the red zone so he has to take capitalize on those slivers of space.

None of Vick’s interceptions in the Steelers game were particularly poorly thrown. The first two were simply thrown into coverage (although the attempt to Hall would have been a bit behind him) while the third was a near impossible attempt turned disaster by the incredible LaMarr Woodley.

I’ll give Vick a pass there since I’m not sure any other QB in the league has the tools to even consider a pass like that.

Otherwise, Vick’s throws have been pretty well placed. After a decade of watching Donovan McNabb play whack-a-mole, most anything in the form of a spiral that reaches a receiver looks decent.

Grade: B

Arm Strength

This seems to be the one tool that never eludes Vick. Even after the prison stint, I seem to recall teammates marveling at Vick’s arm strength as soon as he arrived at Eagles’ camp.

The dude can chuck it.

His down-field throws in the preseason continue to substantiate that claim. He overthrew DeSean Jackson in the Pittsburgh game, but in this category, throwing the ball 60 yards with the flick of wrist earns you bonus points.

His deep ball to Riley Cooper against Baltimore was a bit under-thrown, but then again, he was also on the run outside the hash marks.

Grade: A

Coverage Reads

It’s always hard to truly dissect coverage reads without the benefit of a full-field camera shot. We don’t know who might have been open or what exactly the defense did to disguise their look. That said, when a quarterback throws three balls into the teeth of a lurking opposition we can safely assume he wasn’t seeing things in slow motion.

On both of the first two interceptions against Pittsburgh, Vick seemed to misunderstand the situation.

He didn’t account for Ryan Clark coming over the top on the first pick and then threw into a gaggle of black and gold on the second one. Later in the second quarter, Troy Polamalu read his eyes and nearly swiped a ball intended for Brent Celek.

Because of Vick’s prodigious talents, defenses are going to bait him into making mistakes all year. One of the best ways to stop Vick is to turn him over, and teams are willing to cede some ground in order to create miscues. In 2010, for the most part, he did a brilliant job either avoiding those traps or simply outplaying them.

Hopefully Vick learns from his mistakes against Pittsburgh and rededicates himself to possession security.

Grade: D

Running/Elusiveness

From my vantage point, it’s hard to tell if Vick is truly attempting to limit his rushing attempts or simply saving those bullets for the regular season. To this point in the preseason Vick has only two rushing attempts for a total of three yards, but the eye test tells me he’s just as quick and agile as he was last season.

On the play that resulted in his third interception against the Steelers, for instance, Vick showed all of the skills that make him so difficult to sack. Before making the ill-advised throw, he avoided two rushers and displayed that uncanny peripheral vision of his that, at times, plays out like he has eyes in the back of his helmet.

If you’ll recall the Giants game from last year—and I know you do—Vick tends to accumulate rushing yards in the latter stages of the game when the defense tires from chasing him, so I wouldn’t worry about a lack of big gainers in a preseason game that cannot simulate those types of conditions.

All signs indicate that defenses will have just as much tackling Michael Vick this year as they have had in each of his first eight professional seasons.

Grade: B+

Tackling

For what it’s worth, Vick destroyed Troy Polamalu on the safety's 26-yard interception return. Even when he makes a mistake, this guy manages to look like an athlete. He did lead with his helmet, a little too Asante Samuel for my taste, but the closing speed was impressive.

May he never use this skill again.

Grade: A -

Patience

Defenses will test Vick’s patience all season long, and how he deals with conservative defensive alignments, I think, will determine his outcomes.

Last year, the Chicago Bears wrote the script on stopping Vick by creating pressure and guarding against the deep ball. Play your safeties deep and force Vick to make 10 good passes instead of allowing him to make one spectacular throw. The room for error is greater in the former with someone of Vick’s capabilities.

In the Ravens game, I thought Vick recognized a fairly conservative defense and picked his spots wisely. Although he made a nice deep throw to Riley Cooper en route to a touchdown, that completion came off of a broken play.

For the most part, the Ravens gave Vick little room down the field so he took the shorter plays in front of him. Wise move.

It seemed quite the opposite against Pittsburgh, with Vick taking more than one misguided chance for a big play. Those chances led to crucial turnovers. Obviously you don’t want to neutralize Vick’s peerless athletic capabilities by holding the reins, but the game situation needs to dictate when he takes chances. Down 14-0 in the second quarter, Vick needs to sustain drives instead of looking for a kill shot.

Vick admitted as much after the game in his press conference: "I just wanted to put some points on the board and I pressed the issue too hard. I take responsibility for not getting things done tonight," Vick said. "I got caught up in being down 14-0 and getting some points on the board before the half was over and that's just not the way you play football."

I’m glad to see Vick recognize those mistakes before the season starts. Against Cleveland, or whenever the Birds experience their next early deficit, I’ll be watching to see if he’s really internalized those errors and made steps to correct them.

Grade: C -

Leadership

Last year, players followed Vick in a spontaneous, pied-piperish sort of way, responding to the immediacy of his spectacular play.

In 2011, Vick has come into camp as the alpha dog and grown into the sort of elite locker room commander that can keep players thinking team first. That’s no small feat, and it places him alongside Ray Lewis, Tom Brady, and other heart-and-soul guys in terms of respect earned and responsibilities taken.

For proof, look no further than DeSean Jackson, a historically petulant character that has said all of the right things so far this year despite his own off-field contract issues.

A quote from Jackson after the Pittsburgh game: “As long as we're helping each other out as a team and doing the right things, we'll help them stay off the field and help us stay on the field because we would love to stay on the field and score as many points as possible.”

I know its early and that this loss didn’t count, but when I hear Jackson talking about himself like he’s just another cog in the wheel, I know Vick has had a profound effect on this team’s outlook.

Mike Vick has taken hold of this squad in a way I'm not sure Donovan McNabb never could, and the other 50 guys will go as he goes.

Grade: A+