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Many of us have watched an Eagles game and thought to ourselves, “What is Vick doing?! He’s running this way, he’s running that way, and he has no one there to back him up! He’s going to get himself killed, or worse (depending on whom you ask), kill the play!” Well it just so happens Eagles’ QB Coach Doug Pederson has been having the same thoughts the rest of us have. Pederson told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his main focus as the team begins their OTA’s will be helping Vick to realize he can’t try to make every play happen on his own.
“He gets caught sometimes doing too much, trying to do too much, and that’s where he gets in trouble,” Pederson said Monday. “We eliminate those and keep him within our system, and positive things are going to happen.”
And get in trouble he does. In 2011 Vick had 18 giveaways, including 14 interceptions, a career high, after giving up the ball just nine times in 2010. When the defense is coming for him, he goes for the risky play and that just doesn’t always work. Pederson said he and Vick have recently sat down and reviewed the tape of those 18 giveaways and that the QB is ready to maturely analyze his mistakes and learn from them.
“I’ve had a chance to sit down with Mike, one-on-one, in the room, by ourselves, watch the good, watch the bad, and for me not only to teach off of that but just to watch his expression, see how he reacts to the negative,” Pederson said. “He’s learned from that. I think it makes him a better quarterback going forward, obviously. If we cut those two areas down, be more efficient in the red zone, don’t turn the ball over as much . . . your chances of success obviously go up.”
Pederson goes on to say that the Eagles have no intention to deter Vick from running but need him to learn to realize when he can make the play and when he can’t. They know he is extremely fast and that he has the possibility to gain a lot of yards – he just needs to find a balance between being a hero and making the play.
