Not A Lot Of Bark In Vick’s Wildcat Bite

From Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

Eleven plays constituted the comeback of the man who just a few years ago was considered one of the best players in the National Football League.

With a pitifully small number of animal rights protestors outside the stadium trying to make a point, Michael Vick returned to an NFL field for the first time since December 2006. That alone made the afternoon memorable.

Certainly, nothing Vick did in the game left anybody remembering the athletic skills that were so much a part of his seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.

In eleven plays, Vick produced seven yards. He only carried the ball once himself, gaining those seven yards. He threw two incomplete passes, and neither one was close to being on the mark. He lined up at wide receiver once, and was out of the play. The other eight times, he took direct snaps in the shot gun and either handed off or pitched the ball.

“Yes it was a very small look,” Vick said afterwards. “We have so much still for the future. We just wanted to go out there and get some looks and see how they were going to play and not tip our hand to what we really wanted to do with this Wildcat thing.

“We’ve got a lot of variations and it’s going to be exciting and I just want to contribute.”

There’s no question that the first few times Vick ran onto the field, there was great excitement with the Eagles fans inside the Linc. If any of the 69, 144 expressed their unhappiness it was drowned out by the cheering.

But by the second half, the fans were no longer as frantic. Maybe it was the fact the game was already decided, or they were bored with the whole idea, but Vick’s last few trips to the huddle were almost missed by the fans.

“I can’t really be out there full-time,” said Vick. “In a 12-play drive, I can’t be out there five or six plays; it takes away from the rhythm of the offense. It was important for Kevin (Kolb) to get going and stay in rhythm. So that’s why were in and out every other play, every other possession.”

Vick and the Eagles viewed the game as an opportunity to knock some of the rust off after two years away from playing a real game. He took some shots, including a real head knocker on an option play when OLB Tamba Hali hit him right in the chest.

“I got rocked a couple of times real good and I was able to get up from it and keep moving,” said Vick. “That’s what is going to happen running this kind of offense that we’re running with me I n the game. It’s just football and I can go out there and take those shots. If they’re limited, then I think I can do it for 16 weeks.”

Kolb did not think the shuttling on and off the field with Vick disrupted his game, as his passing numbers showed after the game: 24 of 34 for 327 yards.

“With my past and the offense I ran in the past (in college at Houston), we didn’t run a lot of Wildcat stuff, but we did a lot of different things,” Kolb said. “That’s part of our game as the Philadelphia Eagles, so what other route do we have except to make it work.”

The Eagles have their bye next weekend, but Vick is going to spend a lot of time with the playbook and prepare for the final 13 games of the season.

“I think this week is going to be valuable for me,” said Vick. “It’s an opportunity for me to get on the book, continue with my workouts and get my body back to feeling 100 percent.”

Here are the 11 plays that Vick took part in on Sunday against the Chiefs.

1. He lined up as a wide receiver as McCoy ran for minus-one yard.
2. In the shotgun, Vick took the snap and ran behind right tackle for seven yards.
3. Passing out of the shotgun, Vick threw incomplete to FB Leonard Weaver.
4. Taking the direct snap from the shotgun, Vick handed off to McCoy who got 11 yards up the middle.
5. Lining up at QB, Vick took the direct snap and attempted his second pass, throwing incomplete for WR Jason Avant. The pass was low.
6. He took the direct snap in the shotgun and handed off to WR Jeremy Maclin on an end around that was stopped for no gain.
7. In the shotgun, he took the snap and handed off to McCoy for five yards.
8. Another handoff to McCoy for five yards.
9. Yet another handoff to McCoy for two yards.
10. Make that another handoff to McCoy for three yards.
11. And finally, yet another handoff to McCoy who was stopped for a loss of one yard.