Eagles quarterback Michael Vick wins the AP Comeback Player of the Year award (Part 3)
This is the third part of a series of articles discussing Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Michael Vick winning The Associated Press’ Comeback Player of the Year award.
Even after Vick was released from prison and vowed to turn his life around, many people were stll against him. He was surrounded by a lot of negative comments in the media and from other players in the league. One of the few that stuck by him was Eagles’
head coach, Andy Reid. Few people have supported Vick as much as Reid has.
"He had a plan and he stuck to that, both on and off the field," Reid said. "He knew certain things he wanted to get better at and he was open to the coaching on it, and he got himself back into shape. ... So, he did a great job with the football part of
it.
"And then he spends a tremendous amount of time in the public, in particular on his days off ... speaking and doing the best he can to right the wrong. You can never erase that, but you can sure help change others from falling into that same problem."
After Vick was released from prison, he became a free agent. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach, Tony Dungy, mentored him to get him back on track and ready to play football. He signed a one year contract with the Eagles in 2009. He participated in all
of the team’s meeting and practices and also played in two preseason games. He was on the backup list for ten days during the start of the season before being activated onto the 53 man roster.
He played in his first regular season game in Week 13 against his former team, the Falcons, since December of 2006, almost three years earlier. In that game, he scored both a passing and running touchdown, his first scores in three years. He also threw the
longest touchdown pass of his seven and a half year career, a 76 yard touchdown pass against the Dallas Cowboys. He did not start in that game and completed only one pass out of two attempts. Pretty good seeing as the one that he did complete was for a touchdown.
Even though he played in only a couple of games in 2009, he really started improving in the 2010 season. After McNabb was traded to the Redskins, Kevin Kolb was named the starting quarterback. However, after suffering a concussion in the first game of the
regular season, Vick took Kolb's place. At the beginning of the season, before he played as a starter, Vick said, “I know I can still play at a high level." And boy did he ever. After Kolb was put on the injured list, Vick started in his first game.
He started in one game, throwing for 291 yards and three touchdowns, along with a rushing touchdown, for a 28-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars before he sustained a rib injury in their game against the Redskins and former team-mate, McNabb. However,
he came back hard after the Eagles’ loss to the Redskins.
What exactly did he do in the Eagles’ next game against the Redskins? Check out the next article to find out!
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