Michael Vick will only get better next season (Part 1)
For those in the NFL who will play against Michael Vick in the 2011 season, there is bad news; he could play even better.
After concluding the best season of his career, the quarterback says that he could have played much better this year if he had practiced knowing that he would be the starting quarterback. He led the Philadelphia Eagles to their first division title since
2006, even though he didn’t practice as the starter until Week two of the regular season.
Who knows how well he would have played if he had spent the off-season practicing as a starter. Training camps, minicamps, and organised team activities would have benefited him greatly since he would be working with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg
and head coach Andy Reid, as well as practicing with the rest of the starters.
"I think going through a whole training camp and just being here, being with Andy, he knows a lot of things that I need to work on, that'll make me a lot better as a quarterback," Vick said. "It'll pay huge dividends for me, so I'll be excited about that.
I'll follow the same routine I had last year, keep the same attitude and the same work ethic."
Vick started the season as a backup quarterback to Kevin Kolb, but after Kolb went down with a concussion in the first game of the season, Vick got his chance to show that he still had his magic touch and that he could play better than ever. Reid was forced
to make Vick the starter and decided to keep him there after Vick gave one incredible performance after another.
Although Vick won’t be appreciated by dog lovers anytime soon, football fans can appreciate what he has done. After being incarcerated for 18 months for funding and participating in a dog fighting ring, Vick was picked up by the Eagles. After spending most
of the 2009 season on the bench, Vick astounded everyone with his excellent performance in 2010, which led him to being voted as the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the Pro Bowl.
And now that the Eagles are out of the run for the playoffs, he can actually play in the Pro Bowl. Vick has surpassed all of his personal records this season. He has the most passing yards in his career at 3,018, most passing touchdowns with 21, most rushing
touchdowns with nine, highest completion percentage at 62.6 and the highest quarterback rating at 100.2. The Eagles won eight games out of 11 that Vick started in. It might be prudent to mention that Vick missed three games in the first half of the season
with a rib injury. Even then, he has had the best season of his career.
However, his last pass of the 2010 season will haunt him.
He threw an interception in the touchdown zone with only 33 seconds left in the game, losing to the Green Bay Packers 21-16. If he had made that touchdown it would have made a great chapter in his comeback story. The win would have eliminated the Packers
from the playoffs and given the Eagles another last second victory.
"I try to do everything I can to possibly protect the ball, keep the ball away from the opposing team and make positive plays, and I failed to do that in that situation," Vick said. "It's something that I'll have to really work on in the off-season, so I've
just got to deal with it on a personal level."
Just a few weeks ago, the Eagles made an amazing comeback on the last play of the game. However, it wasn’t Vick that did it, it was DeSean Jackson. The game was tied at 31 points apiece against the New York Giants. Giants’ kicker Matt Dodge was told to kick
away from the Eagles’ most incredible punt return man and go into overtime. However, he messed up and the ball went right to Jackson. Even after he fumbled the ball once, Jackson took off on a 65-yard punt return for a touchdown, with only 13 seconds left
in the game.
This article will be continued in part 2.
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