SPORTS
May 23, 2012 | By Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Staff Writer
There are two sides to Michael Vick's athleticism. At times, his breathtaking talent conjures gains from thin air when the defense is closing in. But last season, Vick's unfailing belief in his own ability too often led to risky plays and game-changing turnovers. "He gets caught sometimes doing too much, trying to do too much, and that's where he gets in trouble," Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson said Monday in advance of full-team practices that begin Tuesday. "We eliminate those and keep him within our system, and positive things are going to happen.
SPORTS
May 23, 2012 | By Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
THE OFFSEASON NFL players lost to the lockout last year has been blamed for just about every unfortunate thing that's happened, this side of the "Twilight" movies. Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson threw another log on the fire Monday, when he opined that the falloff in QB Michael Vick's play last season had a lot to do with Vick not being able to review mistakes with coaches and fine-tune this time a year ago. "Honestly, I think it was the offseason," Pederson said during a rare NovaCare media session with Eagles offensive position coaches, minus offensive line coach Howard Mudd, who isn't in town.
SPORTS
May 10, 2012 | By Michael Vitez, Inquirer Staff Writer
Michael Vick started out calm and smooth and in control. He should move down a football field as well as he did the chessboard Tuesday against his first opponent, a sixth grader named True Knowledge Islam. True Knowledge had the name, but Vick had the game. The Eagles quarterback tapped his foot, fingered his captured pieces, and was the picture of poise as he steadily, mercilessly dispatched his first foe, age 11. Michael Vick learned chess, and learned to love chess, while he was in a federal prison for his role in a dog-fighting operation - "When I was away," as he called it. He taught himself, first as a way just to kill the boredom.
SPORTS
April 22, 2012 | By Bob Ford, Inquirer Columnist
It isn't a popular reminder for Eagles fans, but the best draft pick of the Andy Reid era - yes, including Brian Westbrook, DeSean Jackson, or LeSean McCoy - was easily Donovan McNabb. When you pick a player at the most important position on the field, from among a list of apparently worthy candidates, and that player performs at a high level for more than a decade and helps transform your team into a perennial winner, that is a very good draft pick. McNabb, however, will be forever known here as a very capable, albeit goofy, quarterback who was able to accomplish everything except the only thing that mattered.
SPORTS
March 30, 2012
RECENTLY, a contending East Coast football team acquired a backup quarterback with the express intent of using him as a "wildcat" weapon. The quarterback possessed rare athletic skills, but those skills often got him into as much trouble as they helped him elude. The quarterback's passing mechanics were flawed. His footwork was clumsy. His ability to decipher defenses was deficient. In addition, the quarterback brought with him baggage of his own creation; baggage that he never could shake.
SPORTS
March 29, 2012
PALM BEACH, Fla. - Much of the discussion around Andy Reid's table Wednesday morning at the NFC coaches breakfast with the media centered around the need for his daredevil quarterback, Michael Vick, to put a little more effort into staying healthy this season. "It's an important question and he realizes that," Reid said. "He realizes that the last four teams standing in the playoffs, their quarterbacks started the whole season. It's been a topic his whole career and it surely has been since we've had him. I think he understands that there's a problem and a situation.
SPORTS
March 29, 2012 | By Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
It is part of Philadelphia sports lore, the time Andy Reid told Allen Iverson he didn't think the temperamental 76ers star could play for him. Iverson countered that, having played football in high school, he knew the NFL was different from the NBA, and he'd be different, too. Football coaches aren't just talkin' 'bout practice; it's the cornerstone of everything they do. A decade later, Reid is living out a high-stakes version of that...
SPORTS
March 20, 2012
QUESTION: Tim Tebow to the Eagles? Answer: Why not? Which is not saying that it will happen, or even that it should happen. But now that Peyton Manning is headed to the Denver Broncos, it makes total sense for the Broncos to make a trade in order to keep the carnival sideshow to a manageable level. And if the Broncos are going to make a trade, well, again: Why not? If, after last season, Tebow is now viewed throughout the NFL as a player around whom a team can build a winner, he is not coming to the Eagles and it isn't worth talking about - not unless the Eagles would be willing to throw Michael Vick over the side, which certainly does not seem likely.
NEWS
March 14, 2012 | By Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Staff Writer
When the Eagles first had the chance to acquire DeSean Jackson, they saw an opportunity. Here was an electric receiver and return man, a cheetah in shoulder pads sitting there in the middle of the second round. Questions about his attitude and durability lurked, but the potential reward outweighed the low risk of a second-round pick. The Eagles picked him. The decision instantly paid off. Jackson made the Pro Bowl in his second and third seasons. At times, he was unstoppable.
SPORTS
March 11, 2012
The following column is not meant as a slight to Michael Vick, who is a pretty good quarterback and a guy who has become a fairly decent human being. But as a fan of the Eagles, if you wouldn't want Peyton Manning to be your quarterback next year instead of Vick, then you don't know much about football. And I don't mean that in a bad way. The Manning Sweepstakes are in full whirl, and the only question we haven't been able to answer yet is whether the Eagles are interested in acquiring the neck-bone-challenged, sure-to-be Hall of Fame quarterback to secure a better run at a Super Bowl.