Eagles Wake-Up Call: Vick Over the ‘Blue Moon’


Marty Mornhinweg conceded Monday that the coaching staff, after evaluating the first three games, recognized that they needed to adjust their offensive approach to try and get Michael Vick into a greater comfort zone. Some of it was as simplistic as running the ball more and dialing up shorter passes. And some of it is more complex.

“There’s a lot of things that go into that, certainly,” said Mornhinweg. “There’s all different ways to do it. And you have to design it against the particular defensive structure and talent that you’re playing against as well.”

The design was effective against New York, and undoubtedly helped Vick turn in an efficient, turnover-free performance in the 19-17 win. There is more to it than that, though. Vick was working through more than just an off-kilter run-pass ratio. The offense that he has been studying so hard to master at times appeared foreign to him. He looked caught in between what was right and what was natural. He was strong late, but mercurial the rest of the time.

On Sunday, the situation stabilized. Vick was judicious in his decision-making . It felt like the fog had lifted.

“Mike stepped up to the heat, now. There’s no question that happened [Sunday night],” said Mornhinweg. “I have great confidence in Mike. I’ve got great confidence in every quarterback that’s played for us — you have to. The things that happened to Mike early in the year, in a blue moon will happen to anybody.”

What was the blue moon occurrence? The two preaseason injuries that limited him to just nine snaps? The nine turnovers that followed in the first three regular-season games? The appearance that the wires weren’t always connecting on the field? A cocktail consisting of all those ingredients?

Mornhinweg just referred to it as, “it.”

“It will occasionally happen. You never want it to happen, but you motor through it,” he said. “You get your corrections done, and he makes sure that he’s seeing things clearly, and you make sure that you’re trying to do everything you can to help him from a coaching standpoint. And then normally they’ll come out of it pretty good, and he certainly did.”

Or, as Andy Reid put it: “He found himself tonight.”

WHAT YOU MISSED

We are 20 games into the Nnamdi Asomugha experience, and the jury is still out.  Reid gives his thoughts on the subject.

Meanwhile, DRC talks about the Ooh-Op-Ooh. The what? The Ooh-Op-Ooh.

Here is a look at how the Eagles snaps were distributed. Brandon Graham dipped back down.

NBC is awfully happy about the dramatic game on Sunday night, as it produced huge ratings.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Tom Coughlin is having all sorts of second thoughts about his decision-making in the closing moments of Sunday’s game, and regrets attempting the 54-yard field goal with 15 seconds on the clock instead of taking another shot. From the New York Post:

“What happens if you get a sack there? What happens if you try to fit one in tight and it gets, whether you catch it or not, you get tackled in bounds? Game’s over. Would I be that conservative? Not today. Last night I chose to do that knowing full well that the clock was not in our favor. We had no timeouts. I fully expected the type of coverage that would take the short throw to the sideline away from us. But, I’m not going to know whether or not because we didn’t try it.

“So I take full responsibility for that and as I told the players, I’ll start the meeting off by talking about my sins and that’s one that I’ll confess to.’’

The 19-17 win over New York didn’t move Peter King’s meter very much, it seems. He has the Eagles ranked ninth overall in his rankings. Coming in a spot ahead at No. 8? The 2-2 Giants.

I’m not buying the Eagles being better just yet. These games come down to the slimmest of margins — a field goal being two yards short, in this case — and if the two teams played again this week in New Brunswick, I’d like the Giants.

Mike Vick: Nine turnovers in the first three games, all shaky; no turnovers Sunday night. See how smooth the game can go when you’re not careless?

So, LeSean McCoy used to yell his own name as he juked defenders back in college, apparently. Kyle Scott has the details. Wonder what he says when he runs past Osi?

COMING UP

A day off for the players before they turn the page to the Steelers. Pittsburgh, sitting at 1-2 and coming off a bye, is currently a 3 1/2-point favorite.