Michael Vick has had trouble holding onto the football, as we know. So, he decided to tuck one under his arm and take it everywhere he went for part of the week.
“Just to get a feel of for the pigskin,” said Vick. “Not to put too much emphasis on it, but to continuously remind myself that I have to take care of the football.
“Breakfast, to the meetings. Everybody thought it was funny but I didn’t. That’s how much I care about this team, that’s how much I care about our success and winning on Sundays. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that I take care of my responsibilities.”
Vick said that his teammates were trying to strip him of the ball as he walked the hallways of the NovaCare Complex.
“They tried. They tried. The stakes got pretty high…there was a bounty on the ball,” he said, drawing laughs.
Though not everyone thought it was worth it to take a swipe.
“I didn’t mess with it. I wasn’t trying to hit it out,” said Brent Celek. “I want him to just throw it to me.”
Vick said that he will wear the same flak jacket that he has for the last few weeks, determining that it didn’t factor into his three fumbles against the Steelers. He went back and looked at all his fumbles and believes they were “self-inflicted” and correctable.
The coaches tried to do their part as well this week to try and solve the fumbling issue.
“They preached to us in practice this week, I was on the scout team and we would try to strip them from the ball,” said Jamar Chaney. “We emphasized trying to get the ball out.”
We’ll see if all these measures make a difference on Sunday.
