Improvement passing makes it even tougher
ASHBURN – The trick is stopping him from running. Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick again is hurting teams on the ground, nearly gaining a first down every time he takes off.
That wouldn’t be so hard if not for this little problem: He’s killing teams through the air, too. Vick no longer is just a run-first quarterback; he’s a quarterback with downfield weapons who uses them.
“He’s being chased and throwing off his back foot and making 40-yard passes downfield,” Redskins linebacker Lorenzo Alexander said. “He has the receivers to do it.”
Vick is averaging 7.4 yards a run and 8.4 yards a pass attempt, and he’s accounted for 920 yards in two-plus games.
In other words, he’s dangerous.
“With a quarterback like that who scrambles and stretches the ball down the field,” Redskins safety LaRon Landry said, “you’ve got to be phenomenal in coverage.”
And you have to do this:
Rush disciplined » The Redskins will blitz; it’s what they do. How much so is another matter. In the past, one philosophy was to get to Vick before he could spot a lane. The Redskins would do that by blitzing up the middle.
“You don’t change your style of play,” Landry said. “You’ve got to go after him.”
Regardless, the key is pinching him in the pocket.
“That’s his weak point,” Alexander said. “Once he gets on the edges and is running, you don’t know what he’s going to do, and that’s when he makes most of his big plays.”
Defensive end Adam Carriker said they have to “rush with vision.” That means keeping an eye on Vick as they get upfield.
“If we have guys out of whack and get big gaping holes, that’s not good with a guy like this,” Carriker said. “If he takes off, we have to take good angles because he’s very fast.”
Spy »
If the Redskins opt to rush with four — or even three — there’s a good chance someone will be assigned to shadow Vick. But Vick’s speed limits who could do this. Linemen are out, and linebackers are mismatches, too (unless two are used).
So a safety — most likely Landry — is the bet.
“That’s kind of an even match,” corner Carlos Rogers said. “If you put a linebacker on him, they have no chance.”
It won’t be up to Landry alone, but considering he plays close to the line of scrimmage, it makes sense if he does spy. But that leaves the corners vulnerable downfield.
“Every time he breaks it’s an opportunity for this guy to score and affect the defense,” Landry said. “You’ve got to have great leverage.”
Gang tackle » If a player is one-on-one with Vick, there’s a good chance they’ll end up on the wrong end of a highlight run.
“It takes a team to contain him and corral him,” Alexander said.
Jam the receivers » To buy extra time for the rush to surround Vick, the receivers must be thrown off stride, if only for a second. But that’s easier said than done considering the quickness of DeSean Jackson (24.5 yards a catch) and Jeremy Maclin (13.4). Sometimes a linebacker dropping in that area might bump them off stride, too.
“They both don’t want physical contact,” Rogers said, “so that’s one of the key things we’re gonna have to do.”
