It's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out in Philadelphia. I really think they are going to rip up the NFC this year. The one thing that I thought was a huge weakness was at RB but Ronnie Brown certainly plugged that hole.
Yeah, its all going to come down to Vick. Their defense should be very good (although its not like they added to an already great defense...their defense was pretty bad last year), and as long as Vick is focussed and healthy, they are going to be very scary. However, I am not convinced Vick can remain focussed and healthy.
I also am curious to see how defenses deal with Vick this year. I think his fading at the end of the year was mostly because of the rib injury he got earlier in the season (which is hard to avoid when you play the way he does). However, I also would not be surprised if part of it was defenses catching up with him.
At the beginning of the season the book on him was heavily weighted towards his scrambling, and I would imagine that for the first half of the season (when he was absolutely dominant), defenses were essentially using gameplans based on the fact that he wouldn't stay in the pocket and pass, so when he actually did do that, there were a lot of open recievers, and not a ton of pressure on him, because defenses were more focussed on stopping him from running. So, he was able to pick them apart with his passing.
So, I think at least part of his struggles later in the season came from the defenses adjusting to his new style, which caused him to regress to the norm, as teams closed some of the wide open passing lanes that were there earlier in the season, and dared him to beat them with his legs, which he was not completely committed to doing, for probably a variety of reasons (self preservation/already hurt, coaches telling him to stay in the pocket and not break the system). So, when he did run, he wasn't quite as effective as he was in his first couple years in the league.
The wildcard though is having Young as his backup. I wonder if they brought him in, almost to have a second version of Vick, so they can let Vick loose a bit more. Maybe they will be less concerned with Vick getting hurt running, if they know they can plug in Young. Young may be an idiot, but he has had some success in this league, particularly in shorter stretches, which IMO makes him a perfect candidate as a backup. He seems to lose it if he is counted on for too long, but toss him in there for 4-5 games as Vick recovers from some bumps and bruises, and he could be very good.
No matter what though, the Eagles are going to be the most exciting team to watch this season.
Topic: 2011 NFL thread (Read 4881 times)