How To Stop Michael Vick

At the surprise to some, Michael Vick has returned in 2010 to become the exciting world class quarterback we had all hoped he would be when first sprinting through the NFL. But considering his premier talent level, and arguably the most gifted athlete in sport today, it should be no surprise that after a year riding the pine and hitting the gym, his fresh legs and elastic arm would be ready to dominate once again. What’s stunning is the perceived lack of preparation from opposing teams in creating consistent defensive schemes to shut him down. In his final playoff run before indictment with the Atlanta falcons, non other than the Philadelphia Eagles blitz machine devised an effective game plan to slow him down, but it appears that game film has since been purged from the memories of coordinators around the league. But this young talented strategist remembers, and as the world’s greatest Michael Vick fan, I will tell you that he can be slowed down by man, without help from the elements. And unfortunately for the resurgent Eagles, the Packers, Bears, Falcons and Saints all have the personnel to make it happen.

The Eagles have long been considered one of the best blitzing scheme football teams in the NFL, but in their defensive heyday during their four straight NFC conference championship appearances; Andy Reid and Jim Johnson created a defence that was truly something special. Week in and week out they would successfully devise a new scheme to use their defence to win football games and shut down the unstoppable. They held the greatest show on turf to less than 24 points, making for some great football finishes. They were able to win multiple football games with the hapless AJ feely at QB when Mcnabb and Westbrook were hurt. They ended Ladanian Tomlinson’s consecutive rushing touchdown streak and held him to less than 30 yards rushing in his record breaking MVP season. And perhaps their crowning achievement was shutting down the unstoppable Mike Vick and the Atlanta Falcons when it mattered most. They held the Falcons to very little offense and dominated time of possession en route to a convincing NFC championship win and a Super Bowl appearance.

How did they do it? Blitzing you say? Well it is a little more strategic then that. You see you can’t just blitz Vick because it will give him lanes to run, or in those days fool you with the play action boot or outlet toss to Algae Crumpler. And just saying blitz doesn’t mean much anyways. Who are you blitzing? From where and from when?

Well what they did was something I would title contained pressure. Mike Vick is fast, quick and elusive, and it needs to be a structured team defensive effort to slow him down. Having a single spy or even two in the traditional sense won’t work, he will burn you, so you use a multi=tiered approach. Level one is the defensive line. You take your fastest defensive end (such as Jevon Kearse with the Eagles) and you play them outside on the defensive right. Their job is to cut off Vick from rolling to his left, his dominant throwing side where he is most dangerous. Effectively the end will push up field 3 or 4 yards depending on the depth of Vick’s drop and hold position. If Vick is in the pocket the end can either switch to a horizontal path at this point and close the pocket or if he is blocked effectively just hold and block the escape route to the left side. If he however continues to push up field to run around the block, Vick will escape and create a big play.
The other two inside defensive lineman then push up. They need to hold in the middle by pushing up 3 to 4 yards to cut off run lanes up the middle, and getting their hands up in the air to knock down the dump off pass. If they can’t press through up the middle, they must hold or else a whole can open and Vick will be gone up field. The 4th linemen in the 4 3 scheme or (rushing linebacker in a 3 4) is the one with the chance to go for the sack. He comes in from Vick’s right side, where he is less of a threat to roll and throw. This free pass rusher can try and use his pass rush to push Vick either towards the end containing on the left, or step into the linemen pushing up the centre. And with the right line backer scheme, he can be aggressive and not worry if Vick beats him to the right side. That’s because you are using your fastest outside linebacker for contain there.
The outside linebacker will slide out to Vick’s right and hold. If Vick beats the pass rush to the right side, he is there to pounce and make the tackle. If it’s a handoff or screen back to the right, he is also there to make that play. You then have your other two linebackers to play standard coverage with out the extra spy.

The next level is in the secondary, where it is critical to have a solid strong safety like say a Sean Dawkins. You want to show a one deep robber like coverage with the strong safety pressed up just a bit and the deep free safety over the top. This strong safety becomes the safety valve. Their primary job concerning Vick is initially coverage, and if Vick rolls to the left, it’s his job to close if he breaks contain from the end on the far side. Those eagles used this to perfection with a Jevon Kearse/Sean Dawkins combo and shut that bootleg roll down all game long. The corners and free safety are then left in standard coverage. Assuming your end, linebacker and strong safety can make the basic tackle, worst case scenarios are Vick breaks a 10 yard run here and there which we can live with. But with this style Vick is contained, leaving five defensive players in standard pass coverage and two in optional run/pass type coverage which is essentially the same numbers as when playing against a dominating running back. This is how the Eagles took care of the Falcons offense then, and how the Packers and Bears in the upcoming playoffs can take care of Michael Vick and the Eagles now.

Win or Lose Dallas’s Romo Won’t be blamed

It’s unfortunate but true, Dallas Cowboy’ss Tony Romo will get a free pass if the cowboys fall to 0 -3 on Sunday. In spite of a lack of consistent playmaking ability in weeks won and two, resulting in a 0 -2 start for a team many (not me) predicted to make a superbowl run, a loss in the battle of texas will not be blamed on him (even though it largely should be). The reason? Well, this game will surely be a shootout. The Texans have run up the scoreboard in two close wins, also giving up enourmous chunks of yards and points on the defensive stat sheet. This means Romo is sure to have a great statistical day, even though he is sure to throw at least one pick, miss at least 3 game changing play opportunities in the passing game, and get sacked at least 4 times. But all of these miscues will be blamed, win or lose on the o line, wide outs and maybe even the defense for giving up too many points, but not the anointed one to be. So Dallas Cowboys players, be on you’re a game and be ready for postgame criticism, and analysts, please remember that its not just the stats, but how they came to be.

Calvin Johnson Blows it For Lions

Calvin Johnson DID NOT CATCH a touch down by any stretch of rules or spirit of the rules in Sunday’s game. And I cannot believe how daft the NFL commentators (you know who you are ) have been to suggest that this call is not inline with common sense or the spirit of the rules. He caught the ball, and instead if wrapping it up, he tried to showboat and palm it in his hand. In doing so he lost control of the ball as he fell to the ground and it came free. If he had wrapped it and pulled the ball too his chest or rolled like NFL receivers ( and Troy Palamaoulo) are trained to do, the Detroit Lions would have come away victorious. I feel for you Lions fans , I really do, but this is more synonumous with Deshaun Jackson’s preemptive endzone spike than the Tom Brady Tuck Rule.; and Calvin knows it. Hopefully there will be more winning opportunities for you this season, and hopefully the so called television “experts” can follow what’s really going on as opposed to trying to stir controversy.

Super Bowl!! Colts win a battle

This is the first year since 1993 the two number one contenders have squared off in the superbowl. Ironic in a year when so many teams looked promising. I wont say much about the game except it is going to be a battle, and the Colts will prevail.

Peyton Manning has been in midseason form since the preseason, postseason form since mid season, and unprecedented, indescribable form in the postseason. When push comes to shove, the Saints will not get that big stop when it counts. And on the other side, as awesome as the saints offense has been, with the game on the line I can picture the colts defense coming up with a big play. Bottom line is the colts win by a score. Enjoy the battle!

Colts vs Jets

As the man who last week correctly predicted the Jets "upset" win over the Sandiego Chargers, I now have to deliver Jets fans the unfortunate news that there run stops now. Those who doubted the Jets before are now sitting front row on the band wagon, hyping up there chances to stop the Indianapolis Colts offense, and touting about how they are going to run all over their defence. But it is just not going to happen.

Rex Ryan is a great coach, and the defence he ran in Baltimore and brought to New York is unreal. But he was never able to shut the Colts down in Baltimore, and that defence was way more talent laden than what he has this year in New York. Consider how fluidly the Colts moved the ball up and down in there match up against the Jets before the offensive starters were pulled. And that was with the Jets playing for their playoff lives. Not to mention how little the Jets offence moved the ball against the Colts defence. Yeah thats right Jets fans, the colts defence is also better than your defence, and you do not have the Colts offence. For the Jets to win this football game they will have to move the football a heck of alot better than they did against the chargers (which they didn't do well in that game and wont here), and they will have to pretty much limit the colts to 10 points or less ( which just wont happen). I am sure this game will have some twists and turns, but the Colts will come out ahead by at least two scores. But don't worry jets fans, your young confident football team looks like it will be solid for years to come.

New York Jets Can Upset the Sandiego Chargers

I am not a jets fan. Infact I think the jets are an ugly, semitalented football team that is unfortunately very well coached and believe they can win football games. All season they have won through grit,confidence and a little luck. Heck they even fell ass backwards into the post season, but they can beat the chargers and I will tell you why.

The jets have a big offensive line that gives plenty of creases for the run game, and a speedy receiver in Braylon Edwards who can get down teh field and make great plays. defensively they can blitz at will, with two incredibly talented cover corners in teh secondary. The one you know is Darrel Reevis, and the one overlooked is lito sheppard. For the chargers to win this football game they are going to have to do exactly the opposite of what coach turner preaches (and subsequently the reason they lack a super bowl title with all their mega talent) run with tomlinson, throw short to gates and play tough defence. This game will be decided by the chargers offensive strategy and defensive line. If they let Lt and gates do their thing, and the dline steps up they are heading to Indianapolis. If Turner tries to rely on rivers to throw down field, well we have seen that playoff story before. My prediction, Jets by 2 23 -21.

NFC Wild Card Predictions

The NFC wild card match ups should all be fantastic, exciting, highlight reel affairs.Fans of all four teams have Superbowl aspirations and rightly so. First Lets get to Greenbay at Arizona. Throw the week 17 result out the window as neither team was playing for anything in particular and Arizona had few starters playing most of the way. Greenbay has looked good down the stretch, and they possess the offensive capability to carve up the NFC, starting with the Cardinal/s D. However their highly touted offence is very dependent on the big play and can stagnate for long periods of time. This has given them problems trying to close out games this season, and against the top tier teams on their schedule. Their defence statistically is a turnover machine, but stats are useless come playoff time and I look to the absence of Kampman defending the edge of the 3 -4 defence. Beanie wells and Hightower have the speed to bust the edge, and boldin and breaston love that wide receiver screen, that may be top to stop without a top tier defensive starter in that area. I guess what I am saying is as long as the cardinals can hold on the football, they should prove victorious. They demonstrated last year the ability to turn it on when it counts and Kurt Warner is one of the greates playoff Quarterbacks to ever hit the field. Look for Darnell Docket to demand alot of attention fron the greenbay offensive line,and allow an aggressive pass rush lanes to get to rodgers. This game should be a doosy, but chalk one up for the defending NFC champs!

Eagles at Cowboys on the other hand needs no analysis. Both sides are loaded with talent on all sides of the ball, and they both know each other so well to boot. Look for acrobatic catches, and crazy int returns through out the game, but this game will inevitably come down to Tony Romo in the 4th quarter. When the chips are down he will need to make a crucial completion to decide the outcome, and thus far in his career, he is batting 0 in that department. Will this be the day? I think the eagles spoil Jerry Jones's party in a high scoring affair.