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.