Now that Michael Vick is officially the starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, he is looking to establish a more modern offense to better suit his skill set. If there was a coach that can make it happen, Chip Kelly is the perfect one. Vick is ready to run an offense that takes hold of the read-option trend and the Philadelphia Eagles plan on giving the quarterback just that.
When Andy Reid coached the Eagles he tried to force Vick to become more of a pocket passer. Things did not really work out for the best resulting in the firing of Reid. Now with Kelly, Vick can run all he wants and utilize his skills as a more mobile quarterback.
"I'll be a threat," Vick said to reporters, via ESPN.com. "I'm going to have my opportunities to do the things I like to do within this offense and to run the football. That's exciting."
The issue with Vick being more mobile is that it opens him up to more injuries. The quarterback has no fared well with his healthy in the past, suffering from everything including concussions to fractured ribs. Vick has yet to play a full season for the Eagles since singing in 2009. He added more muscle in the offseason as well as upping his strength training in order to be more of threat running the ball. He promises he can now outrun all of the defense.
"You guys act like I get hurt once a week," Vick said. "Some [injuries] were random, some were positions I put myself in, sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time -- two years back-to-back with broken ribs. Other than that, everything's been pretty cool. If I can keep that to a minimum, I'll be OK."
Vick has played a full schedule once, his final season with the Atlanta Falcons. He ran for 1,039 yards that year, admitting he was playing with a different mindset. He wants to focus on playing the game at full-speed and not worry about getting hurt in the process. He certainly hopes that he can maintain the hits in order to have an edge on the opponents.
Vick beat out backup Nick Foles for the starting job this season. Foles was a more traditional pocket-passing quarterback where Vick fits Kelly's system better. He is expected to at least play the entire first half of the team's preseason game on Saturday night.
