Can Michael Vick duplicate the huge numbers he produced in 2010?
If you're as cynical as I am, your knee-jerk reaction to this question is that Michael Vick can't possibly repeat the kind of magical season that he had in 2010. I mean, they call them "magical" for a reason: They aren't commonplace.
In some ways, Vick (fantasy's most valuable player for 2010) enters this season much the same way that Titans running back Chris Johnson (fantasy's most valuable player for 2009) entered last season. In Johnson's case, how do you build on a 2,500-yards-from-scrimmage, 16-touchdown season? Almost anything-and Johnson had an excellent 1,609 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2010-is going to pale in comparison.
And yet, take a closer look at the numbers, and Vick's situation is a bit different. None of Vick's numbers from 2010 appear to be outliers. (The possible exception being only 6 interceptions in his 372 pass attempts.) True, he only played in 12 games, but even if extrapolated to 16 games, nothing would be off the charts.
It's also true that opponents have had a year now to adjust to Vick running the Eagles' offense. This isn't a Wildcat-like gimmick we're talking about, though. It's an Andy Reid offense that has been among the NFL's best for a long time now. Opponents have had a dozen years to adjust to it, to no avail.
Indeed, the overall numbers of Philadelphia's offense in 2010 were in line with prior years under Reid. The Eagles scored only 10 points more last year than they did the previous season, and they averaged only 27 yards per game more than they did the previous four years combined.
Most of the previous success came with Donovan McNabb at quarterback. And Vick has big-play weapons at his disposal that McNabb clamored for every year but didn't always have.
Bottom Line: While Michael Vick's per-game fantasy average might decline this season, his overall output should surpass last year's.
