One knock on Michael Vick is his inability to start and finish a season. He was knocked out of three games last year with the Philadelphia Eagles and hasn't played a 16-game slate since 2006.
It's a challenge to plan around a quarterback who can't stay healthy. With this is mind, Vick is preaching a safer approach.
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"I want to make a promise to all my fans that I'm going to make a conscious effort, a cognitive effort, to make sure that I protect myself," Vick told WPEN-FM in Philadelphia. "And you know my motto has been this for the last six months, and I repeatedly said to myself: 'Get the next yard on the next play.' Ya know, whether I'm running the football or scrambling or trying to do something improvising. Get the next yard on the next play."
Vick talked about leaving those extra yards for second and third down, an unusual suggestion by a quarterback, but the Eagles are pushing Vick to tone down the scramble-into-traffic act.
"Praying to God that I can play 16 games," Vick said. "I know that's the key to the season. I know deep down in my heart. And even though I believe in the players behind me, the players around me, I know what I can do and I know what I can bring to the table each and every Sunday, so I know it's paramount that I'm out on the field."
Vick has used this offseason to pore over game film, analyzing his mistakes from an 8-8 campaign that fell flat. We saw a more confident pocket passer in 2010, when Vick willed the Eagles into the playoffs. You don't want to see Vick temper his natural gifts, but at 32, the time has come to adjust his game.
If he can stay on the field, Philadelphia could break some hearts in the NFC East.
