Michael Vick: A Closer Look At The Improved Passer

Remember when Michael Vick was coming out of college and getting drafted to Atlanta? He was supposed to be the ultimate quarterback. Powerful arm, amazing ability to escape, he was the entire package. However, there was a small problem regarding Vick: accuracy. At Virginia Tech, he had a below 60% passer completion and he never improved on it once he got to the NFL. He always had the lead, but Michael Vick the passer quickly became one of the NFL's most popular punchlines. But not many people are laughing now.

Granted he has only played in 6 games this year so the numbers could change, but as of now, Vick's completion percentage is the highest it has ever been in his NFL career at 60.8% (his career average is 54.2% for some perspective), his quarterback rating is the highest it has ever been in his NFL career at 105.3 (77.9 is the QB rating he has in his career), his touchdown percentage is at a rate higher than at any point in his career, his yards per game is higher than it has ever been in his career, he has not thrown an interception all season, and all of his advanced stats are higher than they have ever been in his career.  And this is on top of the fact that he is still a very elusive quarterback whose running skills is just about back to where they were in his pre-prison days.

But I don't want to focus much more on his running on this post.  Instead, I want to break down 2 pass plays to show you how impressive Michael Vick is today as a quarterback.  Follow the jump for the breakdown!


First, the impressive strike to DeSean Jackson in the 2nd quarter.



Something that is worth noting is just how far Mike Vick threw this ball. It is technically a 58-yard completion, but let's take a closer look at just how far Vick threw it with the following pictoral analysis.

For a guy who has been criticized time and time again for the better part of the last decade for an inability to throw the ball, that is as impressive as it comes. A 57-yard bomb to DeSean Jackson in stride for a huge 3rd down conversion that would ultimately lead to an Akers field goal.

Fast forward to end of the game and here is another pass that really helps to illustrate Michael Vick's improvement in his passing accuracy.



Phil Simms describes this one best. A missile to a very well-covered DeSean Jackson. There are not many places that Michael Vick can put that ball with successful results, but Vick chose the right spot and the result was yet another key 3rd down conversion on a key clock-killing drive in the 4th quarter. If someone was describing plays like this 5 years ago and was saying it was Vick throwing the ball, would you honestly have believed them?

Michael Vick has re-dedicated himself to football since coming out of football and it has shown. On top of that, this is by far the best wide receiving corps that Michael Vick has ever worked with which helps things immensely. For all the credit given to Vick for throwing the ball that deep on the first play, how about the speed of DeSean Jackson to get down the field as fast as he did all the while running right past Aaron Francisco and Deshea Townsend. Let's face it, DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and Jason Avant are huge upgrades to Michael Jenkins, Roddy White, Brian Finnerann, and Peerless Price.

Whether or not Michael Vick can maintain the numbers throughout the rest of the season is something that cannot be determined now. Eventually Vick has to throw an interception at some point. Every quarterback who regularly starts in the NFL throws interceptions eventually.

The bottom line here is not only is Michael Vick a dyanamic threat to make plays with his legs, but his passing is better than it has ever been. Michael Vick's passing used to be a laughing stock, now he is completing difficult passes like the ones above with ease. I'll admit, I thought that it was an aberration at first. He had faced an unprepared Packers team and a team that started CC Brown at safety. JaMarcus Russell could have had respectable performances in such situations. But it is continuing. And continuing. And here we are, Week 9 is finished, and Michael Vick just orchestrated a 7-minute clock-killing drive in the 4th quarter against the defending AFC Champions. Remember those days heading into the draft when he was built as the quarterback who could do it all? Well almost a decade later, it seems like Michael Vick is finally beginning to live up to that hype of long ago.

(All statistics courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference)