Look at how far we have come. Just a few months ago, I was beginning to prepare for a rebuilding year. Of course, Kevin Kolb had the potential to do good things, but no one was expecting anything more than a possible race for the playoffs. LeSean Mccoy: he’s pretty good, not anything special but still good enough to start at the tail back position. Desean Jackson: he is definitely maturing as a possession receiver as well as a deep threat, but we aren’t quite sure if Kolb can get the ball to him enough. Jeremy Maclin and Jason Avant: solid receivers, good young weapons, but really, who knows? Oh well, here we go into another mediocre Eagles seaso- WOAH! What do we have here? Michael Vick? The Dog Killer? What? No it must be a joke. Okay I guess this is a good thing – WOAH! He put a beatdown on the Redskins? They publicly shamed Donovan Mcnabb? Well then. He beat the giants too and plunged the Eagles into first place in the NFC East? Alright, I think I like this.
The 7-4 Eagles are making an unexpected run at the playoffs and everyone is excited about it. As a season ticket holder, I attended the Indianapolis and the New York game and I have not been this impressed since Terrell Owen’s debut against the Giants in 2004, my first eagles game ever, in which T.O. had three touchdown receptions 20 feet in front of me. You know I am psyched about this when I am comparing Michael Vick’s performances over the three-game win streak to the game that made me into the Eagle’s fan that I am today. And I know that I am not alone because I watched ESPN every morning in the week after the Redskins game. Any 59-28 victory is usually covered and analyzed and hyped up by Mike and Mike but never before have I heard so much about a single player’s performance. Every morning I listened to ESPN remind me of his 4 passing touchdowns and his 150.7 QB Rating and his 333 Yards and his lack of interceptions. I got to hear even more about his 8 rushes for 80 yards and his 2 rushing touchdowns. They repeated it over and over until eventually I barely needed to look up the stats for this column.
Then the week after came and I had the pleasure of watching Vick and the Eagles win again among the booing crowds and vociferously hissing fans of Lincoln Financial Field. As the players came onto the field and Dan Baker announced the Offensive starters one by one, everyone was building up their excitement for the one and only Michael Vick who exited the giant Eagle Head in a praying position to thunderous applause.
So in short, everyone is hype. Eagles fans are hype, sports fans are hype, and even John Madden is hype. Here’s why we’re all hype: Eagles games have never been more exciting. Sure, Donovan Mcnabb could always escape defenders and continue down the field for 30 yards, but never in such a beautiful fashion. Just when you think Vick is sacked for sure, he jumps over a defender, spins away from another, jukes out the next one, and suddenly he’s way down the field and has a first down. Even when he passes, sometimes he throws it so far or with such great accuracy that you wonder why he couldn’t do this in Atlanta. The Brent Celek touchdown at the end of the Bears game was a perfect example of something Mcnabb never did and Kolb could never do.
We’re also hype about this because we finally feel like the Eagles can actually win important games. Even as a loyal fan, when there were 3 minutes left, the Eagles had the ball and just needed to drive and score to win, I never had any faith. Mcnabb was a great quarterback, but he could not deliver in the clutch. Vick, however, as they say in the vernacular, doesn’t blow it when it matters. Mcnabb could demolish the redskins and kick them while they’re down too, but Vick held on and led the Eagles to victory against the Giants. Vick also drove and scored when it mattered against the Bears, but came up just short.
Whether you like him personally or not, Vick has stirred the sports media and the Eagles fanbase into a frenzy. Constant excitement about what he will do next, or constant arguments about his past and his future. Everyone wants to watch him play and everyone is hyped up in this new state of Vickmania.