Getty ImagesAnyone familiar with the film The Program likely remembers that James Caan, playing a college football coach, had Omar Epps, playing a fumble-prone freshman running back in love with Halle Berry, carry a football around campus with him so that he could work on holding onto the football while his teammates tried to knock the ball loose.
It worked well enough for ESU to win the big game at the end of the movie. The Eagles are hoping that life imitates art.
Quarterback Michael Vick carried a football to meals and meetings around the Eagles facility all week and the rest of the team was charged with knocking it loose. Vick has fumbled eight times already this season, including three in last week’s loss to the Steelers, and the team needs him to to stop being careless with the football. Vick joked about there being a bounty on the ball, but said that the exercise was not a laughing matter.
“Breakfast, to the meetings, lunch. Everyone thought it was funny, but I didn’t,” Vick said in comments distributed by the team. “That’s how much I care about this team and that’s how much I care about our success and winning on Sundays. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that I take care of my responsibilities.”
Vick said he didn’t think the focus on his fumbles would be a distraction to him once the game agains the Lions gets underway. If that turns out to be false, it could wind up being another frustrating day for the Eagles offense.
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Let him walk around with Halle Berry… Wait..let ME walk around with Halle Berry
You would be better off and so would the team, if you handed it off to McCoy more often, cut down on your running around, throw that damn ball out of bounds and/or you step out of bounds to avoid a hit. Bed smart about it.
Well, at least they didn’t try and strangle his dog.
Mike acknowledged that the experience was humiliating and degrading. “But, hey, it’s Halle Berry we’re talking about here. Man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”.
“Well, at least they didn’t try and strangle his dog”
Euphemism?
Rookie camp time.
Maybe he will have to be hazed and buy dinners for the vets.
The comeback story is over.
The Broncos have DeMaryius Thomas doing the same thing this week. The receivers coach gave him a green football with his kids’ name on it. Hope it works!
Yeah, Thomas will protect that football like it was his drunk girlfriend at Perrish Cox’ house.
As a component of his rehab, PETA should have forced Vick to carry around a puppy everywhere he goes.
Yoooo…lol…talk about old school…
That takes me back to high school, walking around school with the ball.
He should just pretend the football is a bar of soap when hes on the field.
He will be better off and so will his team. I think it is a good idea. He is at least working on the problem and that is the most the fans or the team can ask of him.
It’s when he’s eating breakfast on the field that he loses the ball, it’s when he dives forward. He needs to learn how to slide!
Bonus points if someone puts a squeak toy inside the football he’s carrying around!
Omar Epps? Oh..you mean Darnell Jefferson… Gotcha!
Can’t hurt.
What a great role Mike Tomlin had in that movie; getting with Halle Berry and being the star RB.
Lol Tomlin and Epps almost have to be related.
Got to be a humbling experience. I think it will probably help. It also shows a lot about how his character has improved. You can’t subject yourself to that and say what he said if your character was like the old Mike Vick.
LOL … Vick is going think about not fumbling so much that either he will fumble the first time he is hit or he will forget the play.
“Yeah, Thomas will protect that football like it was his drunk girlfriend at Perrish Cox’ house.”
First I laughed, then I kinda cringed.
Larry Brown was a promising young running back for the Skins who had a problem with fumbling. Vince Lombardi cured him of it by making him carry a ball everywhere he went.
What will they do to help him recognize professional cover schemes, make intelligent decisions and to generally wise up, make him carry an honorary diploma around like The Scarecrow?
Please everyone, No more “carrying a dog by his neck” jokes. We all agree that’s just not funny.
Vick has always ran without much regard for tucking the ball. That’s just Vick.
That won’t fix the big empty space between his ears.
The boy is as dumb as a box of rocks.