Eagles quarterback Michael Vick says he’s going to be a great run-pass threat in new coach Chip Kelly’s offense. And he’s not going to let anyone talk him out of playing the game the way he’s meant to play it.
Vick told reporters that he tried to become more of a pocket passer in part to placate members of the media who said he wouldn’t be able to hold up to the physical challenges of playing a 16-game season if he was taking off and running regularly. Now, Vick says, he’s not going to let any outside influences stop him from being the kind of player he can be.
“You guys act like I get hurt once a week,” Vick said to reporters, via Philly.com. “You all did that to me. Made me change the way I played the game.”
Vick, whose 5,551 rushing yards are the most for any quarterback in NFL history, thinks he could have been an even better runner if he hadn’t allowed criticism of his style to hold him back.
“I think you’ve got to take on a certain mind-set that you’re going to play the game all-out,” Vick said. “If you go into a football game not wanting to get hurt or trying not to get hurt, it doesn’t allow you to play the way you want to play.”
Vick has long been viewed as the perfect quarterback to run the kind of offense that Kelly engineered at Oregon. Now he’ll get a chance to show what he can do.