Everyone knows the Eagles are going to be good this season. You know it. I know it. The American people know it. The Eagles know it as well, and while I'd never knock a team for being supremely confident, there's a fine line between being confident and being stupidly arrogant. And Mike Vick and Andy Reid get awfully close in this article posted by Mike Silver over at Yahoo. Listen to Vick:
You can’t design a defense to stop me, especially not on this team. We have so many weapons, and some teams have tried to make that their primary focus. That’s when we run up the score.
Vick is dead wrong about that, because it was just last December when the Minnesota Vikings DID design a defense to stop Vick, blitzing Antoine Winfield off the right corner play after play and nearly killing Vick in the process. Vick's always been confident in his abilities, a confidence that ended up ruining him in Atlanta because he felt his ability precluded the need to work on his game. Vick is different now, of course. He's applying himself. But this is the NFL. As fast and as strong as Vick is, he CAN be stopped, and this team won't always be able to run up the score, like he says they will. Then you've got Andy Reid echoing Vick's bravado:
People can say there’s a way to stop Michael Vick, but this is a team sport. You’ve got this beautiful mind of Marty (Mornhinweg)’s and you’ve got to deal with what he’s gonna throw at you, and there are all these other players you have to defend. You can say you’re gonna stop Michael Vick, but you’ve got to stop the whole group.
That's all fine and dandy, but this team remains just a knee injury away from starting Mike Kafka for an extended stretch. If there's any sport that punishes you karmically for getting all arrogant before a season begins, it's football. Any QB can be solved. Any team can be stopped, especially one with the kind of offensive line questions the Eagles currently have. The Eagles have every right to be optimistic heading into this season. But if they think this is going to be a cakewalk, the football gods have a way of making you come correct real quick.
