In an attempt to put Michael Vick’s numbers into better context, I decided to compare his passing numbers against the teams he has competed against vs. other QBs against those same teams.  3 games is not a huge sample size, but it’s big enough to start to get a feel for things.  Most teams have faced good and bad QBs, Vick has faced good and bad defenses.  So where are we with Vick?  Note I’m only comparing his passing numbers here, with no attempt to quantify his sacs or rushing.

Note also I’m using Yards per attempt rather than raw yardage.  I like YPA better than raw yardage, since the raw numbers can get inflated if a team is playing from behind a lot, and I have found YPA to be a better indicator of future performance than gross yardage.

GB

YPA Vick: 7.3 – all others 5.4

TD: Vick 1 (total 2 quarters) – all others 1 (total 10 quarters)

INT: Vick 0 (total 2 quarters) – all others 3 (total 10 quarters)

Passer rating: Vick – 102 – all others 58

DET

YPA Vick: 8.4 – all others 8.2

TD: Vick 2/game – all others 1.5/game

INT: Vick 0/game – all others 1.5/game

Passer rating: Vick – 108 – all others 88

JAX

YPA Vick: 9.4 – all others 10.2

TD: Vick 3/game – all others 2/game

INT: Vick 0/game – all others 1.5/game

Passer rating: Vick – 119 – all others 104

Overall

YPA Vick: 8.4 – all others 7.6

TD: Vick 2.4/game – all others 1.2/game

INT: Vick 0/game – all others 1.5/game

Passer rating: Vick – 109 – all others 80

Preliminary conclusions:  Vick over 2 ½ games has been a top notch passer.  We all have seen him make some bad throws, and he’s lucky he hasn’t thrown an INT yet, and that will change and drag down his passer rating.  But you cannot possibly look at his performance and write it off as a product of just bad competition.  Jacksonville is a terrible pass defense, but Green Bay is a great one, and Detroit has shown itself to be at least a mediocre one to date.  Vick has cut through them all with equal skill.

In his Atlanta days, Vick kept Defensive Coordinators up at nights scheming about how they would be able to remove his 2 weapons, his left and right legs.  Though his running has come down a notch, it still requires game planning to slow him down.  However that’s not what DCs are sweating about these days.  For the first time in his career, they are going to have to figure out how to take away his arm first, and his legs second.  I would not be surprised to see teams go away from keeping a spy on him to prevent him from running.  More likely they will use that player to cover Brent Celek or Shady McCoy, and let Vick get his yards with his legs rather than letting him beat them throwing the ball.  When that happens, watch for Vick to have a huge day running.

Ever since Steve Young, the NFL has been looking for an effective scrambler who can also kill you throwing the ball.  McNabb was close to that, but never had one season where he did both effectively.  Vick might be the next Young.  If he continues his performances from the first 3 weeks all year, he will be.