Mike and Randall

[ThoughtProcess]

I had a look at Lawlor's blog, where he discussed parallels between Randall Cunningham's situation in 1995 and Vick's today. Both were transitioning from one offensive and coaching style to a different one. Both were entrenched as starters the preceding season. Both said all of the right things. Here is an NYT article link from a Cunningham article circa 1995 that Lawlor unearthed: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/06/sp...ted=all&src=pm

Lawlor contends that while RC said the right things and demonstrated a positive reaction to the changes, he fell back into the same things he did under Buddy Ryan. He implores Vick not to fall into the same trap of reverting to a reliance on athletic ability alone to emerge as starter. http://igglesblitz.com/2013/06/learn-from-history-mike/

From the NYT article:

The 32-year-old Cunningham is staking his future on a new offense, which is built around five passing options. Cunningham will have to make quick decisions about distributing the ball or tucking it and running. And he must remain healthy.

From Lawlor's blog:

Randall never bought into the new offense. He was set in his ways and figured he could get the coaches to adjust, as had happened in the past. Other coaches gave in to his talent. Rhodes and Gruden were changing the Eagles. You either changed or you were going to be replaced.
Mike Vick is faced with some of the same challenges as Randall. Vick is a playmaker that is now dealing with a new coach that is a bit of a control freak when it comes to his offense. Like Gruden, Chip hates sacks. Like Gruden, Chip wants quick throws. Like Gruden, Chip wants to run the football.
Randall failed in his attempt to play in Gruden’s offense.
Vick is different and could have a different outcome.

[stocknowledge]

"Vick is different and could have a different outcome."

How is Vick different? Even under Reid, Vick seemed unwilling to tailor his play to fit the system and more inclined to use his athletic ability to attempt to make plays. I'll be shocked if we see any real fundamental change in the way Vick plays the game.

[WCPhan]

I don't Vick has any shot in hell of picking up the new offense. I'm sure the vibrating football offenses confuse him.

[YourPalChrisMal]

I don't Vick has any shot in hell of picking up the new offense. I'm sure the vibrating football offenses confuse him.

Which is why I'm already thinking Nick Foles has a serious shot at being the starting quarterback on Day #1. And if that happens, why even keep Vick around as a back-up? I could definitely see a scenario where Foles starts, Vick gets cut, Barkley is the back-up and Dixon sticks around as the #3.

[FRESH]

WHat they don't say is that when Randall got to play for a coach who taylored things to Randall's skills to maximize his talent, Randall went OFF.

Hopefully Chipster is the kind of coach who will bring out the best of his people.

[musicman]

I don't Vick has any shot in hell of picking up the new offense. I'm sure the vibrating football offenses confuse him.

I could see Vick @ a dept. store stepping on and off the automatic door for a half hour straight.Running a complex offense , not gonna happen.

[ThoughtProcess]

WHat they don't say is that when Randall got to play for a coach who taylored things to Randall's skills to maximize his talent, Randall went OFF.

Hopefully Chipster is the kind of coach who will bring out the best of his people.

I think that it was a combo of that and the talent around him.

Lawlor touches upon 1998 in a different blog: http://eaglesblog.net/2013/06/1998-randall/

EXCERPT:

What happened in 1998?
2 things. First, the Vikings drafted a kid named Randy Moss. He took the NFL by storm that year and caught 17 TD passes, an astonishing number for a rookie.
Brad Johnson was supposed to be the QB, but broke his ankle in Week 2, allowing Cunningham to take the reins of a dynamic offense. That team set the NFL record for points with 556 and went 15-1. That is amazing, but needs to be put in context.
The offense was very good in 1997 with Johnson at QB and no Moss. 11th in points, 8th in yards.
Offense was all-time great with Randall in 1998. 1st in points, 2nd in yards.
Offense was outstanding with Jeff George in 1999. 5th in points, 3rd in yards.
Offense was outstanding with Daunte Culpepper in 2000. 5th in points, 5th in yards.
Randall had an amazing season in 1998 and there is no disputing that. You do have to understand that there was some “right guy, right time” thing going on. NFL teams didn’t know what to do with Moss and Carter and Jake Reed. Billick was in his final season as the OC. The OL started 77 of 80 possible games. The skill players stayed healthy. The Vikings only played 4 games all year against teams with winning records. And tough road games at Chicago and Green Bay came early in the year when the weather was irrelevant

.

I agree that Randall did change his tack , because he stood in and passed a lot more than he ran that year. And as you stated, I hope that Coach Kelly can get Vick rolling like Billick did with RC. I have no real preference for who I think should start. Regardless of who wins as starter, I hope the team wins.

[Eagle60]

WHat they don't say is that when Randall got to play for a coach who taylored things to Randall's skills to maximize his talent, Randall went OFF.

Hopefully Chipster is the kind of coach who will bring out the best of his people.