Marty Mornhinweg believes Michael Vick could be better than Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young -- and he should know.
The Philadelphia Eagles' offensive coordinator not only coached Young during his last two Pro Bowl seasons in San Francisco in 1997 and 1998, he also coached Brett Favre in 1996 when the future Hall of Famer won his only Super Bowl title with the Green Bay Packers. Now Mornhinweg is in charge of Vick, and as he sees it, the sky's the limit.
"Mike's got a long way to go, but, you know what? I think he can be better than Steve," Mornhinweg recently told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Mornhinweg has been an underrated factor in the resurrection of Vick, who missed the entire 2007 and 2008 seasons while serving a federal prison sentence for leading a dogfighting ring.
When Mornhinweg landed in Philadelphia in 2003, his outstanding record as an assistant coach was overshadowed in many fans' minds by his disastrous head-coaching stint in Detroit. His Lions went 5-27 from 2001 to 2002, a stint best remembered for the game in which the coach chose to take the wind and not the ball in overtime against the Chicago Bears, who promptly scored to win.
But things turned around for Mornhinweg in Philly. The Eagles thrived under quarterback Donovan McNabb and now are even more explosive with Vick and a group of young playmakers led by wide receiver DeSean Jackson and running back LeSean McCoy.
With the Atlanta Falcons from 2001 to 2006, Vick was never able to improve upon his 81.6 passer rating from 2002. But in his first full season as the Eagles' starter, he put up a 100.2 rating while throwing for a career-high 3,018 yards.
"Here was a man who hasn't played for a couple of years," Mornhinweg said. "However, if he did it the right way, I thought he could be a Steve Young-type player."
To tap into even more of Vick's seemingly unlimited potential, Mornhinweg and quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson are focusing on two areas: improving red-zone performance and reducing sacks. Last season, Vick was sacked 34 times, a surprising number for arguably the most evasive quarterback in league history.
Said Mornhinweg: "Here is the situation Mike is in. He's got uncommon athleticism, so he can get away, on occasion, back-dooring it. There's that fine line when you need to throw it away or get it out to a hot receiver or use that athleticism to make that great play."
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