Who Will Be The Redskins 2011 Opening Day Starting QB?

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by Coff

Has anyone mentioned Vick? He's a free agent at the end of the season, and it's not a big secret that the Skins pay more than any other team. I know that the smart money is on Vick returning to Philly, but it's worth mentioning. That being said, he's not a proven fit for Shanny's offense (though many prognosticators were saying that McNabb would be more suited to Shanny's West Coast offense than what he came from in Philly).

A few things. For starters if you were the Eagles how can you even think of letting him go? On top of that if you're Vick why would you want to go anywhere else? You finally have a coach that has turned you into a top passer and a supporting cast that has allowed you to flourish.

So long as the Eagles pay market value, which they will, Vick will stay. The only conceivable way that Vick leaves Philly is if someone gives him a significantly higher contract that allows him to get out of debt but I doubt after this season that the Eagles would low ball him enough to force Vick to make that decision. At the very least they will franchise him.

Now the thing is with the recent failures of Donovan McNabb odds are that Vick wouldn't fair much better as a passer in this system. Word from McNabb's camp is that Shanahan's system is so rigid that it causes problems for a QB like McNabb who likes to improvise. Personally I don't know what that means granted that he's not much of a scrambler anymore but thats what McNabb's camp continues to stress.

This leads me to assume that part of the reason Vick has been so successful in Philly is because Vick is given a little bit more freedom to let the play come to him without having to worry to much about precise reads. This also leads me to believe that hypothetically if a guy like Big Ben were to become available (which he won't) then we would have similar problems.

From the recent Sally Jenkins Article:

The word from inside Redskins Park was that the Shanahans have been frustrated for weeks by the fact that McNabb either couldn't or wouldn't absorb Kyle Shanahan's offense and make the correct reads, and that he only wanted to do the things that made him comfortable. His inflexibility limited the play-calling options, and his inconsistency too often put them in difficult long-yardage situations. Hence, he never improved in 13 games. Those judgments now seem correct.

The word from the McNabb side is that the Shanahans didn't do enough to accommodate his improvisational talents, that Kyle Shanahan still has a lot to learn that he didn't do enough to make the freelance-happy McNabb more effective, and also protect him from sacks behind a vulnerable line. Perhaps a valid point, given that Grossman was sacked five times.

Apparently the key to being successful in this system is staying within the system. Something that McNabb doesn't do.