Didinger On Kelly Fixing Vick's Fumbling Problem: 'That's Nonsense'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Two of the biggest questions about Michael Vick as starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles are his propensity for turnovers, and his ability to read a defense.
Vick says Chip Kelly may have solved one of them, and the other doesn't exist. NFL analyst Ray Didinger thinks Vick is sorely mistaken.
"That's nonsense. No, it is," Didinger said of Vick's claim that Kelly showed him a new way to hold the football, and it could solve the quarterback's fumbling issues. "The thing is, holding the ball a certain way---you actually do that with a running back. By the way a running back carries the ball, you actually can by just adjusting the way he holds the ball and the four points of pressure and all that stuff that they talk about."
Didinger spoke to Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show about Vick's recent comments about fumbling, and his ability to read a defense.
"It's the not the same thing for a quarterback, because of the way a quarterback has to handle---he doesn't handle the ball like a running back. And most of Mike Vick's fumbles don't occur when he's running with the ball tucked under his arm, it occurs with him running through the pocket, extending the ball out, while he's looking around trying to decide whether he wants to throw it or not," Didinger said. "He gets hit from behind, he gets hit from the side, and that's when the ball comes loose. I would probably buy that if it was a running back saying it. It's not so much with a quarterback, because the quarterback handles the ball entirely different. The quarterback fumble problem is a judgement issue and that's really what you get back to with Mike all the time, is his judgement. His inability to get rid of the ball on time and his inability to read a coverage or feel the pressure around him. That's been Mike's problem through out, that's why he fumbles the ball. It's not the way he's carrying it as much as how long he's carrying, why he's carrying, where he's carrying it. That's the bigger issue."
Vick said that critics who say he can't read a defense "know nothing about football." Didinger, who knows football, disagrees.
"I'd like to sit down with him and show him tape of last year and ask him about it," Didinger said. "It's just not true."
