Michal Vick takes responsibility for struggles in loss to Chiefs

The magic that carried Michael Vick through the first two games of the season disappeared Thursday night in a flurry of turnovers, overthrows, sacks and poor decisions. After two terrific games to open the Chip Kelly Era, Vick struggled through a miserable evening on national TV in the Eagles’ 26-16 loss to the Chiefs Thursday night (see Instant Replay). Vick threw two interceptions, completed only 43 percent of his passes -- his lowest figure since he was with the Falcons -- and never got into a rhythm against a Chiefs defense that’s now allowed just 32 points in three games.

After putting up 33 points in the first 32 minutes of the season, the Eagles’ offense has now scored 46 in the last 148 minutes. Vick began the night as the NFL’s third-ranked quarterback. That didn’t last long. The Eagles turned the ball over on four of their first six possessions, and the Chiefs took command of the game and never let go. “We had the turnover, we get a score, we come back, we have good field position, we have another turnover, we’re moving the ball and we have another turnover,” Vick said.

“It’s hard to get into a rhythm [like that]. Next thing you know, it’s halftime. The good thing is, we know exactly why we didn’t play the type of game we wanted to play.” Vick completed just 13 of 30 passes for 201 yards with the two interceptions and a 22-yard touchdown pass to Jason Avant. He also rushed five times for 95 yards, including a career-long 61-yarder -- the longest run in Eagles history by a quarterback.

Vick’s 43.3 percent completion percentage is the worst by an Eagles quarterback since Mike McMahon completed 36.4 percent of his passes in a loss at Arizona in 2005. It was Vick’s worst completion percentage since he hit on 37.5 percent of his passes against the Saints for the Falcons in 2006. “We’ve got to go back to the drawing board, regroup and figure this out,” Vick said. “But I’m confident that we will, and we’ve got some time to do so, and we’ve got to get ready to go to Denver.”

The Eagles did pile up 431 yards of offense, giving them 1,385 in three games. That’s the eighth-most in NFL history. But they take a 1-2 record into a three-game road trip against the Broncos, Giants and Buccaneers. “To say that we didn’t do our jobs correctly is probably the only way I can put it,” Vick said. “We’ve got two losses outside of the conference, and we’ve got to stay focused on what the big picture is, and if we do that, we’ll be all right. But we have to take care of our business first.” Vick was especially upset with the first interception, which safety Eric Berry returned 38 yards for a touchdown that gave the Chiefs an early 10-0 lead.

“What hurts so much about that play, I knew exactly what I needed to do,” Vick said. “I had press coverage on one side, and I tried to take the easy way out. I throw the fade on the other side, it never happens.

“I didn’t make a good throw, made a poor decision, bad ball, and it’s something to learn from. I pre-determined what I was going to do and then second-guessed myself. I had the right decision that I was going to make and then I tried to do something else out of the box, and it didn’t work out for me.” Vick hadn’t thrown an interception in two games. Thursday night, he threw two by the middle of the second quarter. “The second one was just a misread and I missed him, and those plays you can’t have against a good defense like this,” Vick said.

“You’ve got to make every play count, and I take sole responsibility for what happened tonight. I didn’t get the tempo going, I didn’t move the ball the way we were supposed to move the ball, I didn’t get the guys going the way I was supposed to get the guys going. “They were just the better team tonight. We didn’t execute at all on offense. We didn’t do the things we’re typical and we’re capable of and it hurt our football team tonight.”

- Reuben Frank, CSN Philly