Vick told reporters that after the first quarter he felt like the Eagles had already played a half. He said, "It's going to be a long season."
Obviously Vick made the statements in a celebratory moment, but they have a double meaning. The fast-paced style, if it persists game after game, will wear the Eagles out.
Pro teams carry a roster of 53 players and play 16 grueling regular season games. The Eagles are back at it next Sunday, a scant six days from now. Will they recover in time from this first flourish of uptempo exercise?
My theory is they'll be fine, even good, for a few weeks early in the season, but down the road they'll lose their legs. Vick is an old man by football standards, at 33. The kids will have a better chance of surviving for a longer period of time, but Vick is gonna be toast soon enough.
If he holds up the entire season I'll buy you a beer.
The irony is I love this kind of football; it is one of the reasons I enjoy the college game more than the staid professional variety. But NCAA rosters have the numbers to play fast. Look at Oregon. Kelly's success there was predicated on having a lot of players. Thirty defensive players got in the game against Virginia last weekend. Most of them were Kelly's guys, players selected and molded to fit his approach to the game.
But in order for this to ultimately work league-wide in the NFL, teams will have to restructure their employment philosophies, pay the bucks to expand their rosters, and go for it.
They have no real incentive to do this, however. Pro football fans are among the most loyal in sports. Even losing teams sell out weekly, so why would owners want to change the scheme of things?
I look for the Eagles to go strong for half the season before fading into a tired-assed funk.
It'll be entertaining as hell for awhile, but then it will settle into the ordinary show of typical professional football.
Slow down here, fellas. What's the hurry? We're makin' money, ain't we?
TS
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