Eagles quarterback Mike Vick — he of the 30 touchdowns last year — won’t play Sunday night against the Giants. Instead, it’ll be Vince Young making his first start since Nov. 10, 2010.
Huge deal, right?
Not if you ask the Giants.
“We think that if [Vick] doesn’t start the offense doesn’t change. They continue to feature the quarterback in ways that moves the quarterback,” head coach Tom Coughlin said Friday. “The quarterback is prone to scramble. He is a big strong guy with a big strong arm. He has been improvising on occasions like Michael Vick has since his collegiate career. We played against him a few years ago. We know his talents and his strengths. He would allow them, we think, to play their offense.”
That game Coughlin refers to did not go well. It was Nov. 26, 2006 and is most remembered for a Mathias Kiwanuka sack that wasn’t. Kiwanuka wrapped up Young on fourth down and thought the whistle had blown as he pushed Young backwards. It hadn’t. Young would up winning the game after the Giants led 21-0 with 10 minutes left (see below).
Young also beat the Giants, 29-10, last season — something the Giants haven’t forgotten either.
“He’s a good quarterback, athletic, can make plays with his feet as well as with his arm,” Umenyiora said. “He came down here with Tennessee last year and they beat us. He had a good game then.”
Herzlich steps in to start
At the start of training camp former Boston College linebacker Mark Herzlich was the feel good, human interest story. Herzlich overcame Ewing’s sarcoma, a bone cancer, while in college and after going undrafted this past April signed with the Giants. The fact that he played well enough to make the roster was just the icing on the cake.
This weekend, that’s all over. Now Herzlich needs to step up.
With Michael Boley, the leader of the Giants linebacking corps, out Herzlich will get his first career start against the Eagles. And the Giants expect him to play like a starter.
“He has been constant in his progress,” Coughlin said. “He is a young linebacker; given the opportunity, we will see how he plays.”
Herzlich has seen time mostly on special teams so far this season and so he has just five tackles.
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