Eagles’ O-line needs to take its share of blame
Published: September 26th, 2011 | Tags: Around the League, Michael Vick, Philadelphia Eagles
Michael Vick, we get it. You’re frustrated. We understand why, too.
You’re aching because you keep getting hit left and right out there. You suffered a concussion last week in Atlanta and now a hand contusion Sunday at home against the Giants. It certainly doesn’t help that your “Dream Team” is 1-2 out of the gates in a Super Bowl or bust season.
But hear Jamie Dukes out on this one: The referees are not all to blame for what you’re going through right now.
“The main culprit, if you ask me, is the offensive line of the Philadelphia Eagles,” Dukes said on “Around the League”. “It’s bad enough that you’re allowing your quarterback to get hit all the time … But you don’t let guys (beat up) your quarterback. These guys are taking shots on Vick and forearming him.
“Some offensive lineman needs to hit one of these guys in the head. You’ve got to do something. You have to send a message: ‘OK, tackling my guy is OK.’ But the way they’re doing it, I mean guys are clearly taking shots — it’s forearm shots, it’s shivers and things of that nature. And that’s the offensive line’s fault.”
Now that the Eagles’ O-line has been put on notice, we’ll see if it rises up to the challenge of defending its fragile QB.