Michael Vick's 2011 Season By The Numbers

Hindsight is 20/20. That's what a lot of fantasy football owners were telling themselves and others following a fairly disappointing season by Philadelphia Eagles star quarterback Michael Vick.

You know, the guy that came out of nowhere to beat out Kevin Kolb in 2010, take the league by storm, and march into 2011 as the consensus number one overall fantasy quarterback?

Or perhaps you better recognize him as the guy you took first overall, despite your own better judgment, only to see him get off to a slow start in 2011, with just nine touchdowns to eight interceptions through the first six weeks.

To make matters worse, the guy that tore up the league the year before and was supposed to be your weekly savior due to his athleticism, versatility, and explosiveness, well, simply wasn't living up to all the hype.

Whole Lot of Interceptions

After throwing just six interceptions and rushing for nine touchdowns the year before, Vick was suddenly throwing blindly into double coverage, while amassing 14 interceptions on the year. And that was in just 13 contests. Average his pick total out for three more weeks, and Vick would have given us an average of 3.23 picks over those extra three games, which would have give you a very un-Vick-like interception total of 17+.

That's not just disappointing. It's baffling. We all know Vick has never been the most accurate passer (56% completion rate for his career), but he's at least done a pretty solid job at taking care of the football (72 career interceptions in 111 games). In fact, prior to 2011, the most picks Vick ever tossed in one season was 13.

Downturn in Rushing Totals

But his interception total isn't the worst part. It's disturbing, but it's not what flat-lined your fantasy season. What did sink the ship, however, was Vick's lack of explosiveness as a runner - especially after missing three straight weeks due to cracked ribs.

Before succumbing to the rib injury, Vick tallied at least five rushes and at least 25 rushing yards in every single game leading into week 11 (the first week he sat out). And after? Just one game with more than three rushing attempts, and just one game with more than even 10 rushing yards in his final four games.

The weird part about this close-up is that Vick's only rushing score of the entire year (no, you read that right), actually came during this dismal stretch to end the year, when he only ran the ball a measly 11 total times for a piddly 54 yards.

Four games. 11 carries. 54 yards. Depending on your fantasy league, Vick got you just over one point per game from a rushing stand-point down the stretch. In other words, he was a pocket passer during your fantasy playoffs, when you most needed him to do what he traditionally does best, and be the versatile, explosive weapon you drafted him to be.

New Passing Highs

With that said, it wouldn't be a true By The Numbers dissection if we didn't also look at the good. On the bright side, Vick actually threw for a career high 3,303 yards in 2011, 285 yards more than he did in 2011. And while his picks were up and rushing touchdowns were down, he still finished with just three less passing scores (18) in 2011 than he did in 2010 (21).

Unfortunately, the good news ends there, and reality has to take over at some point.

By The Numbers Recap

The truth is, Vick made fantasy heads roll in 2010, largely due to a huge night against the Washington Redskins in week 10, when he scored six touchdowns and amassed over 400 total yards. That was his coming out party, and he went on to score 15 total touchdowns over the final six weeks.

But that was then, and this is now. Vick dropped off considerably from his 2010 heights, as he went from the 3rd overall fantasy quarterback, to the 11th overall, as he scored 44 less fantasy points, as well as about four less points per game.

So, here comes the big question: Which season was the fluke?

The knee-jerk reaction is that 2010 was amazing and Vick will never get back there. After all, he got banged up pretty good in 2011 and has never been a model of health and consistency. Add in that he's going on 32 and is missing his top left tackle (Jason Peters) due to an achilles injury, and Vick's 2011 could leak into 2012.

Yeah, it could. And that's the thing with Vick. He's still too talented to completely write off, and he's still going to be worth a shot in the first round of your fantasy draft because of his potential.

I'd just think twice about taking him number one overall again.