Michael Vick is passing on-field test

At least one of the massive men who blocks for Philadelphia’s Michael Vick is willing to concede he’s a bit in awe of the Eagles star — and not just in the wake of a historic performance Monday in a 59-28 rout of Washington.

“Michael Vick was football before he went away,” Eagles tackle Winston Justice said Wednesday, referring to the quarterback’s career in Atlanta before his 1½ years in prison for his role in a dogfighting operation.

“Just a couple years ago, Michael Vick was the face of Nike. It wasn’t Peyton Manning or Tom Brady, it was Vick. Kids wanted to be Vick. He’s one of the few players who got his own line of shoes. Mike was pretty big.”

That Vick has any shred of a career left is remarkable. He was among the country’s most despised public figures when details came to light about him participating in the killing of poor-performing dogs by shooting, hanging, drowning and electrocution

In a recent NFL Network interview with his former Falcons coach, Jim Mora, Vick said his “whole life was a lie. Everything from A to Z.”

Vick said his 19 months in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., were invaluable in changing his outlook on his way of life, his choices, and his blown opportunity to make millions of dollars playing a game.

“My life has just changed drastically,” he told Mora. “When I sat in prison in Leavenworth, I was thinking, ‘How do I want to live my life moving forward? How do I want to change things? What can I do better this time around?’ ”

By every indication — and despite the fact some people will never forgive him for his past wrongs — Vick is back on the dizzying ride to superstardom. He leads the NFL with a 115.1 passer rating, is the league’s only regular starting quarterback without an interception, and turned a game against the Redskins into a personal passing drill: 333 yards and four touchdowns passing, 80 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

“Somebody reported that it was 35-0 and the Redskins had had 12 plays,” said New York Giants Coach Tom Coughlin, whose team plays at Philadelphia on Sunday. “That was enough to give me indigestion.”

Any opponent might be popping antacids at the overall improvement of Vick, who has flourished under Coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, going from a pull-it-down-and-run quarterback to a patient passer who actually studies his options.

Compared to 2006, Vick’s last season with Atlanta, his passer rating has improved 39.4 points, his completion rate has gone from 52.6% to 62.7%, and his yards-per-pass-attempt have climbed from 6.4 to 8.8.

Reid, whose previous work with Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb helped bring them along as quarterbacks, said Eagles assistant coaches have done a good job with Vick.

But he added: “It’s really the player — if the player doesn’t want to absorb it then he’s not going to absorb it. And Michael, since he’s been here, has been just a sponge with things and taken everything in, trying it, and then relaying that from practice to the game field.”

Besides the increased dedication Vick has shown in film study and in the weight room, he has — with the help of coaches — tweaked his throwing stance. That was something the Eagles frequently worked on with McNabb, who often struggled with accuracy.

Much more so now than during his days in Atlanta, Vick bounces his body to change directions as he scans the field, all the while keeping a sturdy base.

“We’re not changing mechanics, we’re just changing things that help in accuracy, your balance, having your feet in the proper position,” Vick said. “We’re not trying to change the throwing motion or anything like that, so it’s fairly easy.”

About 15 miles from Eagles headquarters Wednesday, at NFL Films in Mt. Laurel, N.J., the analysts from Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” — Warren Sapp, Cris Collinsworth and Phil Simms — were abuzz about Vick’s latest performance. They discussed him during a break from taping.

Sapp, a former All-Pro defensive tackle for Tampa Bay, used to play against Vick twice a season but only lost to him once.

“It’s amazing that he was able to go to three Pro Bowls doing what he did,” Sapp said. “We always knew he was a talent but as a defense we’d say, ‘We’ve got to make him throw the ball.’

“We used to love it. We’d take away the first receiver, and we knew he was going to run. It played right into our hands. It just wasn’t something we were concerned about, because he wasn’t going to throw the ball, other than a little dump-off or something.

“Now, I see a presence from him. He’s in the pocket, and he’s looking! He never looked before. It’s nothing like we’re watching now. It’s scary to watch him play right now.”

Collinsworth said Vick’s combination of quickness and mobility in the pocket, and his phenomenal arm strength, gives the Eagles a one-of-a-kind offensive weapon.

“Who physically in the history of that position can do what he can do? I can’t name one person,” Collinsworth said. “Has there ever been anybody with that kind of arm, that’s the fastest guy, that now is starting to evolve and throw and take the job seriously?

“My guess is, he watched himself run on tape last year — and that tape doesn’t lie — and said, ‘You know what? I’ve got bills to pay. I’m not a rich man at this point. I’ve got to learn the rest of this game.’ And he has.”

Simms, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, said he doesn’t focus on Vick’s improved numbers or altered footwork, but the quarterback’s maturation between the ears.

“He went away, and his mind got old,” Simms said. “That’s the success of a quarterback — an old mind and a young body. That’s what you want to have.”

Still, Simms cautions, there is a lot of football to be played.

“I want to say to everybody, ‘Slow down,’ ” he said. “He’s not going to do what he did against the Redskins on Monday night every week. It’s not going to happen.

“Every opponent now is going to go into Michael Vick defensive mode. He’s going to see new stuff, different looks, and we’ll see.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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