Vick: Williams Knows He Has To Control Himself

Michael Vick seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

His overall message was clear: The players have put the Riley Cooper–Cary Williams scuffle behind them, and the team is focused on Washington.

“Yesterday, what happened in that 10 minutes didn’t affect us for the rest of the practice,” Vick said. “We all know one another. We’ve got a brotherhood in there, so it extends far beyond football. It’s just something that happened and we cleared it up. We didn’t even think nothing about it.”

Vick was reminded that there have been multiple incidents involving Williams this summer and was asked why he’s confident things will be different going forward.

“I know after yesterday Cary understands that we need him on the football field, not to be hot-headed at times,” Vick said. “We know he’s a guy who’s very into his work and what we do. And he can’t be high-strung all the time. He’s gotta stay even-keel like everybody else just out of respect for the game more than anything.”

After the initial incident Thursday, Vick tried to separate Williams from Cooper. At that point, the cornerback appeared to have words for Vick before he was restrained by an assistant coach.

“Nothing,” Vick said when asked what that exchange was about. “I’d rather not even talk about it. I’m just trying to put that behind us. We’ve gotta focus on winning this game. Cary’s OK. He understands that he has to control his temper sometimes and we all do. But we all are men at the end of the day. Sometimes tempers do flare, and that’s normal.”

PLAYING ALL 16

Vick was asked what it would mean to him to play all 16 games.

“I plan on playing 16 games this year,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve got my mind made up on. Things happen, but hopefully this year will be my year where I can be out there with my teammates for all 16 games and just enjoy this season and try to make the most out of it.”

The majority of his previous injuries were sustained in the pocket. But this year, there’s been plenty of focus on how quarterbacks who run the read option will protect themselves.

“I actually think it’s safer,” Vick said. “You can kind of control what happens. You can dictate how you’re gonna fall, how you’re gonna get hit. You can see it coming. Sometimes you don’t see it coming when you’re in the pocket, and that can be dangerous.”

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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