"Maybe Michael Vick was just trying to project confidence yesterday.

What came across was closer to cluelessness. It was hard to leave Vick's brief session with reporters at NovaCare feeling like the Eagles' quarterback understands and appreciates the adjustments defenses have made over his last half-dozen games, or that he plans to do anything differently.

"I don't think we have to make changes," said Vick, who threw no interceptions in his first seven appearances this year, then threw six in his last five. His passer rating was over 100 in four of his first six games, but only once in his final six.

"I don't have to do nuttin'. I'm still going to be me. I'm still going to play my game, still play with confidence, still try to rally the guys around me, and make sure they're focused and in tune with what we're doing, what we're trying to accomplish," Vick said. "That's what's important. You can't change your game around this time of the season . . . You just go out and play your best football. It's the playoffs."

Asked about the fact that the offense's best work lately came in the final 8 minutes of the Giants game, in which it was otherwise ineffective, Vick said: "As long as you find a way to win at some point, that's all that matters. It doesn't matter what happened in three quarters. If you pull it out and you win, enough said."

There is a grain of truth there - offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said yesterday that blitzing Vick the way teams have been doing lately is high-risk, that the Eagles feel they will hit a big play eventually. But it's also true that Vick needs to work on getting the ball out quicker, and on securing it better against defenders he no longer is catching flatfooted. Minnesota's Antoine Winfield, who picked Vick's pocket for a touchdown a week ago tonight, said afterward he'd noticed on tape that Vick always spins when facing pressure off the corner. Winfield waited for the spin and knocked the ball away.

Vick conceded that "a couple games, we didn't get the ball out, I didn't get the ball out as quick as I wanted to, waiting on the downfield throws. That's why you play the game, you play the game to learn and get better, and that's what I'm doing.""