NFL

Eagles’ Vick gives Giants’ Coughlin a ‘stomach ache’

Tom Coughlin (Paul J. Bereswill)

These are the words used to characterize only one player.

“He’s unlike anything we’ve seen at the position,” Barry Cofield said.

“He presents something that no other quarterback can give you in this league, he is able to kill you with his arm and his legs, to an extreme level,” added Antrel Rolle.

“His speed, there’s nothing like it at the quarterback position,” Michael Boley said. “You can’t practice for that kind of speed. It’s almost impossible.”

There was a dose of swagger and confidence we’ve come to expect from the Giants’ defense, but mostly there were superlatives heaped on Michael Vick yesterday as the countdown begins. The stakes are high in a first-place showdown featuring the Giants and Eagles, both 6-3, at Lincoln Financial Field and rising above every other ingredient in the game is the way Vick on Monday night seemed to transcend his position.

Vick punctuated his comeback from disgrace in Atlanta with one of the most prolific performances in NFL history. He accounted for six touchdowns — four passing, two rushing — as a high-speed virtuoso as the Eagles turned NFL football into a video game in a 59-28 demolition of the Redskins. The Eagles led 35-0 seconds into the second quarter and Vick completed 20 of 28 passes for 333 yards and also rushed for 80 yards.

“I’ve never seen a quarterback do the things Vick can do, besides seeing Michael Vick,” Rolle said. “His pocket passing is more efficient, he has a bazooka for an arm and he runs faster than three quarters of the receivers in this league.”

Even Tom Coughlin got into the act. He said he made it to halftime of the Monday night massacre and stopped viewing the game as a head coach of the team the Eagles have next.

“I was just like everyone else was, put the pencil down and become a fan,” he said.

Really? The greatness of the Eagles turned Coughlin into a regular fan?

“Not really,” Coughlin admitted. “I got indigestion and a stomach ache.”

So what does Coughlin plan to do to contain Vick?

“Try to get the 12th man out there,” Coughlin said jokingly. “We’re working … on that.”

The Giants will have to make do with the requisite 11. Their defense, so formidable in fashioning a five-game winning streak, came unhinged in last week’s 33-20 loss to the Cowboys, allowing 11 plays of more than 20 yards. The Eagles, with Vick running himself, throwing to DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin and handing the ball off to LeSean McCoy are the highest-scoring team in the NFC. Vick has taken over for Kevin Kolb and is the centerpiece of a jet-quick attack.

It is unlikely the Giants will implement anything drastic for Vick, but they must approach him differently than any other quarterback. Rhett Bomar from the practice squad simulated Vick in practice, which is like asking Ugly Betty to fill in for Jennifer Aniston. The Giants will attempt to confuse Vick with many different looks. Mainly, they want to get rough with him as early and often as possible.

In his developing years in Atlanta, Vick was not an accurate passer but now he’s completing a career-high 62.7 percent of his passes.

“In the past you could kind of hope he would sit there and make mistakes,” Cofield said. “He’s not doing that any more. If you let him sit there he’s gonna kill you with the speed and the way he’s delivering the ball.”

Boley, a teammate of Vick’s for two seasons with the Falcons, says “He looks like a different player.”

What Vick did to the Redskins certainly was intimidating, but Grant said “When an offense is intimidating defense you have problems, you’re going to have a long night.”

paul.schwartz@nypost.com