All right, enough of the dog jokes for the moment. Enough of the initial shock of the signing of Michael Vick dissipating into a mere curiosity for most Eagles fans. Enough of waiting to simply see him take a snap in a game. Just for today, just for now, let’s talk solely about the football, about how Vick might be used and about whether the bark of anticipation will prove louder than the bite of actual production. (Sorry. Last one, promise.) We expected to know more about all that after Vick appeared in the team’s exhibition game against Jacksonville on Thursday, but the reality is that we know even less. The brief, six-snap introduction, widely spaced in the first four offensive series …
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We know even less about Michael Vick
Joe Mays had taken nearly every snap at middle linebacker on the starting defense since Stewart Bradley’s season-ending knee injury and was poised to open the season as the trio’s newest starter. But the coaches threw a new wrinkle into the personnel groupings at practice Saturday, going with experience over youth. Omar Gaither resumed his spot in the middle of the first defense for the first time since 2007, when he led the defense in tackles and looked like an upcoming star for the Eagles’ trio. “I feel like I’m going home,” Gaither said before practice. “I feel like Dorothy.” Gaither stopped just short of penciling himself into the starting job on Sept. 13, when the season opens against …
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Gaither resumes starting LB role
Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Donovan McNabb — and everyone else on the offense — won’t have to worry about Michael Vick interrupting the game flow. What was seen on the field Thursday against the Jaguars — Vick rotating in and out for one play at a time in a variety of formations — isn’t exactly how it’ll look during the regular season, after Vick has his suspension lifted by commissioner Roger Goodell. “It was new,” Mornhinweg said. “Listen, I understand the rhythm and all of that. But, one play here and there is not going to disrupt the rhythm. It won’t happen. So, we’ll continue to do that and Michael will help us in some of these situations.” Vick appeared in …
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Vick won’t affect flow, says coach
Eagles fans gave Michael Vick a warm welcome the other night. I guess they figure if he can help the Eagles win, they’ll approve of him. I don’t think Michael Vick belongs in Philadelphia. I’m neither a fan nor a critic of Vick. But I believe the guy can still play and he doesn’t belong as merely a ‘wildcat’ quarterback. He’s probably better than a third of the quarterbacks in the NFL. He should have signed where he has a chance to play quarterback or at least contend for the starting job. If I hear “everyone deserves a second chance” one more time, my head might explode. But if he deserves such a chance, he deserves it at the level his ability dictates. And that is not as an on-the-field, …
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Michael Vick picked wrong team to sign
Eagles middle linebacker Stewart Bradley tore his right ACL during the “Flight Night” practice at Lincoln Financial Field. So, how clear is the succession picture now, 4 weeks later? Not very. Defensive coordinator Sean McDermott acknowledged yesterday that Omar Gaither, just back from missing a couple weeks with a knee injury, will get a look this week as the starter in the middle, 2 weeks before the start of the regular season. The Birds end their preseason Thursday against the Jets, with McDermott still evaluating what he has at middle linebacker, free safety and left defensive end. After yesterday’s practice, Gaither said he’d taken all the middle-linebacking snaps with the first-team …
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Gaither in the middle of big Eagles question
George and Ira Gershwin have nothing on Marty Mornhinweg.Rhythm? Marty has it, or at least he has a clear understanding of it, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator assured reporters yesterday.Who could ask for anything more?Thursday night, it kinda seemed like Donovan McNabb could, and did. McNabb gestured to Mornhinweg, apparently indicating it was time to stop running Michael Vick on and off the field on second down and let the offense develop some continuity, some flow, in the Birds’ 33-32 preseason win over Jacksonville.After the game, McNabb sidestepped the gesture controversy, but he made it clear he did indeed indicate it was time to get down to business. Eagles coach Andy Reid had …
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Mornhinweg faces music on Eagles’ offensive rhythm
The debate about whether a player can lose his job while he is injured took an odd turn yesterday at the NovaCare Complex.If the Eagles’ current situation remains in place for the Sept. 13 season opener against the Carolina Panthers, Omar Gaither has actually gained ground in the competition at middle linebacker while injured.After missing the Eagles’ two previous preseason games because of a sprained right knee, Gaither, for the first time since the start of training camp, is first on the depth chart at the position where he started for most of the 2007 season.Joe Mays, meanwhile, has been demoted after initially being the Eagles’ choice to replace Stewart Bradley, who suffered a …
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Hobbled Gaither tops Eagles’ middle linebacker chart
It all became clear Thursday night, during and especially after the Eagles’ synapse-searing preseason game against Jacksonville.Andy Reid’s signing of Michael Vick really is all about second chances. It just isn’t about Vick. It’s about Reid’s giving himself a second chance.Four Augusts ago, Reid felt sure he could manage a Terrell Owens situation that was spiraling into chaos. Even as his team was melting down into pools of toxic sludge, Reid was sure he could handle Owens, Donovan McNabb, the rest of the team, the rabid media, and the sharply divided fans.Reid was wrong, and it took the Eagles a couple of years to recover fully. Now the coach is asking his employer, his employees, and …
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Taking on Vick is a dangerous gamble for Reid
Andy Reid usually doesn’t play most of his starters in the final preseason game. But some of the starters do play, and that can be a sign that they haven’t locked up a starting job.The final preseason game will be Thursday against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands.Second-year players Quintin Demps and Joe Mays apparently haven’t nailed down the starting free safety and middle linebacker spots. That’s just fine with Demps.”I’m fighting to the end, baby – fighting to the end. I’m fighting after Carolina, after the Chiefs, after the Saints – every week,” Demps said, referring to the Eagles’ first three opponents of the season. “There’s no such thing as ‘The job is yours.’ “Mays is content …
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Some Eagles starters may play Thursday
The Eagles have one game and six days left to get their roster down to 53 players.They have to cut five by Tuesday before playing their final preseason game against the New York Jets on Thursday night at the Meadowlands. By Saturday, the 53-man roster must be in place, although the Eagles tend to tinker even after they make their final cuts.Here are some educated guesses as to what the team might look like when the Eagles arrive in Charlotte for their Sept. 13 opener against the Carolina Panthers.Quarterback. What an interesting position this became when the Eagles signed Michael Vick a couple of weeks ago. The only dynamic that didn’t change was that Donovan McNabb is the unquestioned …
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A look at opening-day Eagles
Eagles right tackle Shawn Andrews has heard and read the accusations. That his heart wasn’t into playing football; that his year-long absence from the NFL had more to do with his head than with the herniated disc in his back. “Everybody is throwing these things at me, and that’s cool,” Andrews said Saturday before taking the field for his first practice with the Eagles since tweaking his back during conditioning drills at the start of training camp. “I’m just a hard-working guy who wants to play football.” Although it appears unlikely Andrews will play in the Eagles’ final preseason game on Thursday night against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands, the fact he was on the same field with …
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Shawn Andrews returns to Eagles
In his first NFL action in nearly 32 months, Michael Vick was involved in just six plays for the Eagles in Thursday night’s 33-32 preseason win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. In five plays as a quarterback from the shotgun, he completed all four of his passes — one of them right-handed — for 19 yards and ran the ball for 1 yard. He even lined up as a decoy in the slot for one play. So how will Eagles coach Andy Reid use Vick in Thursday night’s preseason game against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands? “I haven’t thought about that much, but yeah, I’ll be curious how he does if and when that happens,” Reid said Saturday. “There’s a chance, and I have the confidence he can do that. He’s …
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Reid ponders ways to use Vick vs. Jets
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