The news on Michael Vick Saturday was very positive. He is now symptom free and has moved into Phase 3 of the Eagles’ concussion program, where he can resume normal lifting with the strength coaches and take part in more intense workouts. Head trainer Rick Burkholder anticipates that Vick will return to non-contact football-related activities as early as Sunday.
While he still needs to pass the IMPACT test and be cleared by both an independent neurologist and team doctors, it is conceivable that Vick will be healthy enough to play in the near future.
The Eagles — and Vick — must decide on how to proceed from there.
Running back LeSean McCoy and quarterback Michael Vick have both been officially ruled out for Monday night’s game against the Panthers.
McCoy is still feeling symptoms from a concussion he sustained in the final two minutes of last week’s loss to the Redskins, head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said today.
“He’s got a headache. He’s got periodic dizziness with exertion, so we’re not exercising him. But if he goes up and down steps too fast or tries to pick up his baby, that kind of thing, he gets a little fuzzy,” Burkholder said. “It’s not nearly as bad as it was in Washington, but it’s still there. Very fatigued. He’s got some sleep issues where he sleeps a lot and then he’s awake and then he can’t get back to sleep – that kind of thing. One of the things that he complains about is sensitivity to noise. Just noise in general is bothering him.”
Michael Vick is making progress.
According to head trainer Rick Burkholder, Vick has advanced past the first stage of concussion testing and is now into Phase 2. He can now exercise and was seen on a stationary bike Friday afternoon.
It is doubtful that Vick would be ready for Monday against Carolina, though he has not officially been ruled out.
Here’s a look at some issues that stood out after watching the All-22 tape of the Eagles’ offense.
From Jay Gruden to Andy Reid to Nick Foles, here’s a roundup of what the national media are saying about the Eagles this week.
We’ll get to the All-22 breakdown later in the week, but here’s a look at how Nick Foles performed in his first NFL start.
Any hope that Nick Foles would be an immediate cure to what ails the Eagles flew out of FedEx field three plays into the game. The rookie quarterback was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall on his second pass attempt, and the Redskins were on the board moments later.
Reality set in quickly: This is a rookie quarterback behind a bad offensive line playing for one of the worst teams in the league. There will be no meteoric rise. It will be a struggle against getting buried.
Mike Shanahan caught some flak for his comments following Washington’s loss to the Panthers two weeks ago where it sounded like he was conceding the season.
“Now you’re playing to see who obviously is going to be on your football team for years to come,” Shanahan said. “Now we get a chance to evaluate players and see where we’re at.”
You never want your coach to sound like he has thrown in the towel with seven games to play, but it’s hard to totally dismiss Shanahan’s mindset. His team just fell to the lowly Panthers, dropping them 3-6. He has a promising rookie quarterback and a grouping around him that obviously isn’t getting the job done collectively. So you use the remaining games to decipher which individuals fit with your vision moving forward.
The Eagles, also at 3-6, will be doing much of the same thing.
Here’s a roundup of what the national media are saying about Eagles-Redskins.
Here are 10 things to know about how the Eagles’ offense matches up with the Redskins’ defense. If you missed the first cheat sheet, click here.
When the 2012 regular season wraps up roughly six weeks from now, the Eagles will have to make decisions at coach and quarterback – almost certainly in that order.
Chances are, we’ll have some idea by that time of what Nick Foles might be able to do in the league.
Meanwhile, at coach, Oregon’s Chip Kelly is a name already generating quite a bit of buzz.
So it’s at least worth noting that the pair have a bit of a history.
Michael Vick missed practice again on Friday as he recovers from what has been described as a significant concussion. He has been ruled out for Sunday’s game.
As anticipated, Nick Foles will get his first career start against the Redskins.
Danny Watkins (ankle) practiced for a third consecutive day and is officially questionable. Dennis Kelly, who played right guard in his absence, has been getting reps at right tackle this week and may be called upon Sunday.
Jason Avant (hamstring), Mardy Gilyard (hamstring) and Chris Polk (toe) are all listed as out.
When the locker room opened up to reporters Thursday afternoon, the place was humming. Nnamdi Asomugha and Kurt Coleman were engaged in a passionate conversation. Mardy Gilyard was chasing an unidentified victim around with a towel. Music blasted from Trent Cole‘s stall. (At one point an Oldies song came on and everyone began looking at Cole sideways. “It’s not me!” he said. “It’s Pandora!”)
There were signs of life for the first time in weeks.
Marty Mornhinweg foreshadowed these developments earlier in the day.
Every Thursday we select a few of your Twitter questions and provide the long-form answers they deserve. For a chance to have your question published on Birds 24/7, send it to @Tim_McManus.
A couple fun facts about Nick Foles:
— He cannot grow a mustache.
— He wears size 16 shoes, second largest on the team behind only King Dunlap (of course).
— He also (allegedly) has the biggest head on the squad.
Those tidbits are courtesy of Trent Edwards, who knows more about Foles than anyone on the team, and it’s not really close.
