| from Csnphilly.com:
Michael Vick kept smiling and repeating the same phrase over and over: “Don’t count me out.”
Can Vick play as early as this Sunday against his former team, the Falcons, just two weeks after suffering cartilage damage in his ribs?
He thinks so.
“I’ve got a shot,” Vick said at his locker Wednesday. “I can’t tell you [how far away I am], the only thing I can tell you is, hey, I’m making progress, and don’t count me out.”
Vick got hurt during the first quarter of the Eagles’ loss to the Redskins and sat out the win over the 49ers this past weekend, with Kevin Kolb throwing for 253 yards and a touchdown.
“I’ve made progress every day,” he said. “Last week I couldn’t brush my hair, but now I can brush my hair, so that’s a good thing. And [my] breathing is good.”
Vick didn’t practice on Wednesday but he did throw on the side for the first time since he got hurt.
“Felt good,” he said. “Feel like I’ve got my range of motion back. … All the way back.”
Earlier Wednesday, head coach Andy Reid said he’d probably like to see Vick practice at least once this week to be able to play against the Falcons. He said if Vick doesn’t practice by Friday, he likely wouldn’t play.
“I probably wouldn’t go in that direction,” Reid said. “But I’d just have to see. We’ll just kind of take it day by day and see what happens.”
Practice? Vick says he doesn’t need it.
“Nah, I don’t need no practice to play,” he said. “Honestly, I really don’t. Not to be arrogant or sound arrogant, but I don’t need practice to play.”
All he needs to do is be able to manage the pain.
“It’s just being able to deal with it and working out the little kinks and getting ready to go play some football,” he said.
Vick said it doesn’t matter that the Eagles are facing the Falcons, who he spent the 2001 through 2006 seasons with, going to the playoffs twice and making three Pro Bowl teams.
“There’s no extra motivation because it’s Atlanta,” Vick said. “I felt like we got over that hurdle last year, so it’s just another football game against a tough football team.”
Vick threw a touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown in Wildcat action during the Eagles’ 34-7 win over the Falcons last December at the Georgia Dome.
So what percentage does he give himself for Sunday? Forty percent chance of playing? Fifty percent? Seventy?
“I can’t tell you that,” he said. “I’m making progress. Don’t count me out.”
With Kolb sidelined with a concussion, Vick led the Eagles to a 35-32 win in Detroit and a 28-3 win at Jacksonville in his first two starts since the 2006 season with Atlanta.
In parts of four games this year, he’s completed 62 percent of his passes with six touchdowns, no interceptions and a 108.8 passer rating – second-highest in the NFL behind only Tom Brady’s 109.0 figure.
|