Vick signing shows Reid's and Eagles' desperation

Michael Vick is along with seen Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid during
a news conference in Philadelphia, Friday. Vick is back in the NFL after signing a
two-year contract with the Eagles. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

By the time you read this protest groups will already be forming outside the Philadelphia Eagles' Nova Care compound… news vans by the dozen will be setting up camp inside… and curiosity seekers galore, who don’t know the West Coast Offense from West Coast Video will be tuning in, wondering how this whole thing will play out.

That’s just part of the reaction that will envelop the Eagles today when they introduce their newest player, the last man on earth you had to think would ever wear midnight green and white, MICHAEL VICK!

When the jaw-dropping news broke that the Eagles had signed the 29-year-old Vick to a two-year deal-the second at a club option--during the second quarter of last night’s 27-25 pre-season opening game loss to Tom Brady and the rest of Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots, it spread like a raging forest fire. Suddenly what was taking place on the field became totally irrelevant—as if pre-season games are EVER relevant in the first place.

Speculation ran rampant from that point on until Andy Reid confirmed the matter during his post-game press conference, saying that after spending considerable time “doing my homework’’ he determined that Vick “deserved a second chance.’’

While Reid wouldn’t be drawn into specifics regarding how he intended to incorporate Vick into his offense, he praised the former Falcons’ quarterback as a versatile, exceptional athlete, who can do a number of things on the field. He also related Vick’s personal story to his own, explaining how the ordeal he’s lived through with his sons—both of whom spent time behind bars for drug abuse—has showed him that people can changed.

Say he believes Vick has “learned some valuable life lessons’’ and is truly remorseful for running a illegal dog-fighting ring that landed him in prison for nearly two years, he’s confident Michael has turned his life around.

As for what this means in terms of Donovan McNabb’s job security, McNabb put those implications to rest the moment he stepped into the interview room at the Linc and declared that he had personally lobbied for Vick. `` I’m a dog lover,’’ said McNabb, who had both his pluses and minuses in the 25 or so minutes he was on the field, going 11-for-18 for 103 yards, but having to twice settle for field goals rather than touchdowns. ``I’ve had dogs my whole life.

``And I’ve looked past that. He’s done his time and he’s moving on. Let’s give him that opportunity.’’

That sentiment aside, it just won’t be that simple. While Vick has been travelling the country of late on behalf of animal rights groups, there are a number of people who will never forgive him for what he did. And now that he has been reinstated back into the NFL they’ll turn their contempt on Philadelphia and the Eagles. That even includes people here, who’ve declared they can no longer root for their beloved Eagles.

Reid says he knows all this, but that Vick is worth putting up with all the hysteria and bad publicity—not that bad publicity has ever seemed to bother the Eagles. McNabb says Vick will have “safe haven” inside the locker room, where his new teammates will have his back.

So then, besides wanting to give him a second chance, this really comes down to football. Clearly Reid has a vision how he’ll use Vick. He’s seen his team be on the brink of going to the Super Bowl five times, only to come up short four of them. Ironically, the one time they succeeded and got to the Big Game—where they lost to the Patriots in Jacksonville-- it was against Michael Vick and the Falcons.

Coming that close that often Reid has determined he needs something extra to get him over the hump. Even in this meaningless pre-season game, the Eagles consistently failed to push it in once they reached the red zone, an area that’s haunted them for years.

Maybe that’s where he sees Vick as a difference maker, someone who can run, pass or even catch the ball in those key situations, presenting defenses a myriad of worries. Maybe he believes that the only way to get this team which keep shooting itself in the foot to reach the ultimate is to do something truly against the grain To do something desperate, figuring at this point what is there to lose?

Today, then, it all begins for Michael Vick, who’ll practice for the first time tomorrow—though he’s suspended from playing until the Eagles’ third pre-season game—August 27 against Jacksonville. And today Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles will find themselves at the center of not only the sports universe, but the general news cycle, too.

They clearly feel it’s worth the risk. And that because they’re doing it today, they also clearly feel that somehow tomorrow and all the days that follow leading up to Super Bowl Sunday in Miami will finally be their day.