Eagles quarterback Michael Vick and running back LeSean McCoy, who are both recovering from concussions, are both expected to miss Monday night’s game against the Panthers.
The Eagles said on Wednesday that both Vick and McCoy are still in Phase 1 of the NFL’s concussion protocol, which means neither of them can do any work on the practice field yet. Nick Foles was the starting quarterback in practice Wednesday, and Bryce Brown was the starting running back, and that is expected to be the case on Monday night.
What’s unclear is whether Eagles coach Andy Reid even wants Vick to be cleared to return, or whether Reid would rather see Vick get a long time to recover from his concussion so that Reid can have a long time to evaluate Foles without having to make a definitive statement about who starts once Vick is healthy. Reid says he’ll answer that question when it reaches that point.
“I’ve got to analyze that and look at that,” Reid said. “If [Foles] plays this week it will give him another opportunity to get better and then we go from there. And then, the important thing with Michael is that he’s healthy. I think, No. 1, you don’t want to put him at risk.”
The best way not to put Vick at risk is to keep him on the bench. Reid will do that for at least one more game, and possibly much longer.