The easy thing for Michael Vick to do would be to pout.
The 33-year-old quarterback’s now fighting for a job with a second-year player, who hasn’t accomplished nearly what he has in the league.
But Vick said he’s not angry about having to compete for his job, he said he relishes it.
“I love the competition,” Vick said, via Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com. “I embrace the competition. I really do. It makes all of us better quarterbacks. It makes all of us better football players. It definitely pushes me.”
A little push might not hurt, as there’s no evidence he’s clearly ahead of Nick Foles at this point. So Vick’s taking the competition as a challenge.
“If you get something handed to you, you could get lax in your approach,” he said. “If you have it handed to you, you could take things for granted and not put in the work that you need to.
“I enjoy it, and I think all the quarterbacks feel like it’s going to make us better quarterbacks, because we’re out there every day pushing each other.
“I’ve always had good quarterbacks behind me, pushing me. I had [Matt] Schaub and even Doug Johnson in Atlanta, I had Kevin [Kolb] when I got here and Vince Young, he was a really good quarterback, too.
“It’s definitely good for me. It keeps you on your toes. You can’t let up, because if you do somebody is going to pass you by.”
That might be Foles in the short term, or Matt Barkley eventually. Chip Kelly’s not saying yet, and having a new coach does nothing to enhance to chances of incumbents.
But Vick’s approach is the right one, making the best of a situation he’d obviously not prefer.