The Eagles gave Michael Vick a chance at a fresh start in the NFL after he was released from prison over a year ago. They did so to a chorus of boos and judgement by many in the media and the public. Still, Vick was given a chance to play behind McNabb and filled in for McNabb a few times with varying degrees of success.
As a long time Eagles fan I was angry, sad, and shocked when Donovan McNabb was traded to the Redskins and original backup QB Kevin Kolb was given a contract extension, a franchise tag and, obviously the starting QB role. What the Eagles were calling the Kolb Era, I referred to as the Kolb Error. It wasn't that I wanted Vick to start, I wanted Reid to go and McNabb to stay.
My amateur sports analysis is that the Eagles may not have signed Kevin Kolb to a 12 million + extension if they thought there was a chance in hell it was safe to make Michael Vick a starter--for skill reasons but mostly for public relations reasons. The tone of public opinion on Vick has been mostly negative, in particular among people who aren't big fans of football, a demographic the NFL is trying hard not to alienate for the sake of advertisers. I have to believe that this fear of public opinion is why a team like the Raiders would sign former Redskins QB Jason Campbell (whom they have now benched) and not Michael Vick.
What a difference 18 months makes. Who would have known that it would only take a game and half of mediocre (not 'horrible') play on Kolb's part to turn fans and sports enthusiasts into a mob that all but ridiculed the Eagles decision to make Kolb number 1. And more than that, who would have thought the Eagles would be facing a PR nightmare for NOT starting him?
Public opinion is a fickle beast, and this is a situation that could have easily gone in the other direction. Fortunately for Vick, his biggest detractors have moved on and aren't really keeping up with his latest activities. Vick participated in a reality show last year that humanized him in the eyes of sports fans, and often that's all it takes to be forgiven.
I'm sure PETA will release a statement expressing sadness that Vick is being in any way allowed to move on with his life given his past actions, but it will have zero effect on Vick's reputation going forward or how the fans receive him in the stadium. There will also be grumblings if Vick shows flashes of his old self when he consistently struggled to find receivers. Still, Vick wins in this case and the Eagles lose by continuing their streak of mistreating their most loyal players. [Okay, okay that's not media analysis that's my biased amateur sports reporter opinion]
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Comments
Philly has a black mayor and you remember the storm over winning Pennsylvania in the presidential primary. I think it's still there. The president has support in Philly he has to complement. I know Jim Cramer and Ed Schulz are damned happy, too.
N.Y. and N.J. are now under a snow storm and the Republicans there, with whom it seems the Giants are perceived to be family with, are taking hard shots. Is that it for the playoff shot?
That's probably all that would matter to me at this time but that the president talked about second chances. It was like amnesty for draft resistors all over again. I'm a Yankee fan, too, but no rich ass Republican. The Giants don't seem to have the buying problem that the Yanks do but that's beside the point. There is another fellow on Philly who came from the very town I went to school in, Hawthorne,
Florida. His name is Cornelius Ingram and he was never given a shot at playing quarterback, which he did in high school, because the University of Florida had invested in Chris Leak and Tim Tebow. Cornelius has been injured his entire Eagle career it appears. It's hard to understand and why would the team keep an injured player. Why not find some place a little more friendly to a small town afro-american athlete, like, maybe Jacksonville. I think he would find a lot of friends there. That would really be giving a break and a break I hope those big rich football teams would give a young athlete, but I don't know. You know, I don't know.
Chris Leak is another one. He's black. They are so racist, in my opinon, down here in Florida that when Tim Tebow came along they used to boo Chris to get Tebow in. Finally, a white quarterback again. Steve Spurrier never heard of such a thing. When he took over the team the first thing he did was alienate the black quarterback, Donald Douglas. It was all white "boys" from then on until Steve left the team for the Washington Redskins. I think the chance to get next to his friend G.W. Bush was too much for him and that's why he left. Ron Zook took over and by gum he found a black kid who could play quarterback. I thought Chris was pretty good for his 4 years at Florida. He won one national championship and this was a team that was really floundering when he came aboad. They had a lot of almosts, like against Miami and against FSU when Ron Zook was coach but when Urban Meyer was hired that appeared to help Chris out. It was good to have Tim Tebow, a highly recruited quarterback from Jacksonville, Florida who could run like Larry Csonka but it was rare for freshman to replace seniors who were still with the team. For this thing that Tebow could do, run the football, Chris Leak had to take the criticism. He could not run like Tim or he might dislocate a shoulder or jam a finger or suffer a concussion. He just wasn't as BIG as Tim and so when the NFL draft came along no one selected Chris. Chris, you know, majored in Sociology. It's a deep thinking subject.
To pick Chris Leak to sit on you bench and back up your veteran is a lot more compassionate than what Philly did. Philly saw a chance to beat New York and Dallas in the NFC East and they took it. As a Yankee fan I have to admit it looks a lot like resurrecting Daryl Strawberry from expulsion from baseball. I guess if the steroids issue had been as hot then as it is now he might not have gotten a "second chance," but then he was only using cocaine not performance enhancing steroids. As a Yankee I love Daryl because he helped the Yankees to the win the World Series but maybe it would have been better for him if we didn't sign him. I would like to remembe that we got him cheap, dirt cheap and I suppose that was what the Eagles paid for Vick, pennies, compared to his true worth as a football player.
There was a convict years ago who played for the Detroit Tigers. Now, there was a true second chance case. What in the world was his name, even now. He played for Sparky Anderson and they won a World Series but I saw no grab at greed to get a famous player for practically nothing.