By G. Emrich

Michael Vick is now the starting quarterback for our Philadelphia Eagles.  One sentence, eleven words, and it’s the biggest Philadelphia sports story of the year.  Everyone has an opinion as to the how and why, what the implications are, both present and future, and everyone seems to feel strongly about it one way or the other. 

My initial reaction was shock and actual disbelief (I heard it on the radio and thought they were misreporting the story).  But I shouldn’t have been shocked, really.  What happened yesterday actually started over a year ago, on August 13th, 2009.  That’s when this story began.  And if you understand exactly what happened on that date and in the days leading up to it, then you will understand that yesterday shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone.

The bigger shock was the Eagles’ decision to sign Vick in the first place.  Once they made that commitment, something like what happened yesterday was always a possibility.  Reid spent a couple days (if he’s to be believed) mulling over the decision to start Vick.  He spent weeks talking, debating, analyzing etc. the decision to sign Vick.  The discussions that were had leading up to the Vick signing laid the groundwork for what happened yesterday.

Vick was a pariah at the time.  It was thought that a reputable organization like the Eagles would never consider signing Vick.  It was truly unthinkable, and for good reason.  Why would a team like the Eagles, with an established star quarterback and a young gun waiting in the wings, a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a sterling reputation within and outside the football community, sign a quarterback with as much baggage as Michael Vick?  On the surface it made no sense.  In fact, it only made sense if one thing was true.

Andy Reid, and presumably other members of the Eagles’ brain trust,  thought Michael Vick was so special as a player, so overwhelmingly talented, that it was worth the risk, the headaches, the potential chemistry issues (which never materialized), and the enormous public relations hit they were going to undoubtedly take to sign him.  We forget how incredible a decision it was at the time because of how Vick has handled himself since arriving in Philadelphia, but that decision was a thousand times more difficult/controversial than the decision to name Vick the starter.

We forgot, for a year at least, just how insanely gifted Michael Vick was.  Reid never forgot.  Defensive coordinators and opposing teams never forgot.  It was clear that anyone who had to game-plan or play against him never forgot.  No player gave opposing coaches and players more nightmares than Michael Vick in his prime in Atlanta.  He was a once in a lifetime talent, capable of changing the league, capable of winning games by himself, perhaps the greatest athlete to play football etc etc etc.  These things were said by coaches and players alike.  And when the Eagles decided to sign Vick on August 13th, 2009 it became clear that they believed those things as well.

Then we saw Vick for the first time during the 2009 preseason and he didn’t look like Michael Vick.  And this shouldn’t have come as any surprise considering he had been on a prison diet for two years.  He was noticeably slower, something that was obvious to coaches and fans alike.  And so many of us thought that the Atlanta version of Michael Vick was likely gone forever, and that this experiment with Vick might yield a few exciting plays, but nothing more.  As the season progressed he gave us little reason to think any different.  There were a few flashes late in the season, as he started to play his way into shape, but nothing approaching what we had seen from him during his tenure in Atlanta.

The coaches and decision makers for the Eagles obviously noticed all this as well.  Vick was on the trading block this summer and could have easily been had for the right price.  But everyone else in the league saw the same thing the Eagles saw, an athletic quarterback who relied on his legs, who didn’t have his legs anymore, and so no one bit. 

Then training camp started this year and things began to change.  The awe was back in the way people talked about Vick.  His teammates told us that he had his legs back.  The coaches told us he was making huge strides as a pocket passer.  But none of it made headlines because Kolb was so firmly entrenched as the Eagles starter, and anyone who doesn’t believe Kolb was 100% the Eagles starter is kidding themselves.  So it was nice and everything that Vick was getting back to his old self, but few people took notice because he was 30-year-old back up quarterback who might see a few gimmick snaps a game.

For some of us the first inkling of something special came, interestingly, exactly one year after the Eagles signed Vick, August 13th, 2010.  That was the night Michael Vick started to look like the old, or should I say, like the young Michael Vick, The Michael Vick that the entire football world watched in awe as a budding superstar in Atlanta.  It was the Eagles’ first preseason game, and the very first time Vick took off I jumped off my couch the way I used to before he went to prison.  I emailed all my friends and proclaimed that it was great night for the Eagles.  Vick was back.  I thought they could have traded him for a second round pick that following week (surely other teams’ scouts would notice what I noticed), and while that was probably an option to some degree, I doubt the Eagles truly considered it.  And the reason they likely didn’t consider it, is the same reason they signed Vick in the first place, and it’s essentially the same reason he’s now the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Andy Reid put on the film the day after the preseason game against Jacksonville, and the seed that had been planted one year previous, finally began to open and grow.  He saw what he had quite literally fantasized about from the day they started considering signing Vick.  Vick was back, and Andy Reid, while still in my opinion 100% committed to Kevin Kolb, began to dream up more an more ways to utilize Vick.  Vick actually struggled throwing the ball as the preseason progressed, so any thought of a quarterback controversy was ended before it had a chance to get going, which brings us to our next important date, September, 12th 2010. 

The Eagles opened up to the typical optimism that comes with the dawning of a new era at quarterback.  The man, the myth, the legend that was Kevin Kolb took the field for the first time as the undisputed starter at quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.  And about a quarter and half later the honeymoon was over, just like that.  The Eagles’ offensive line was a disaster, Kolb looked a little nervous, Kolb took a rough hit, Kolb went back in and tried to throw it to the other team, Kolb was diagnosed with a concussion during halftime.  And the era, though we didn’t know it at the time, was over before it ever had a chance to begin.

The second half started and Michael Vick took the field and we all watched in slight disbelief as Vick almost singlehandedly brought us back from certain defeat, and more importantly truly looked like Michael Vick, Superman, superstar.  And the seed that was planted last August, and opened one year later, popped it’s head through the soil in Andy Reid’s brain. 

One week later, last Sunday, the Michael Vick seed exploded in Andy Reid’s brain, and that, as they say, was that.  The fantasy had come to fruition.  I honestly believe Reid when he says this has nothing to do with Kevin Kolb.  I think he loved Kolb before and he loves Kolb now.  But Kevin Kolb is not your fantasy, not your Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel.  How many times in your life does your fantasy become a reality?  For most of us it never happens.

Andy Reid believes, right or wrong (and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that he’s wrong), that Vick is becoming what he always dreamed Vick could be, the most dynamic, dominant player in football.  Yes, I’m sure he looked at the offensive line and factored that into the equation.  Yes, if Kolb had sustained his concussion after starting 8-8 for 148 yards and two TD’s, he would still be starting, regardless of Vick’s performance these past two weeks.  But all that stuff is purely logical, and this is not about logic.  Fantasies never are.