A couple weeks back, a very good friend of mine came to me
and asked, “So when are you gonna break the big story?”
About what, I wondered. “You know, about Mike Vick not
really being out with a concussion.”
I pooh-poohed the idea, and eventually he left it go. Too
bad for ESPN it did not do the same when Ed Werder came to them with a
similarly good yarn.
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Werder filed a report on Friday that claimed Vick was
unhappy he has not yet been cleared to play after sustaining a concussion three
weeks ago against Dallas, and that front-office politics were to blame for his
delayed return. In other words, this is an all excuse to get rookie Nick Foles
on the field.
As conspiracy theories go, it’s almost plausible. There’s
only one problem: the decision to clear Vick is out of the front office’s
hands.
Andy Reid pulled the curtain back on some of what goes on
with the concussion protocol, and as it turns out, Eagles doctors don’t even
decide if Vick has passed a certain test.
“Listen, there are no conspiracies here,” he said. “We don’t
grade the ImPACT test, which he has not gotten back to baseline [on]. I send
that paper from the computer off to the people in Pittsburgh. They come back
and say he’s not past baseline. That’s an NFL rule.
News
So there you have it. There is no crazy plot to keep Vick
inactive – at least not one that is currently in practice. We’ll see as Vick
continues to improve, but for now, Reid continues to claim No. 7 is the
starter.
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