Will Vick or McCoy Be in Uniform on Sunday?

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Both Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy
passed the final stage in concussion testing, and are cleared for action this
week versus Washington. Whether either one of them are activated on Sunday – or
for any of the brief remnants of this season for that matter – remains to be seen.

Obviously, Vick is not expected to
start another game for the Eagles under center this year, or ever again for
that matter according to widely held beliefs. Whether he is or is not in
uniform against the Redskins is of little importance in the long run, even under
scenarios that would keep him in Philadelphia for 2013.

McCoy, on the other hand, is the Birds’
number-one back for the foreseeable future. While practically nothing he can do in these
last two games serves any meaningful purpose that I could imagine, the job is
still his so long as he’s healthy enough to do it. Running the football is what
he gets paid to do.

Quite the paradox we have here. Here’s
one guy most fans probably couldn’t care less is available the next two weeks.
The other, many of those same folks would likely prefer held out.

Should either one of them play
regardless of situation?

The depth chart indicates Vick is the
backup quarterback. However, if something were to happen to Nick Foles down the
stretch, it might not be a bad idea to get a look at Trent Edwards instead. Not
that he needs the audition for a starting gig or anything, but Edwards still
could make for a decent backup at least. It doesn’t hurt to get some new tape on him,
whereas the Eagles already know what they have in Vick.

Andy Reid could choose to make Vick
available over Edwards out of loyalty, or because that’s who would give the
team its best shot to win coming off the bench. Those are noble gestures and
all, either of which is hard to argue with, but ultimately what does it accomplish?

You could probably ask the same question
about reinserting Shady into the lineup. Winning games is inconsequential, and
perhaps the last guy the Eagles need to suffer a major injury over the next two
is McCoy. There is a difference between his situation and Vick’s though.

Vick lost his job, and the team is
evaluating for the future. McCoy is the future at running back.

If the Eagles hold McCoy out so that he
is fresh and ready to go next season, you won’t find any complaints here. Then
again, if he is 100% recovered from his injury, we can easily make the case he
should be in there regardless. He doesn’t necessarily need the snaps, or even a
full workload. That said, McCoy earns a ton of money to be the feature back for this organization, so once he’s
available, that’s what he ought to be doing.

That is of course unless Reid is going
to start sitting other starters as well. But as long as they are playing
with a full deck – or what’s left of one anyway – there is no reason to pull
out the joker. Besides, McCoy’s presence can only be beneficial to Foles.

We’ll find out what the Eagles think of
their little conundrum later on in the week, but there’s a decent chance we won’t
see either one of them the rest of the way. Given Vick’s circumstances, we even may have seen
the last of him entirely.

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