Eagles Notes | McNabb clearer on Vick remarks

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - As with most words that come out of

Donovan McNabb's

mouth, his recent support of Atlanta Falcons quarterback

Michael Vick

was closely scrutinized, analyzed and, in some corners, even criticized.

"Not everybody read the whole quote," McNabb said yesterday after sitting out of practice at Lehigh University to rest his surgically repaired right knee. He was quoted in a Washington Post article last week. "The whole quote was basically saying that I was supporting him because he's a friend of mine. We've known each other for a long time, and I just want to see him come out of this thing and be back out on the football field, playing football and doing what he loves."

Vick, who toured Syracuse University with McNabb before deciding to go to Virginia Tech in the mid-1990s, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in his home state of Virginia for his alleged role in a dogfighting operation on a property he owned.

"Like everyone else, I don't know exactly what happened," McNabb said. "My thing is, just continue to see what happens and what comes out of it before you make judgment. It's easy to sit back and say, 'He's guilty, get rid of him, release him,' and any negative comment that you can make. Until you find out all of the positive information that can come out of this, I ask that you don't judge him before that happens."

McNabb said in a statement released by the team later in the day that he is a dog lover.

"I've had a couple dogs in the past, and now we're going to have some bulldog puppies running around the house," he said. "I might even be more excited than my daughter. They already have names, Diamond and Duce."

McNabb said he now has three knee braces and intends to continue to wear them when he resumes practicing. He expects to be on the field this morning.

"It's not about wearing a brace or not wearing a brace," he said. "I'm wearing a knee brace."

Coach

Andy Reid

said he is not overly concerned, but he is being extremely cautious about the Achilles tendinitis that has forced veteran safety

Brian Dawkins

to miss eight straight practices.

"With an Achilles tendon, you don't mess around with it," Reid said. "That's one injury [in which] you let that thing heal up. You've got to be real smart with that, and so we're doing that. Brian wants to be out here worse than anybody. He'll be fine."

Elsewhere on the injury front, defensive tackles Montae Reagor and Ian Scott continue to be sidelined by swollen left knees. Cornerback Lito Sheppard (strained abdominal muscle) returned for some individual drills yesterday.

Tight end Matt Schobel left practice with a groin strain and safety Marcus Paschal left with a leg strain.

- Bob Brookover