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Mariucci: Eagles should keep Vick and Kolb

STEVE MARIUCCI, who coached with Andy Reid in Green Bay, thinks Michael Vick will be the Eagles' quarterback next season and that Kevin Kolb will remain here as well.

STEVE MARIUCCI, who coached with Andy Reid in Green Bay, thinks Michael Vick will be the Eagles' quarterback next season and that Kevin Kolb will remain here as well.

Mariucci, part of the "NFL Gameday" crew that will analyze tonight's Eagles-Texans game on the NFL Network, sees the Eagles as perhaps not quite ready to commit to a megabucks, long-term contract for a quarterback who must adhere to very strict off-field standards to avoid being banished.

"Let's face it, there is risk involved with Michael, signing a big, long-term contract," Mariucci said yesterday. "Hopefully that [banishment] never will come up, and I don't think it will, but I know in signing a $100 million contract, that's different . . . That's why I think the franchise tag makes a lot of sense. You're paying very handsomely for 1 year, making sure that everything is going to your liking, and you can decide about long term gradually."

Of course, there would have to be a franchise tag under whatever new collective bargaining agreement emerges, but with so many high-profile players in the final year of their deals, it's really unlikely NFL owners are going to agree to a new system that causes personnel chaos.

Like most observers close to Reid, Mariucci, the former 49ers and Lions head coach, was sure Reid's plan was to develop Kolb this season. He knew of Reid's high regard for Kolb, and Mariucci didn't think very much about Vick stepping in before it happened "because of where he was last year," rusty and out of sync. Until the Eagles are sure Vick is their long-term No. 1, Mariucci said he would not trade Kolb, who is under contract one more season.

"I believe in stockpiling quarterbacks when you have that luxury," he said. "If it were me, I'd keep 'em both."

Kolb might not be happy in 2011 to be spending his fifth NFL season as a backup, after having won NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors twice in his first five starts, but "happy is only part of the equation. You've got to protect yourself," Mariucci said. "You saw Michael Vick get hurt, he got smashed between a couple of defenders and was out for a month . . . You've got to have a very competent backup, and Kevin Kolb is more than a competent backup."

For tonight, Mariucci likes the Texans' offense, but notes they really struggle in pass defense, which is the sort of thing Reid likes in an opponent.

"I think it's just going to be an aerial circus, to be honest with you," he said. Mariucci said the Texans must find a way to pressure Vick, "and they haven't been able to pressure quite like the Bears do."

Honors and awards

Eagles kicker David Akers, who tonight will become the franchise's all-time leader in games played, with 184, yesterday was named NFC special teams player of the month for November. Akers, who turns 36 in a week, made 13 of 14 field goals in November, the lone miss being a block. He leads the league with 104 points. This is the fourth time Akers has won the award.

The Eagles also announced that their athletic training staff of Rick Burkholder, Chris Peduzzi, Steve Condon and Joseph O'Pella has won the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society's Athletic Training Staff of the Year award for 2010.

Birdseed

Texans star tight end Owen Daniels will miss the game with a hamstring injury . . . The Eagles classified wide receiver Riley Cooper (knee) as questionable. He did not practice this week . . . The Texans' only previous Philadelphia appearance came at the Vet, a 35-17 Eagles victory on Sept. 29, 2002. That day, Brian Dawkins became he first player in NFL history to record a sack, an interception, a fumble recovery, and a touchdown reception in the same game. The TD came on a fake punt, the pass thrown by Brian Mitchell . . .

Jeff Nixon, an assistant coach with the Eagles who helps out with running backs and special teams, is a candidate to become head coach at Shippensburg, according to the school's website.