Vick's return comes with risks

The quarterback is the head of a football team.

You cut it off and the body is nothing more than a collection of parts stumbling around aimlessly without a brain telling it which way to go.

Michael Vick is perched atop the Eagles, and while he remains fully intact - and for all intents and purposes cleared to play Sunday against the New York Giants - the quarterback has a Manhattan-size bull's eye planted on his own head.

Vick suffered a concussion last week against the Falcons. When he left late in the third quarter the Eagles led by 10 points. He fought to return, but proper precautions were taken and Vick had to watch from the visitors locker room at the Georgia Dome as the Eagles ended up losing, 35-31.

When team sources labeled the concussion "slight" and "mild" shortly after the loss it was clear Vick would play against the Eagles' NFC East rival in their Lincoln Financial Field opener - provided he passed a series of examinations set forth by the NFL in guidelines issued nearly two years ago.

And pass them he did, the Eagles said. The rest was up to Vick, barring a setback.

"I'll take precaution when I play," Vick said Friday. "But it's football, and it is what it is."

Up in New York, a few Giants defenders empathized with Vick and stressed that they would not head-hunt.

"I hope he protects himself," Giants safety Deon Grant said to New York reporters. "I hope he don't go out there and do nothing stupid and mess himself up for the rest of his career."

But it is football, and the object for many defenses is to knock the quarterback from the game. Because of the way Vick plays - aggressively and fearlessly scrambling for yards downfield - no other quarterback in the league may be more susceptible to hits.

The Giants are sure to come after Vick, injured or not, as they often did last season. Six straight losses to the Eagles and months of trash-talking since they bitterly fell in the Miracle at the New Meadowlands could only add to the Giants' quest to cut the Eagles off at the throat.

"Having to deal with me for 60 minutes," Vick said, "I understand the magnitude of that."

The NFL, meanwhile, remains at a crossroads in its treatment of concussions. While it tries to maintain the physicality and ferociousness of a sport that attracts millions of fans, the league must also concern itself with the long-term health of its players.

And players must weigh their futures against the tough-it-out, win-now mentality endorsed by coaches across the league.

"The coaches are not going to pay your medical bills in the future," Eagles wide receiver Jason Avant said. "So, as a player, you got to go with what you're comfortable with."

Last December, Avant suffered a concussion when he delivered a crucial block that sprang DeSean Jackson free for his game-winning punt return against the Giants. He was one of two of seven Eagles last season to return the week after a concussion.

"I believe every guy is different, the severity of the hit is different," Avant said. "My hit - I delivered the blow and it wasn't as 'Boom!' as DeSean's hit was last year. That was a humongous collision for a guy that weighs little."

Jackson's concussion came in October when Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson ran the 5-foot-11, 175-pound receiver over. Jackson missed a game and probably would have missed another had the Eagles not had a bye the following week.

Vick, who never had an official concussion diagnosis in his NFL career before last week, will return less than seven full days since the hit.

"You have to be conscious of it and obviously take it seriously," Vick said. "And I do."

There are risks, though.

"There is some evidence - and this isn't completely worked out - of what we call injury-induced vulnerability," said Vernon Williams, medical director of the Kerlan-Jobe Center for Sports Neurology in Los Angeles. "Once the brain has been concussed, in many people it is easier for them to suffer a second concussion."

Try telling that to a football player, especially a team leader like the quarterback. Eagles backup Mike Kafka, who likely would have played if Vick couldn't go, said he was concussed and knocked out of the Michigan game when he was a junior at Northwestern. Kafka said he passed his tests and returned the following week against Illinois.

"If you're an aggressive football player, like all of us are in the locker room, you're going to get hit and banged up," Kafka said.

The ability to keep getting back up from those hits - or return a week after a concussion - makes teammates only more enamored of their quarterback.

"Mike's always been an aggressive player," Kafka said of Vick. "That's why we love him around here."

But teams have an obligation to protect their players from themselves. In the case of Vick, the Eagles also have a five-year, $80 million investment at stake. Still, even if he passed all his tests this past week and showed no symptoms after practicing several days, there is no way to predict how he will feel come game time.

"As you increase physical exertion and demand on the brain and body there's a risk you have in a return of symptoms," Williams said. "Think about the differences in your exertion level, your adrenaline between practice and a game - there's a pretty significant difference there."

In December 2009, the league announced stricter guidelines on when concussed players can return to football activities. The NFL has also increasingly enforced rules designed to protect the quarterback even if those regulations aren't intended solely to guard against concussions.

Nevertheless, if the Giants intend to hunt for Vick's head, a hit would likely draw a penalty and perhaps much worse.

"It might be something that's in their mind, but I doubt it's something that they would really make part of their game plan where we are and where the game has evolved to over the past two years," Eagles guard Evan Mathis said. "What kind of clean shot can give a quarterback a concussion?"

Last season against the Giants, Vick was blitzed roughly 47 percent of the time. Sending an extra pass rusher at him often worked, but there were times when Vick burned the Giants - especially in the second meeting - by escaping blitzes.

But the scrambles left Vick open to hits and gave the Giants free shots at him. In all, he was hit roughly 19 times in two games. In the first game, a few early blows near the sideline that weren't flagged drew Eagles coach Andy Reid's ire.

Vick's running ability has always made it seem as if officials were less likely to punish defenders who hit him in the open field.

"As a drop-back passer, the referees will flag that really quickly if a guy releases a ball, stands there, and gets hit," said Eagles guard Kyle DeVan, who once protected the statuesque Peyton Manning in Indianapolis. "Guys might interpret that a little differently if Michael starts running."

Vick's reluctance to slide hasn't aided his cause. But if there ever was a game that called for Vick to stay in the pocket and make quick throws, it is this one.

"Certainly you don't want to take that style of play away from him," Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "But I do want to minimize the hits, and there are several things we can do there."

The bulk of the responsibility will lie with the offensive linemen. Last week, Vick wasn't sacked. But when running back LeSean McCoy failed to pick up a corner blitz, Vick was concussed when he was hit and spun into tackle Todd Herremans.

"There's going to be points in the game, I don't care who the quarterback is, he will take one or two shots," DeVan said. "That's just the facts of life. . . . But the severity of the hit can be controlled by us."

The Giants hope to knock it out of the park.

"Every week, that's our job, is to try and put a quarterback out," said Grant, the Giants safety. "If that's the head of the monster, you want to get them out of the game - legally."