Bye-week reflections on the Eagles

It's easy to make the argument that Andy Reid should have sequestered his 2-4 football team in the NovaCare Complex during the bye week. Explain what a football is in the first meeting and work from there.

Reid went the other way, sending his players for some R&R with a one-game winning streak and a perhaps-inflated sense that they turned a corner Sunday at Washington. It was probably the right move. There's no way to make up for all those lost-to-the-lockout hours of meetings and practices in one week. If Reid treats his players like men, they are apt to respond in kind.

We'll all find out Oct. 30, when the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys in a nationally televised game.

Until then, let's take a bye-week moment to reflect on the three things we should have learned from the Eagles' six-week stagger through the first leg of their schedule.

We had it backward. The Eagles have looked backward in a lot of ways, but in this case, we're talking about the schedule. Our misconceptions about it help explain, though not excuse, the team's 2-4 start.

Simply put, we all thought the early part of the schedule was easier and that it would toughen up in November and December. It is likely Reid and the Eagles thought the same and believed they could stockpile a few wins against lesser teams while their new defense and revamped offensive line came together.

Based on what we knew, St. Louis, San Francisco, Buffalo and Washington all figured to be wins. The home game against the Giants was a probable win. Only that Week 2 trip to Atlanta (13-3 in 2010) went on the "L" side of the preseason ledger. Even with some growing pains, the Eagles should have been able to win four or five of those first six games.

Well, guess what? Our preseason view of the schedule was backward. San Francisco (5-1) and Buffalo (4-2) are among the league's surprise success stories. Except for New England, none of the teams that looked so daunting in the later going are above .500. The Bears are 3-3, the Jets 2-3 going into Monday's game. The Seahawks are 2-3, and those Kevin Kolb-led Arizona Cardinals are 1-4.

The road to a strong second half is paved with mediocre football teams. The question is whether the Eagles are just another one of those, or if they really are a good team that has underperformed.

Find a stunt double for Michael Vick. Watching Sunday's game brought this home in dramatic fashion. Not the Eagles' win, but Donovan McNabb's latest humiliating outing in a Vikings uniform.

McNabb is just a few years older than Vick. He is an object lesson in how quickly a player's stock can fall after a series of injuries and general wear and tear. Vick should look at his former teammate and see his own future while there's still time to change it.

Vick has been the Eagles' official No. 1 quarterback for 21 games, including the playoff against Green Bay. He has failed to finish three games because of injuries; the Eagles are 0-3 in those games. Vick has missed three others because of injury (plus one because Reid rested him in Week 17 last year). When Vick starts and finishes a game, the Eagles are 9-5.

If he'd finished those games against the Falcons and Giants, the Eagles very well might be 4-2 right now. That doesn't excuse the defensive collapses in those games, but it's still true.

We have already seen, within games and over the course of the season, how much Vick wears down. The Eagles' use of three-step, quick-release plays Sunday helped, but Vick still has to throw the ball away and either slide or get out of bounds. He doesn't have to prove how tough he is. We know. But glimpses of Mike Kafka and Vince Young underscore the importance of keeping Vick upright and functional.

The bar should still be high. Owner Jeffrey Lurie evaluates Reid based on an entire season, not a good or bad segment. That's why there was never a serious chance of an in-season coaching change.

But that same logic has to apply regardless of the results. A bad start doesn't change the standard. If the Eagles finish 9-7 - which would mean going 7-3 the rest of the way - that still represents a regression from 11 wins in 2009 to 10 last season. The Eagles have to win a playoff game, at least, to show progress. If Lurie accepts anything less, then he might as well drop the pretense and give Reid a lifetime contract.

Sound harsh? The division is mediocre, the schedule gets easier, and the most glaring errors have been addressed to some degree. The only thing stopping the Eagles is the Eagles.