Burkholder: Vick 'absolutely fine last night'
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Burkholder: Vick 'absolutely fine last night'
Daily News staff and Les Bowen
Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was “absolutely fine last night,” after suffering a concussion in Sunday night's loss at Atlanta, head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said. He will go through the NFL’s concussion protocols to determine when he will be able to practice or play.
Vick is resting today and Burkholder said he had not seen him yet, as of Andy Reid's noon news conference. Burkholder said he would check with Vick as to whether he would have an MRI exam today, potentially see a neurologist and have Impact testing, all of which has to occur before he practices.
“Rest is one of the vital things we can give him,” Burkholder said. “We try not to tax his brain or anything. We will go through protocol … We have it outlined. We have done this before. This is not our first go-round.”
As to when he might be ready, Bukrholder said, “We’re not guessing … I’m not going to be back here tomorrow and tell you that’s he’s cleared.”
“I can’t give you a timeframe on this,” he said. “That’s foolish on our part, medically, to put that out there. Everyone wants to know (a) timeframe. Everyone wants to know whether Mike is going to play. We’re going to go through our protocol and when Mike’s ready to practice, I will turn him over to coach and he will make the decision when he’s ready to play. I keep emphasizing, we’re 13 hours post-injury. There’s a lot that has to go on between now and then to make that decision. For me to sit up here and guess on that, it’s not fair to Michael, it’s not fair to coach, it’s not fair to us, the NFL, anybody.”
Burkholder said concussion testing in the locker room showed Vick was very close to the line of whether someone has or does not have a concussion.
The Eagles host the Giants Sunday. Reid seemed to hint that given the complexity of the New York defense, it would be a good thing if the QB practicing Wednesday was the same one starting Sunday -- a possible indication we will see Mike Kafka instead of Vick.
Reid said he spoke with Vick at length after the game. “He remembered everything,” Reid said. “He recalled everything. I tried to quiz him and see where he was at. He was frustrated that he wasn’t able to finish. He had a vested interest in finishing.”
“The test is what it is. If he’s injured, he’s injured. I know that he wants to play.”
League concussion protocols say: "The player should not be considered for return to football activities until he is fully asymptomatic, both at rest and after exertion, has a normal neurological examination, normal neuropsychological testing, and has been cleared to play by both his team physician and the independent neurological consultant."
If Vick is unable to play, Reid said he has not decided who the starting quarterback will be, either Vince Young or Kafka. However, Reid said Young, sidelined the last three weeks with a hamstring problem, is not quite 100 percent yet. Given Young's lack of recent reps in the offense, it would be a surprise if he were to start ahead of Kafka Sunday, but Reid might find it useful to create an air of mystery. And as Burkholder noted, it is premature to assume Vick won't play.
“We’ll see how all that goes,” Reid said, when asked his preference between Kafka and Young. “I haven’t gotten to that point. It was a long night.”
Reid said he has confidence in both quarterbacks and will be talking with both of them. “The one thing we know is it’s a complicated defense and they run a lot of things at you. … On the other hand, Michael has played a lot of games against them and they have given us about every look possible in the last couple of Giants games. That is something I will have to weigh when we get there.”
Asked whether he will consider bringing in another quarterback, Reid said, “I’ll take care of that in the next couple of days and evaluate that. I’m not there yet.”
Reid said he faulted himself for being “way too conservative” after Vick left the game and Kafka came in.
“I sent a message to our team and not a positive one,” Reid said. “That is something I don’t do, in particular given how much trust I have him … I’m kicking myself in the trail for that right now.”
Asked about Kafka, Reid said, “I would have never traded Kevin Kolb if I didn’t have trust in Mike Kafka. I didn’t show that last night. I would never have done the Vince Young deal if I didn’t have trust in Mike Kafka. I didn’t prove it to you last night until the last series.”
Reid said the biggest lesson was to be aggressive with a lead.
“When you have a lead, you have to get after it and stay aggressive,” Reid said. “Again I didn’t set the tempo from that. We’re going to learn how to finish here, starting with me and the coaches and the rest of the guys.”
In other injury news:
· Brent Celek has a low back strain and is "tender today," Reid said.
· Trent Cole has a strained tendon in his hand. “He should be fine,” Reid said.
· Juqua Parker has a high ankle sprain. “I can’t tell you how severe it is right now,” Reid said. “He’s got to get through today here and we’ll have a better idea.”
· Darryl Tapp has a pectoral strain and is healing, Reid said.
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To read our earlier post and to make your grades for Eagles-Falcons, click here.
Reid's comment "I'm Kicking Myself In The TRAIL". Nobody proof reads anymore. If Reid doesn't win the Super Bowl this year he should "Hit The Trail". Same old BS excuses. LB'S ARE PATHETIC, PATHETIC.— The Marco Islander
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- I don't know, the 3rd stringer was kind of dominating the "super-bowl bound" Falcons before the freak injury. You people that want to take away from Vick no matter what constitute a moral plague on these message boards. There's got to be a better way for you people to get off. — auntesther
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Oh epalmer you are so-o on the money. I would add I hate the stupid end around gadget plays OC Mornhinweg seems to add into every game the Eagles play whether the situation calls for it or not. If he's going to use other running plays such as draws, pitches, counters, and slants and trap plays to take advantage of over pursuing defenses. The coaches need to make the team practice them until they become second nature. And they should run them with a FB such as Schmitt who's 6-2 245 instead of a smallish Lewis (5-8 195 soaking wet) or even Brown (6-0 230) for that matter.
I don't want to be overly critical due to the lock out and abbreviated training camp but I sure hope they get better in those areas and with more balance which they seem to be trying to do but old habits are hard to break.
As it is, these plays take forever to develop and by the time they do, the defense has snuffed them for a loss. I don't think the Eagles coaches are firm enough in insisting on perfection in the area of execution otherwise, the Eagles would be better at them. Of course, I have no way of verifying this but, to me, the proof is in the pudding.
— essell - Reid has never drafted or signed any great linebackers. What a poor scheme to stop running backs. With Vick always one hit away from the IR this team won't make the playoffs this year.— farley
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- Some of you sound like Lonewolf disciples.....clueless and fair weather fans. Let's take an honest look here....we had the game won against a preseason SB favorite, in their house, and we made some mistakes. Vick gets hurt after being swung into our own guy, Kafka comes in and does very well, but the Falcons got hot and our D was gassed. It was a preview of the NFC Championship game, which unfortunately now will be played in the Georgia Dome (head-to-head loss). Get real....there's a whole season ahead. Vick, get well soon. NFC East title is first priority, and it starts next weekend.
All Lonewolf followers are excused....go visit the NYG website— philly449 - Reid will never run first to set up the pass. Thus, Vick will continue to get pounded. The LB's get pushed around like rag dolls! They had Page covering Gonzalez all night and made NO adjustments! Great players and great teams make plays when they count! Philly players drop a perfectly thrown pass to lose the game! What's different about this Eagles team? NOTHING! Just another game they should have won, but found a way to lose!— fscalzo
- The Eagles are headed towards the playoffs. By the end of the year, they'll be in the top 3 in the league. The Eagles have way more talent than the Rams or Falcons. The Eagles have a long way to go as far as consistancy and team play goes but they have great talent. This is the best talent since Reid has been here. If they get their act together, they could have a multi-year run.— MikeP
- Kafka-esque.— 24sDad
- First of all, we're blaming Vick for two fumbles and an interception. One of the fumbles was not his fault. Oh, I'm sorry, getting hit by a huge defensive lineman after he faked a pitch on a called play, and reaching to hand off to his running back while getting the stuffing knocked out of him was HIS fault. And now, for the interception that wasn't - so really, one fumble was Vick's fault.
He had 242 yards in the 3rd quarter and an over 100 passer rating. He coverted two third downs effortlessly with his legs. Granted, he took WAY too many hits. But part of that is the play calling and offensive line. Matt Ryan took a ton of hits too. But to say that Vick isn't tough is just plain wrong. You know that he wanted to finish that game being that it was in Atlanta. The only reason he didn't was because he was concussed.
The problem was the defense. Page couldn't cover Gonzalez and we didn't stop the Falcons when we needed to. . .ahem! Turner's 61 yard run is exhibit A. Even with ALL of that, if Maclin catches that ball we probably win and everyone is having a totally different conversation today.— asonepraise - Great article in the SportingNews from today!
Why Michael Vick won't lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl
Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-09-19/why-michael-vick-wont-lead-the-eagles-to-a-super-bowl?icid=maing-grid7%7Caim%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk1%7C97028#ixzz1YRbeX2Uv
Good luck Birds for the rest of your season!— MRD - i have said this before in the preseason. Celek has LJ Smith disease. He is killing us with the drops. I really think Harbor needs to get in there on some of these TE passing downs.— djack10
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