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Vick or Young for Patriots?

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- So who will quarterback the Eagles next week against the Patriots?

Will it be Vince Young, who engineered an 18-play, 80-yard fourth quarter drive that gave the Eagles a 17-10 win over the New York Giants Sunday night?

Or will it be regular starter Michael Vick, who missed the game because of two broken ribs?

If he's healthy it will be Vick. But what if he isn't 100 percent and can still function and play? Does Young's clutch performance -- albeit after three erratic quarters -- give the Eagles the luxury of not hurrying him back?

"I'd rather just take it day by day," Eagles coach Andy Reid said. "Mike's a good player. I'm pretty fortunate I have three good quarterbacks. We're lucky that way. We'll just see how things go with Mike. I'm not going to put him a bad position, that's for sure."

Young's outing -- he completed 23 of 36 passes for 258 yards and two touchdowns to go with three interceptions -- does not make it mandatory for the Eagles to rush Vick back, an Eagles source said. Still, the team was optimistic that Vick would have the opportunity to be back by Sunday's home game against New England.

Vick's status after he broke two ribs last week against the Cardinals was up in the air all last week, but the team knew by Wednesday that he would not be able to play. He was listed as questionable on the Friday injury report even though he didn't practice all week. By Saturday, however, he was downgraded to out and did not travel with the team on Saturday.

Vick was described as being very sore and not completely out of the woods in terms of his recovery. If he can't go, Young has the chance to build off his fourth quarter performance Sunday night.

"I had a couple of jitters," Young said about not starting in exactly a year. "It's been a while. Overall, I started to calm and just let the game come to me."

The 4-6 Eagles cleared one hurdle in beating the Giants, but each week will present another challenge. The Patriots are still among one of the best teams in the AFC, although their defense has struggled, especially the pass D.