Stayin' Alive

By PAUL DOMOWITCH

pdomo@aol.com

Brian Billick is a longtime friend of Andy Reid's. But the former coach and current Fox analyst did his pal no favors last Sunday with his on-air description of Mike Vick after the Eagles quarterback got clocked by Redskins safety LaRon Landry at the tail-end of a 20-yard run in the third quarter of the Eagles' 20-13 win.

Billick thought the same thing you and I thought as Vick slowly struggled to his feet and stood there in an apparent daze next to teammates Danny Watkins and Todd Herremans.

Concussion.

"Michael Vick took a shot. They're holding him up like a punch-drunk boxer," Billick said on the broadcast.

Billick's words only reinforced the belief of all the armchair neurologists out there that Vick was indeed concussed and done for the day. But he returned the very next series, right after Vince Young threw one of the dumbest interceptions you're ever going to see a veteran not named Rex Grossman throw.

Vick seemed perfectly fine when he went back in. He didn't line up behind the guards or tackles or go to the wrong sideline. Was lucid in the huddle and on the line of scrimmage. Completed five of his final eight passes and even reeled off a 31-yard run on third-and-10.

And while the fact that Reid and Vick couldn't get their stories straight on what happened - the coach said his quarterback got the wind knocked out of him and the quarterback said he had dirt in his eyes - was a wee bit suspicious, little was made of it, particularly since Reid acknowledged that Vick had been tested for a concussion on the sideline before going back in the game.

But that didn't stop ProFootballTalk.com's resident rabble-rouser, Mike Florio, from getting on his pulpit and calling for a league investigation into the Eagles' decision to put Vick back in the game.

Billick has known Reid for a long time. He doesn't believe the Eagles coach would ever put a player back in a game if he suspected he might have a concussion.

"[Concussions] would strictly be in the hands of the doctors," he said. "If he was concussed, no coach, and certainly not Andy, would let him go back in the game. There would be more than a little hell to pay if something like that happened. I have no reason to believe it didn't go down exactly the way the Eagles said it did."

Vick has taken a pretty good pounding in the first six games. He has been hit more than 30 times as a passer and almost as many times as a runner (he has 45 rushing attempts, but has made it out of bounds before getting hit on many of them).

The only playing time he has missed so far, besides that one series last Sunday, were the final quarters of the 35-31 loss at Atlanta when he suffered a concussion and the 29-16 loss to the Giants after injuring his non-throwing hand. But Billick isn't optimistic that Vick will be able to answer the bell for the next 10 regular-season games and possibly beyond.

"My concern with him is the cumulative hits he takes," Billick said. "He's had the head [concussion], he's had the hand, he's had the finger. In another game we did he took a shot to the knee and the ankle. That's what concerns me and heightens the chance that he won't be able to go all 16 games.

"He's not a real big guy [5-11 1/2]. Anybody that meets him for the first time is shocked by how small he is. But he's a phenomenal athlete. I think he knows how to protect himself in that regard. But I have concerns that he can go the entire season and not be knocked out."

FIGURING THE EAGLES

* The Eagles have just 10 players on their 53-man roster who they selected in the first three rounds of the draft and 21 who they took in Rounds 4-7 or signed as undrafted free agents.

* The Eagles' special teams units have committed just three penalties in the first six games.

* Through the first six games, the Eagles have lined up in three- and four-wide receiver sets on 235 of their 406 offensive plays, or 57.9 percent of the time. One hundred fifty-three of those 235 plays have been pass plays. They've used three-wide sets 191 times and four-wide sets just 34 times.

* While he's technically a starter, fullback Owen Schmitt hasn't been on the field very much in the first six games. He has just six touches and has played just 71 of 406 snaps so far. The Eagles have lined up in two-back sets only 90 times, and Ronnie Brown was paired with LeSean McCoy on 19 of them.

* LeSean McCoy is fourth in the league in rushing with 569 yards. He's on pace to break the Eagles' single-season record for rushing yards (1,512 by Wilbert Montgomery in 1979). Three hundred thirty-six of McCoy's 569 rushing yards and three of his six rushing touchdowns have come on first down. Of his 105 carries, 27 have gained 8 yards or more.

* Michael Vick has a respectable 92.2 passer rating, but his numbers on third down and in the red zone are not very good. He's the league's 25th-rated passer on third down with a 70.8 rating. Only Rex Grossman has more third-down interceptions (5) than Vick (4). In the red zone, Vick has completed just 54.8 percent of his passes (17-for-31) and has thrown two picks.

* The Eagles have converted just 14 of 26 third-down opportunities of 3 yards or less. By comparison, their opponents have converted 10 of 16 third-and-3s or less against their defense.

* Eagles linebackers have just one interception in the last 12 regular-season games. That was by Jamar Chaney in Week 5 vs. the Bills.

THIS AND THAT

* Last week's little brouhaha between Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz goes back to a dinner lecture Schwartz gave Harbaugh in March at the NFL owners meeting in New Orleans. Here's the way Jim's brother John told it to the Daily News back then: "We were having dinner the other night and Jim Schwartz told [my brother] basically there's no way you're going to be able to get it done [if the NFL lockout lasts into the summer]. He told him there's no way you're going to be able to accomplish what you need to accomplish in 2 weeks if this thing lasts a while. Jim just kind of bit his tongue, which is what you've got to do in this situation."

* The league's new collective bargaining agreement mandates that teams must have at least 4 consecutive days off during the bye week, including Saturday and Sunday. Many coaches, including the Patriots' Bill Belichick and the Giants' Tom Coughlin, whose teams, like the Eagles, have a bye this week, kept their players in town for practices on Monday and Tuesday before letting them hit the R&R road. Andy Reid, as has been his custom, gave his players the whole week off. Some might suggest that he should have taken advantage of the bye week and kept a team with so many new faces around for a few extra days of practice and classroom work. But it's hard to argue with his 12-0 record after the bye week. Then again, maybe the entire offensive line is together right now at a tiki bar in Aruba reviewing the Cowboys' blitz packages. OK, maybe not.

* Tom Brady and Bill Belichick collected their 116th win together last week with the Patriots' 20-16 victory over the Cowboys. That ties the record for most wins by a quarterback/coach tandem set by the Dolphins' Dan Marino and Don Shula. The difference is Brady and Belichick have a pretty good relationship. Marino and Shula constantly were at odds. Their relationship got so bad at one point that Marino asked the organization to trade him. "I feel like I have a good player-coach relationship with Tom," Belichick said. "I think that's important. It's good to have a good line of communication with your quarterback. He's the one making most of the decisions out there on the offensive side of the ball - either who to throw it to or as it relates to plays and adjustments at the line of scrimmage."

* The 49ers sacked Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford five times even though they never sent more than four pass-rushers after him.

* Add former Bengals quarterback and current CBS studio analyst Boomer Esiason to the list of people who believe the reason the players union is dragging its feet on HGH testing is because a significant number of players use the stuff. "It doesn't surprise me the union is backing off because they have players guilty of using this substance," Esiason said. "I don't care what anybody says. And there are many who believe it is at least 20 percent in the league. And I hope the players are paying attention because guys, they are going to test you. And it is coming right around the corner."

2-MINUTE DRILL

FROM THE LIP:

* "The job is absolutely harder. Offenses have morphed from using two-back, power-running formations to where they're always spreading you out. You used to be able to have a safety who could play in the box and one playing free. But now, that big safety is getting run out of the league." - Jets safety Jim Leonhard on the changing role of the safety in the NFL

* "I want it so bad, it's scary. For years, we've been on the brink. I'm tired of being on my couch watching other guys play in the biggest game in the world. I don't want to be known as a player who almost got it done." - Ravens LB Terrell Suggs on winning a Super Bowl

* "Candy and costumes - how can you beat that?" - Patriots coach Bill Belichick when asked if Halloween is his favorite holiday

* "I think you can get better at everything. And we're always striving to get better as a team at everything we do. And personally, I can get better at the postgame handshake, and will attempt to do that." - Niners coach Jim Harbaugh when asked if he needs to improve his postgame-handshake skills

* "This guy is playing football like I've never seen before. I thought I knew who Alex Smith was coming into this season. Now, I'm starting to think that maybe I was wrong." - NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner on 49ers QB Alex Smith

BY THE NUMBERS

* Teams coming off the bye are 1-5 this season.

* Through 6 weeks, teams with a 100-yard rusher are 34-11. Strangely, the Giants are 3-0 in games in which they've given up 100-plus yards to a running back.

* Since 2003, the Patriots are an impressive 32-5 in October. They have won 23 of their last 25 games in October.

* The 49ers and Lions are the ninth and 10th teams since 1990 to get off to 1-5 starts one year and open 5-1 the next year.

* With his 383-yard passing performance last week in the Saints' loss to the Bucs, Drew Brees became the first quarterback in NFL history to put together four straight 350-plus-yard passing games.

* The Packers are the seventh defending Super Bowl champion to start a season 6-0. All of the previous six advanced to the playoffs. Two - the 1998 Broncos and 2004 Patriots - repeated as SB champs.

* In the first 6 weeks, 19 teams have come back to win games in which they trailed by at least 10 points. That's the most through the first 6 weeks of the season in NFL history.

THAT'S SAYING THUMBTHING

THUMBS UP: To 49ers public relations director Bob Lange, a former Eagles PR assistant, for his quick reactions in trying to break up the postgame-handshake altercation between his coach, Jim Harbaugh, and the Lions' Jim Schwartz after the Niners' 25-19 win last week. The video of him rushing in front of Schwartz and yelling, "Wo, wo, wo" as Schwartz tried to get at Harbaugh was priceless.

THUMBS DOWN: To the Raiders, whose football IQ hasn't gone up any with the passing of owner Al Davis. Two first-round picks for Carson Palmer? Are you nuts, Hue Jackson? Get this team a general manager, quick. Palmer has thrown 57 interceptions in his last 52 starts. He hasn't had a passer rating above 87 since 2006. Hasn't really been right since having Tommy John surgery in '08. Hasn't taken a snap since last year and he's going to start Sunday against the Chiefs.

NFL RANKINGS FOR OCT. 20

1 Packers 6-0 (1 last week)

2 Patriots 5-1 (3)

3 Ravens 5-1 (4)

4 Saints 4-2 (2)

5 Steelers 4-2 (6)

6 Chargers 4-1 (7)

7 49ers 5-1 (9)

8 Lions 5-1 (5)

9 Bucs 4-2 (12)

10 Bills 4-2 (8)

11 Raiders 4-2 (13)

12 Giants 4-2 (17)

13 Jets 3-3 (14)

14 Bears 3-3 (15)

15 Redskins 3-2 (11)

16 Falcons 3-3 (16)

17 Bengals 4-2 (21)

18 Texans 3-3 (10)

19 Eagles 2-4 (22)

20 Titans 3-2 (18)

21 Cowboys 2-3 (19)

22 Browns 2-3 (20)

23 Seahawks 2-3 (24)

24 Panthers 1-5 (23)

25 Cardinals 1-4 (26)

26 Jaguars 1-5 (28)

27 Chiefs 2-3 (27)

28 Rams 0-6 (27)

29 Broncos 1-4 (29)

30 Vikings 1-5 (30)

31 Colts 0-6 (31)

32 Dolphins 0-5 (32)