Michael Vick just can't seem to stay healthy, as evidenced once again on Monday night.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was slammed into the turf by Patriots defensive lineman Jermaine Cunningham in the first quarter of Monday night's game. Vick got up slowly before walking off the field.
He went straight to the locker room with a rib injury and did not return. After the game, head coach Andy Reid gave an update on his quarterback's injury situation.
"We had it X-rayed, it was negative," Reid stated when speaking with reporters after the game. "They were not broken so we'll have an MRI, CT-scan [Tuesday], just to see if there's anything else as far as cartilage or anything. I chose not to bring him back in, he was sore."
Vick, who has a growing list of injury problems, isn't a stranger to rib issues. He missed time during the 2010 season with a rib cartilage injury.
"Now he is sore," Reid said. "Now listen, he was trying to talk to me about going back in, so how sore is sore. He got a good shot there. The precautionary level is just to see if it is involving cartilage. And that’s what we are doing it."
There were also postgame suspicions as to whether or not Vick had adequate protection around the rib area. Reid discussed the different options there are in terms of flak jackets to protect the ribs, and he did admit that maybe Vick didn't have enough protection.
"It didn’t work. Whatever he had on didn’t work. But listen, things happen."
Vick saw limited action in the Eagles' first preseason game as well, thanks to another injury, this one to his left thumb. He hit that thumb on the helmet of center Jason Kelce, but X-rays did come back negative on that one as well.
There's now a realistic possibility that Vick's preseason is done, either because of the rib injury or as a precautionary measure to ensure that he makes it to the regular season alive.
That's a a decision that Reid would be all right with.
"Listen, if he didn't play again [in the preseason] then he'd be OK," Reid added in his postgame news conference. "I would tell you I'd probably like to see him play a little bit more, but he's got enough experience. We're not talking about a rookie. I think he'll probably be OK."
The Eagles are right back at it on Friday, and it's likely that Vick would have sat in that game regardless with the short turnaround following Monday night's game. They wrap up the preseason on Aug. 30.
