Reid: Starting Foles Is ‘the Right Thing To Do’
After weeks of saying that Michael Vick would be the quarterback when healthy, Andy Reid changed his stance today and named Nick Foles the starter for the rest of the season.
“It gives one of our young players an opportunity to play here the next four games as the starter,” Reid said. “Each week, he’s come in, he’s been replacing the guy. Now he is the starter, and we’ll see how he does with that.”
Foles turned in his best performance of the season Sunday night, completing 22 of 34 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown.
As for Vick, he’s still in Phase 4 of a five-step team-mandated concussion program. Vick is scheduled to take another ImPACT Test today. It has now been over three weeks since he suffered a concussion in the Eagles’ first meeting against the Cowboys.
In a couple sentences that most would have a tough time believing, Reid said Vick is all good with his decision.
“I did speak to Michael, and he was very positive about it,” Reid said. “He completely understood and was on board.”
Vick, of course, does have his future to think about. A future that could include returning to the Eagles with a restructured contract or moving on to another team after this season.
Reid said the decision to go with Foles was his and his alone. Either way, given that the rookie showed signs of improvement against Dallas, it makes sense to continue to ride with him the rest of the way, regardless of who the coach is going to be in 2013.
“I think where we’re at right now in the season, it gives him an opportunity to play and finish it up. He’s playing well enough, number one, to where I think he can win football games for us and two, I think where we sit at this position in the season, it’s the right thing to do.”
In other injury news, LeSean McCoy is still in Phase 3 after suffering a concussion in the team’s loss to the Washington Redskins on Nov. 18.
The Eagles’ next game is Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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