Hey, remember yesterday when we told you that Michael Vick’s MRI was negative and that he had no broken bones as result of his goal line collision against the Redskins on Sunday? Yes, well it appears we may have jumped to conclusions a little bit there.
Vick went on Bruce Smith’s radio show yesterday and admitted that one of his ribs is fractured:
"There is some cartilage damage up in there and a small fracture up in there, so maybe a week, maybe two weeks. We'll have to see. I've got some cartilage damage up in there, in the upper area of my ribs. I just have to work through it. I've always been a quick healer. It won't be no more than one, two weeks hopefully. Hopefully."
Vick has already been ruled out for Sunday Night’s game against the 49ers. I imagine he’s dying to take the field the following week against his former team, the Falcons. The problem with rib injuries is that they linger. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to move. It hurts to even think about moving. That acute pain doesn’t just vanish after a week, particularly if you decide after seven days to get back to the rather vigorous activity of playing professional football.
Vick will almost certainly wear a flak jacket the next time he takes the field. The question is: Will he restrain himself from making daring runs and subjecting himself to getting those ribs crunched a second time? Or will he dive right back in?
The next two weeks will be a struggle between the Eagles’ desire to protect Vick long term, and the QB’s desire to get back out onto the field as soon as possible, to keep his job and prove he isn’t injury prone. If he ends up starting against the Falcons, you’ll know who probably came out on top.
