Bob Ford: Vick towers over McNabb in prime-time performance

LANDOVER, Md. - As a morality play, Monday night's football game between the Eagles and the Washington Redskins might have come up a moral or two short, but as theater, there couldn't be many complaints.

At least not in Philadelphia.

The Eagles revisited former quarterback Donovan McNabb in his new home, and on the very day McNabb signed a contract extension with his new team. What could have been a monumental game for McNabb turned into a monumental disaster, however.

By the end of the drubbing, the Eagles had won, 59-28. When it was over, they had more produced more offensive records than Eminem, and most of those were the result of sensational play by quarterback Michael Vick.

Someone got hold of this season's script and crumpled it somewhere along the way. If there was going to be a quarterback to step in and replace McNabb, continuing the solid, organization-guy role that had been established for a decade, it was supposed to be Kevin Kolb, the heir apparent.

That script changed and changed again, and now there appears to be no going back unless Vick gets hurt during one of his frequent scrambles. Vick isn't just the best quarterback option for the Eagles. At the moment, he's the best quarterback option in the league.

The sample is still small. Vick has started and finished only four games this season, and all four have been wins. He led the Eagles to touchdowns on their first five possessions on Monday and the game between division rivals was essentially over by the end of the first quarter. Earlier this season, with Kolb replacing an injured Vick in the first quarter, the Eagles lost to the Redskins, 17-12.

There's no reason to feel sorry for someone who has been awarded a fat new contract, but the contrast in this game between the quarterback the Eagles traded away and one they have now was dramatic. McNabb was harried all night and operating without some of Washington's best offensive weapons, but he wasn't very good. He threw three interceptions, all of which led to Eagles touchdowns. McNabb looked old and slow and, as he stood in the pouring rain, taking this terrible beating, more than a little miserable.

The Eagles this season have been a difficult team to gauge. They have been capable of soundly beating the Atlanta Falcons, one of the better teams in their conference, and losing, not just to these Redskins, but in dreadful fashion to a so-so Tennessee Titans team.

Under coach Andy Reid, however, the Eagles have a history of drifting through the first part of the season, then gaining their stride for a push to the finish. If that is what is happening here - and one thumping win over a dispirited team shouldn't count for everything - the Eagles could be riding the rejuvenation of Vick somewhere special.

Around the conference, there isn't a team that inspires fear. The Eagles, playing as they did on Monday, are as good as any of them. The best test of the theory will arrive on Sunday night in Lincoln Financial Field when the Eagles play the New York Giants for the first time this year. Both teams are 6-3 and both figure to fight for the division championship until the end of the season.

By going with Vick, Reid is pushing his chips on this season. If the Eagles don't make a big splash in the postseason, then another year of development for Kolb will have been wasted. There's no guarantee Vick, who will be an unrestricted free agent, will be back with the Eagles next season, although it seems increasingly likely they will do everything possible to keep him.

Still, this is the gamble they began to take when McNabb was traded to the Redskins on Easter Sunday. The organization chose to leave behind the known and march into the unknown. The Eagles thought they would be marching behind Kolb, but now they are sprinting to keep up with Vick.

At some points of the game on Monday, it seemed as if Reid wanted to punish the Redskins. The offense kept dialing up long pass plays and trick plays after the outcome was no longer in doubt. On the first drive of the fourth quarter, with the Eagles holding that 59-28 lead, Vick was still in the game and he was still throwing.

Washington coach Mike Shanahan, if you have been following this drama, benched McNabb at the end of the Redskins' previous game, a humiliation that Reid might not have liked - even if he pulled the guy once himself.

Whatever the motivation, Vick stayed in and the offense kept its foot on the accelerator. Left behind in the exhaust fumes was Donovan McNabb. Maybe it wasn't supposed to end that way. There was supposed to be more drama, and some morals to the story that made sense.

Not this time, though. Enjoy the contract, Donovan. See you next season.