Vick's gift is one last start in green

This is an excerpt from a post on the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian:

MICHAEL VICK was sound asleep on Christmas Eve, when his cellphone awoke him with such a clatter, he rose from his bed to see what was the matter, Vick said Monday.

Turned out a jolly man with a bushy mustache had left Vick a present.

"When I called him back, he told me exactly what had happened," that Nick Foles had a hairline fracture in the second metacarpal of his throwing hand, so Andy Reid wanted Vick to start the season finale this Sunday against the Giants.

In what we all assume is his final game as the Eagles' coach, Reid will go out with the quarterback he entrusted his future to, three seasons ago. Reid and Vick will go out together.

"It feels good that I have a chance to play quarterback this last game," Vick told your Eagletarian, just before his Christmas charity event in his hometown of Newport News, Va. "Whether it's coach's last game or my last game, whoever's last game it is, it's the last game of the season [for the Eagles] and we want to win it."

Vick was the third quarterback Sunday, inactive against the Redskins. The sense was he had thrown his final Eagles pass. Can he switch back into starting mode so quickly?

"I just have to find a way to do it this week at some point," Vick said. "I gotta find a way to get back into game mode."

Is he ready?

"I hope so. I can't tell you I'm going to be as sharp as I was" when he suffered the concussion Nov. 11, Vick said. "I've really only had 1 week to work at it. But I'm going to do the best that I can, see what comes out of it, have fun doing it."

Vick said he isn't looking at this as an opportunity to show prospective employers he is healthy. The Eagles are expected to move forward with Foles. They won't owe Vick any more money if they release him a few days after the Super Bowl, and if they're willing to pay $3 million then, they can try to trade him in the spring.

"I don't think I really have to go out there and perform, show teams what I can do," said Vick, 32. "I think they already know."

Vick endorsed what Reid said earlier Monday, that Vick wanted to play again, even on a 4-11 team that is going nowhere.

"I've been telling coach, 'If you need me, I'm here,' " Vick said.

"He's had a couple of weeks of practice here," Reid said of Vick. "I thought the first week, he was a little bit rusty out there, I thought this past week, he threw it around well, he feels good . . . He obviously deserves an opportunity to play."

Reid said the choice between Vick and Trent Edwards came down to the fact that Vick "had been the No. 1."

Somehow, even Christmas Eve can't be devoid of intrigue and bizarre happenstance when it comes to the Eagles.

Andy Reid announced Monday that an MRI revealed a hairline fracture in the second metacarpal in Nick Foles' throwing hand, suffered just before halftime of Sunday's loss to the Redskins. He also said defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and linebacker Mychal Kendricks have concussions. There is no word on their availablity for the finale Sunday at the Giants.

Reid said Foles' injury did not show up on X-rays taken at the stadium Sunday but was visible on the MRI Monday. He said it would typically be a 3-week injury.

It seems Foles must have been injured three snaps before Alex Henery's 38-yard field goal, which was kicked with 21 seconds left in the half. Foles was driven into the turf by unblocked Redskins defensive lineman Barry Cofield, as Foles dumped the ball successfully to LeSean McCoy for a short gain. Foles went down face-first, on his hand.

Reid didn't really offer a clear rationale for the turnabout from having Vick in street clothes as the inactive, healthy third quarterback against the Redskins to making him the starter again the next day. When Reid said last week Vick would be the third QB, observers hypothesized that if something should happen to Foles, the Eagles didn't need a quarterback they are likely to discard coming in and muddying the waters with an electrifying performance, and that Vick wasn't looking to take any more brutal hits in a season that has been full of them.

But if any of that were true, Trent Edwards would be starting against the Giants, who still can make the playoffs if they beat the Eagles and several other dominoes fall.

Reid lauded Foles for finishing the game with a broken hand. He said Foles had some trouble gripping the ball right after the hit, but when he warmed up for the second half, he felt he was good to go. Foles completed 18 of 26 passes for 188 yards in the second half. He said afterward his hand didn't affect the ball he threw short of an open Jeremy Maclin in the end zone in the final seconds, but Reid indicated Monday that the hand might have been a factor.