FanHouse MichaelVick

PHILADELPHIA -- Michael Vick has all but disappeared, since the season began, into the Eagles' multifaceted offense and Andy Reid's secret future plans for it. But he is still MIchael Vick, convicted dogfighter and NFL lightning rod. So when he said in an interview with NBC's Bob Costas on Sunday that he'd have a hard time returning to the Eagles in his current role next year, he wasn't surprised that it became big news.

But on Wednesday, before the Eagles took the field for practice, Vick spoke briefly to reporters in the locker room and wanted to make it very clear that, while he'd obviously like to be playing more than he is, he's still enjoying the Eagles' bench much more than he was enjoying federal prison.

PHILADELPHIA -- You don't think of the Eagles along with the Saints or the Colts or the Patriots in terms of the number, the variety and the explosiveness of their offensive playmakers. Teams like that set the standard, and the Eagles don't feel like they fit into that kind of conversation. And that's fine, because they're not there yet.

But if you watched the Eagles score on big play after big play Sunday afternoon against the Giants, you got the feel that they might very well be there soon. Andy Reid's Philadelphia offense remains a work in progress, but with the number of different weapons he has at his disposal on any given play, we could soon be talking about the Eagles as one of the most exciting and dynamic offensive teams in the league.

NFL Coaches Fight Club: the Tournament. Because we have nothing better to do than predict what might happen if head coaches started punching each other in the face.

---

Reports surfaced last night that Eagles quarterback Michael Vick had signed a new endorsement deal with Nike just months after completing his two-year prison sentence for dogfighting-related crimes. But Nike moved today to deny those stories, saying it "does not have a contractual relationship" with Vick.

Nike signed Vick in 2001, when he was an NFL rookie, and released several versions of Vick signature shoes. But it terminated its relationship with Vick in 2007 after the quarterback pleaded guilty to the dogfighting charge. Vick has since returned to the NFL -- on Sunday he played in his first regular-season game since 2006 -- and like many pro athletes he apparently still gets his shoes from Nike. But the company claims it has not entered into a new endorsement agreement with Vick.

---

---

Coming off an easy victory in Kansas City, the Eagles have made a pair of roster moves involving big names. Jeff Garcia, who was brought in as quarterback depth after Donovan McNabb fell injured, has now been released. In a corresponding move, the Eagles have brought back linebacker Jeremiah Trotter for a third stint in Philadelphia.

The move to release Garcia isn't all that shocking. The Eagles lost McNabb after Week 1. At the time, Michael Vick was still suspended and Kevin Kolb had never started an NFL game. Now, Vick is back and Kolb became the first player in NFL history to throw for over 300 yards in each of his first two career starts. Plus, with a bye this week, it's likely McNabb will be ready to start in Week 5. There was simply no need to carry four quarterbacks.

Sunday will mark Michael Vick's official return to the NFL. He last played in 2006 before spending most of the next two years in court or in the can for the whole sordid dogfighting thing.

But the man has served his debt to society and he deserves a chance to make a living. At least that's how Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie is rationalizing it.

There will be plenty of time to dissect the nuances of Vick's performance, but for now, just know this: he fancies highfalutin' steakhouses (see Philly.com gossip video after the jump for confirmation).

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's weekday roundup of the NFL news with fantasy football impact.

Pierre Thomas owners simply cannot catch a break. It was bad enough watching Mike Bell tear through defenses as Thomas sat out for the first two games of the season, but now that he is finally healthy (and Bell is not), according to FFToolBox, the Saints are giving first team repetitions to Lynell Hamilton (this was also mentioned in the Cram Session podcast by our Matt Snyder and Tom Herrera). Pardon my French, but who the hell is Lynell Hamilton?

After watching the painful tape of Sunday's loss to the Saints, Eagles coach Andy Reid decided Kevin Kolb's performance in his first start as an NFL quarterback was even better than he first thought.

"I thought he did some good things," Reid said Monday. "Can he learn from the interception on the second series of the second half? Yeah, he'll learn on that. But I thought overall he did a pretty good job, after having an opportunity to evaluate it."

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Tyrod Taylor is the latest in a line of mobile Virginia Tech quarterbacks. While there's no denying his impressive talents, Taylor has heard the whispers, too. He doesn't show enough patience in the pocket. He makes too many bad reads. He runs too much. But guess what?

Taylor wins, too.

"I just study film and go out there and play the game -- let the game come to me," said Taylor, nicknamed "T-Mobile."

With Donovan McNabb's status up in the air thanks to a cracked rib, the Philadelphia Eagles have reportedly reached into their recent past to shore up their quarterback position. The team has signed Jeff Garcia, according to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com and the Philadelphia Daily News.

The move to add a quarterback isn't particularly surprising. The Eagles don't have a third quarterback available for Week Two thanks to Michael Vick's suspension and if McNabb is too hurt to start you'd understandably want to shield him from playing at all. On one hand, Garcia's not a surprising choice since he spent 2006 with the team and knows the offense.

On a couple of other hands, though, the move is awfully intriguing.