"I'm really just going to take it play by play, see how he adjusts to game speed. If I think that's a problem, I'd probably discontinue the reps, but if I feel like he's adjusting OK, then I'd continue to give him an opportunity there."
Finally, the Vick saga will swing to what his signing was truly about - football and not social activism.
It would be ridiculous to expect much from Vick, who will be in an NFL game for the first time since Dec. 31, 2006, but it sure would be encouraging for the Eagles if he showed just a hint that he might be worth the agitation that already has taken over - and will continue to take over - since his signing.
The funny thing is that it seems the only member of the Eagles organization who hasn't had to deal with the implications of the Vick signing has been Vick himself.
It's all been by design, but Vick has not spoken about anything since his introductory media conference on Aug. 14.
It's been up to Reid and the other Eagles players and coaches to provide updates about the progress Vick is making on the football field.
Yesterday, Vick was actually at his stall during the time the media was allowed in the locker room. He didn't speak and made a hasty exit.
But at least he didn't discriminate against the press. Vick wouldn't answer a question playfully tossed at him by Donovan McNabb, who played lead blocker for Vick's exit.
Reid said he hadn't even thought about whether Vick would speak after the Jacksonville game, but I'm betting he will. The Eagles are smart enough to know that it would just add to the circus if Vick didn't speak about football after actually playing in a football game.
Of course, the white elephant in the room is the non-football-related issue of Vick having gone to prison for his role in a dogfighting ring that resulted in several of man's best friends being brutalized, tortured and killed.
I'm not sure how much the Eagles considered the implications of stating that Vick's actions in the community, specifically his role in preventing future animal cruelty, would be as important, if not more so, as his rehabilitation as a football player.
There were way too many wild cards in the deck, too many agendas to wade through, for the Eagles to have made such a definitive statement.
But since they did, they have to deal with the fallout.
Any realistic look at this situation shows that Vick has not had enough to formulate a game plan to honor his commitment to fight against animal cruelty.
Still, the door has been opened for Vick's critics to ask: When is the guy going to do something?
Frankly, it looked kind of silly for the Eagles to host a brainstorming session with more than 20 local and national animal advocacy groups on Monday without the center of attention, Vick, in attendance.
How can anyone, even the folks signing his paycheck (and for the record, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie wasn't there, either), have discussions about what Michael Vick is going to do without Michael Vick being there?
Can you imagine the public-relations nightmare if they had actually come up with something with which Vick wasn't fully on board?
For all of their good intentions, what the Eagles basically did was make themselves hostage to the agendas of high-profile special-interest groups who don't care a Milk-Bone about what might or might not be in the best interests of the Eagles.
Objections to unreasonable demands won't be met with logical analysis, but instead emotional condemnation.
Near the end of his press conference, Reid was asked how Vick was progressing as a human being.
Somewhere between pauses, lowering his voice and mumbles, Reid said, "I think [Vick] is doing a good job. He's working at it. I think he's heading in the right direction."
Tomorrow night, the Eagles will start to find out if it's going to be worth it.
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