Vick has up-and-down day as Jets beat Eagles in preseason finale

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Michael Vick got reinstated, booed, scored a touchdown and threw an interception, roughly in that order, all before halftime of last night's Eagles preseason finale, a 38-27 loss to the New York Jets. In the second half, Vick actually put together successive series in a conventional quarterback role, with no gimmickry.

"I didn't even know what to do with myself," after scoring on a 2-yard run, Vick said. "I always told myself I was going to keep the ball, I was going to hand it to an offensive lineman and spike it. I got up [from the pile] and I just lost it. My mind went blank and I just ran off the field, like nothing had happened. I went through so many different scenarios in my mind. But it was great. It was gratifying to get into the end zone."

All told, it was quite a trip to the Greater New York area for the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback, who now will not play again until Sept. 27, a home game against Kansas City.

Vick's day began with a meeting in the team's North Jersey hotel, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sitting down with Vick and Eagles coach Andy Reid. Goodell then spoke on the phone with Vick's league-appointed adviser, Tony Dungy.

"He's demonstrated he's committed," Goodell told reporters in announcing Vick would be reinstated for the third week of the season. That will be Vick's first regular-season game since the final contest of 2006, when he was an Atlanta Falcons superstar, before he served 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting ring.

Vick said Goodell didn't announce a decision at their meeting, that Reid gave him the news about 3 hours later.

"I think [Goodell] came out of [the meeting] feeling very confident that Michael is doing the right things and on the right track, and that two games was kind of a reasonable outcome," Eagles president Joe Banner said when he met with reporters before last night's game.

"I've been trying to show [Goodell] I'm moving in the right direction," Vick said. "I'm changing my life for the better, I'm doing all the things that professional athletes are supposed to do."

"We obviously respect his decision 100 percent and support it," Reid said after the game, in which Vick quarterbacked the entire third quarter and all but the final series of the fourth.