In any case, Vick was upbeat, 2 days into his removal from the exempt list and his clearance to practice with his new team, in advance of being reinstated for next week's home game against Kansas City.
"It feels good to be out there," said Vick, who could not practice with the team when he was "exempt."
"Get my legs back up under me, keep my mind fresh in football and in this offense I'm just happy - I'm a football player, this is a great feeling for me . . . My body has done a good job of responding to the conditioning and the beating I've put on it the last 3 or 4 weeks. I'm just excited to be in the position I'm in, and I hope I can make some plays when called upon."
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg talked about the extra work Vick is doing, having not played in the NFL since the end of the 2006 season. Vick served 18 months in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting operation.
"One of the goals was to get him in playing-football condition, and I think we're real close to that," Mornhinweg said. "Then, the other goal was to get him pretty sharp at the quarterback spot."
Managing Maclin
Marty Mornhinweg didn't want to venture a guess as to how many snaps from scrimmage first-round rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin got at Carolina. No passes were thrown to Maclin.
"He got some plays," Mornhinweg said. "Now, every game will be different, but hopefully, as we go over a big space of time, that will keep picking up just a little bit for him."
Was Maclin surprised to have a minimal role?
"A little bit," Maclin said yesterday. "Not really 'surprised,' but I kind of expected to play a bigger role. It's a long season, man. We'll see."
Birdseed
