Les Bowen: Further Review: All quiet so far on Vick contract

SUDDENLY, ALL you have to do is mention the word "contract" to anyone who might be involved in crafting a new agreement between the Eagles and Michael Vick, and you can watch them do exactly that - contract.

(See, it's a play on words. CONtract, the thing you make money with, vs. conTRACT, meaning shrink. Those of us working in newspapers are increasingly conversant with the second meaning, less and less familiar with the first.)

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, approached in the postgame locker room following the Eagles' 59-28 immolation of the Redskins, declared, "I'm not going to talk about any of that stuff" - that stuff being whether the team plans to approach Vick's agent, Joel Segal, before the end of the season about extending the expiring deal, whether the Eagles expect the franchise tag to be retained in whatever collective bargaining agreement emerges, or whether the Donovan McNabb contract (which it now seems the Redskins can opt out of after this season) sets any sort of parameters for Vick.

Segal was nice enough to return a reporter's phone call yesterday, just to confirm that he wasn't going to say anything. Wasn't going to talk about whether he'd be willing to discuss a deal with the Birds during the season, whether he saw any way the team would let Vick get to free agency, what he thought of Vick saying last week he felt obligated to the Eagles for taking a chance on him, or what sort of caveats Segal thinks might be reasonable in a big-money contract for a player who spent nearly 2 years in prison and conceivably could again be banned from the NFL with an off-field misstep.

Vick, to his credit, doesn't duck the question, he just doesn't have much to say about it, other than that it isn't the main thing on his mind right now. After the game, Vick said he didn't think the McNabb contract would be much of a factor. Last night, in his weekly Virginia Beach radio appearance on ESPN 94.1, Vick said he and Segal have not been approached by the Eagles so far.

"Not yet," he said. "We haven't started any negotiations. We are just taking it 1 week at a time. If it's going to happen, it will happen. I don't think it will take long when negotiations do start, if they ever start. I know the most important thing is to go out and win the next football game. Keep piling up wins and keep doing what's best for this football team.