Demeco Ryans

MICHAEL VICK was pretty calm for a man who had just salvaged his reputation on national television. But then, this 19-17 victory over the New York Giants was the game Vick told us all week he was going to play - decisive, strong and turnover-free. "I take pride in protecting the ball and I always have," Vick said in a Lincoln Financial Field corridor after the Eagles' latest great escape. "I know the reasons why I turned the ball over," with six interceptions and three fumbles the first 3 weeks.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Without sore-hipped Jeremy Maclin, and with offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg having apparently misplaced the pages in the playbook that had to do with LeSean McCoy running the ball, the Eagles didn't have much rhythm or consistency in Sunday's loss to the host Arizona Cardinals. One guy who might have given them that was DeSean Jackson, but nobody was more effectively stymied by the Cards' aggressive defense. Jackson finished the day with three catches, on 10 targets, for just 43 yards.

Like most great leaders, DeMeco Ryans doesn't want credit. He doesn't want bouquets of praise for turning the Eagles defense around. The middle linebacker doesn't believe he's the missing piece to make the wide-nine work. And despite being called "Cap" or "Coach" since high school days, Ryans doesn't think much about why others follow his lead. "There's no magic tricks," Ryans said last week. "For me, I just go out there and be myself and try to do things the right way, so guys if they see me doing it the right way then they'll be more prone to listen to what I'm saying.

It took until the ninth game last season before an Eagles linebacker recorded a sack. DeMeco Ryans needed all of two games to notch his first sack of the season. Linebackers accounted for only three of the Eagles' 50 sacks last season. The low number had something to do with the defense dialing up fewer blitzes. But with the way Ryans and rookie Mychal Kendricks have covered the field in the first two games, it's safe to assume the linebackers will increase that number this season.

Mychal Kendricks said he didn't know what Ray Rice looked like without his helmet on. It almost ruined the joke. Still, when the Eagles linebacker realized that the picture stuck to the bicep of one of his Eagles teammates was Rice - along with Kendricks name scrawled by it - the rookie got the message. "It was kind of like they were calling me out," Kendricks said of his teammates. "Like, 'Look, this is who you're going to have to go against.' " Kendricks said he laughed at the bit, which occurred Saturday night at the Airport Marriott as the Eagles held their final meetings before Sunday's game.

Throughout the preseason, DeMeco Ryans faced questions and criticism about what appeared to be lackluster performances. A 28-year-old, the two-time Pro Bowler endured accusations that he is past his prime and is in decline. These theories were exacerbated when other linebackers started taking his snaps in practice and a dose of buyer's remorse appeared near. So after last Sunday's 17-16 win over the Cleveland Browns, when Ryans was perhaps the Eagles' best player on the field with nine tackles - and three for losses - while playing 60 of the Eagles' 62 defensive snaps, Ryans had his chance to say "I told you so. " He could have smiled and strutted and insisted that he was right all along when he implored that he'll be fine come the regular season.

Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin's status is in question for the home opener against Baltimore after he sustained a hip flexor strain and a hip pointer in Sunday's 17-16 win over the Cleveland Browns. "As you know with hip pointers, those things hurt you a lot more the next couple of days than they do when they actually happen," coach Andy Reid said. Reid said he needs to wait to see how Maclin feels in the next couple of days before determining whether the Eagles must make a roster move.

Andy Reid confirmed Friday that he will use all of his linebackers, shuffling them in and out depending on the package, when the Eagles open the season Sunday at Cleveland. Since the Eagles traded for DeMeco Ryans in March up until, really, Friday, Reid has said that Ryans is a three-down player. Now he isn't. "I've been very happy with DeMeco," Reid said. "I'm just giving everybody an opportunity. The one thing we've got is experience with play time at positions there. Everybody's going to have an opportunity to get in and do their thing.

There's been a merry-go-round at linebacker for the Eagles over the last few seasons, but the team made efforts this offseason to make it stop with the acquisitions of DeMeco Ryans and Mychal Kendricks. It might start spinning again on Sunday in Cleveland. Kendricks said Thursday after practice that the coaches had each of the Eagles' six linebackers practicing in various alignments in several packages on defense. "I would expect for all of us to be playing because that's what we're game-planning with," said Kendricks, who is expected to start at the strong side.