Quarterbacks

The Eagles continued to add to their stable of quarterbacks and further hinted at the way they might play under coach Chip Kelly when the team signed Dennis Dixon to a two-year contract Thursday. Dixon, a practice squad quarterback with the Baltimore Ravens this season, excelled in college at Oregon when Kelly was his offensive coordinator. The 28-year old quarterback was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008 and started three games. "We are excited to bring in Dennis Dixon to compete at the quarterback position," general manager Howie Roseman said in a statement.

Michael Vick said this morning his recent injury problems came from "trying to protect myself," so he plans to be less cautious as a quarterback. "I think what I have to do is just go out and play lights-out football and not worry about getting hurt," he said on ESPN radio's Mike & Mike in the Morning , aired locally on 97.5 The Fanatic. He also said he hopes to play for another four or five years. The Eagles announced Monday that Vick had agreed to a new deal, allowing him to compete for the starting quarterback job and potentially earn as much as $10 million over the next year.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly decided to bring back Michael Vick for another season with a restructured contract, but buried beneath his praise for Vick was his admission that the "landscape for other quarterbacks" wasn't very promising. And that essentially summed up Kelly's decision to keep Vick, even though a majority of Eagles fans seem ready to move on to the next phase the new coach represented. "I agree there is a change of scenery going on here," Kelly said Monday at the NovaCare Complex. "For Michael Vick, there is a change of scenery, but not a change of address.

CALL THE roll: Dan Reeves, Jim Mora Jr., Andy Reid, now Chip Kelly. They all thought they could harness the diverse talents of Michael Vick for a greater football good. Now, only Kelly - surprise! - still has a chance. Reid, especially, was seduced by the possibilities that Vick brought, only to be disappointed in the end - just as Reeves and Mora were before him in Atlanta. Kelly, by contrast, seems more of a realist. Reid had a soft spot for a man returning from incarceration, a state from which his sons had also emerged.

Before Chip Kelly burned his boats, here's hoping he noticed the wreckage along the coastline. They are the ruined vessels of other captains lured toward the rocks by the siren song of Michael Vick's physical gifts. They were coaches who saw the rocket arm and the tailback speed and believed they could turn Vick into a championship quarterback. They were Dan Reeves and Jim Mora Jr. and, most recently and painfully, Andy Reid. If Kelly knows about Cortes, the Spanish explorer who burned his ships to remove the possibility of returning home from his men's thoughts, he probably knows about Odysseus, lashing himself to the mast to resist the sirens.

Here's a bit of a trick question that will really test your Super Bowl knowledge. What three quarterbacks started in the Super Bowl for teams from two different cities? We had to word that carefully. The question arose from a conversation about how no head coach has won Super Bowls with two different franchises. Four coaches who won with one franchise but lost with another were Bill Parcells, Mike Holmgren, Dick Vermeil and Don Shula. Many head coaches and quarterbacks have won multiple times with the same franchise.

Cedar Creek quarterback Damon Mitchell has decided to make an official recruiting visit this weekend to Arkansas. The surprising development - Mitchell has committed to Georgia Tech - could have an interesting side effect: Rutgers could emerge as a destination for the first-team all-South Jersey athlete. Mitchell, who ran for 22 touchdowns and passed for 21 in leading Cedar Creek to a 10-2 record and the South Jersey Group 2 title game, said he made the decision after a home visit by Arkansas coach Bret Bielema on Sunday.

NEW ORLEANS - Let's start by talking about what Joe Flacco is. He's the first quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to make the playoffs in each of his first 5 years. He's also the first quarterback to win at least one playoff game in each of his first 5 years. He is tied for second with the Ben Roethlisberger for most playoff wins (eight) in his first five seasons, behind only Tom Brady (nine). And he can pull even with Brady on Sunday if his Baltimore Ravens can manage to beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.

TERRY SMITH, who spent the last 11 seasons as head football coach at Gateway High in Monroeville, outside Pittsburgh, has been named Temple's wide receivers coach. "I am so excited to welcome Terry Smith to Temple University," Owls coach Matt Rhule said. "His extensive coaching background, his knowledge of the game, and his success on the high school, college, and professional levels will benefit our players and our staff immediately. Throughout his coaching career, Terry has produced outstanding players.

MOBILE, Ala. - Quarterbacks at all-star games have tough assignments. The six Senor Bowl signal callers will be playing off CliffsNotes of a new offense, throwing to unfamiliar receivers, and taking snaps from a new center in Saturday's NFL showcase. And they'll all do it from under center, not the shotgun for those more accustomed to the spread in college. All the while with dozens of scouts, coaches, and NFL execs studying their every move on and off the field. Not that anyone is complaining considering the potential rewards.