Vick’s rib injury could force Eagles’ hand

Mike Vick was clearly in the minority last week, when he told reporters that “Lord willing, maybe we can end up 10-6.”

But, after missing practice Wednesday and Thursday, it’s looking like that unenviable task will fall on the broad shoulders of Vince Young. While Andy Reid hasn’t anointed Young as Sunday’s  starter, he has been taking the bulk of the first-team reps in practice.

“It’s not about me. I want to go out there and lead the guys to a victory,” Young said.

And victories have been hard to come by.  With a 3-6 record — and constant rumors surrounding Reid’s job security — the Eagles know they must run the table for any shot at the postseason. In fact, it might put added pressure on Vick to strap on the Superman cape and go out there with broken ribs.

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time for Vick, who played in Week 3, after suffering a concussion the previous week.

“He’s a tough man and I’m always optimistic with him,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. “He’s doing everything possible to get ready for the next game both in the training room as well as in the classroom.”

Whether it’s Vick or Young under center, the game plan should be similar: Hand the ball to LeSean McCoy. The Eagles back leads the NFC with 906 rushing yards, yet inexplicably saw just 14 touches in last week’s loss to Arizona. Even Mornhinweg admitted that the team could have leaned more heavily on McCoy.

“They were playing us with a bunch of one-on-ones and there were plenty of opportunities there,” Mornhinweg said. “I don’t want to act a little defensive or anything, but yeah we had some possibilities there. We could have gone to him a couple more times.”