Michael Vick's Week 1 Performance Will Bring More Pressure for Eagles in Week 2

Prior to Week 1 last Sunday, the chatter surrounding Michael Vick was in no way positive.

In fact, most Eagles fans thought of Vick as a worst-case scenario player, whose preseason performance resembled very little of the three-time Pro Bowl playmaker from Atlanta.

Fast-forward to the second half of Sunday's opening day loss to the packers. In leading the Eagles on a furious late game rally, Vick singlehandedly created what could be the biggest quarterback controversy in Eagles history.

Kevin Kolb suffered a concussion after being driven face-first into the turf by Clay Matthews and was forced from the game. The offense struggled to find any sort of rhythm under Kolb, scoring a lousy three points and racking up under 100 total yards.

Enter Michael Vick. Vick displayed the speed and elusiveness that once made him the league's most exciting player. He ran for 103 yards and threw for 175 more, including a touchdown to Jeremy Maclin.

Vick's performance has the national media in a frenzy now, with people who once supported Kolb now calling for his head on a spike and anointing Vick the new savior in Philadelphia.

Now, crowning Vick the top guy in town is as premature as the cynics in Philly calling for Kolb's removal. While Kevin Kolb was dreadful in his debut, it was not all his fault. The offensive line stunk up the joint for the entire game; their shoddy performance was probably the primary reason Vick was able to run for over 100 yards.

On top of that, Andy Reid yanking Kolb in and out of the game in the first half so he could run his beloved Wild Eagles package with Vick at quarterback never allowed Kolb to get into a rhythm and flow in the offense. Call it an excuse, call it whatever, but it didn't work last season with Donovan McNabb, and it certainly won't now.

Back to Vick starting this Sunday. Since his performance last Sunday has led to his sudden re-arrival in the league, Michael Vick will be under more pressure to perform at a high level this Sunday than ever before.

Win or lose, there isn't really a good outcome to the game Sunday. If Vick leads the Eagles to a victory in Detroit, the pressure on Reid to keep Vick as the starter will grow even more. If Vick fails to produce a victory on Sunday, the media's squeeze on the Eagles will grow even tighter, putting more pressure on this team to win.

This past spring, Vick made it pretty clear that he wants to be a starter again and would have liked a trade to a place where he can play. He now has his chance to prove that he can be a starter in this league. Who knows? If Vick performs well and the Eagles pull out a win or two while Kolb is out, does that open the possibility of a trade?

Thus, Andy Reid may be begging for Vick to perform well on Sunday—it may be his last chance to get him out of town.