No. 5, and not No. 7, is the clear leader of this team.


"This is not the exact scenario I thought would play out," Vick said in an upcoming interview with CBS. "I thought I'd be playing with a team and actually starting."

Hopefully this is just being taken out of context from the mainstream media (yeah, like that ever happens) and there's more to this statement. My hope is that this was followed by something like, "But, I know I didn't deserve a starting spot, and wasn't ready to assume such a role."

However, if it's not, then this statement proves that he in fact was not ready to be a starter, much less a leader. Apparently even 20 months in federal prison could not shake Vick's sense of entitlement to be a starting quarterback in this league.

A leader is not a leader because he wants to be. A good leader is someone who the team will listen to and look towards for guidance simply because he does all the right things and leads by good example. It's not enough for a quarterback, or anyone else, to walk into the huddle and say "I'm the leader" and that's that.

It's the players who don't say it, but simply do it that are the very best leaders. Vick, apparently, was not ready to take on that role, and be that person.

Of course, that's assuming this statement can be taken at face value.

Not just as an Eagles fan, but as a fan of seeing people rebound from their mistakes, I sincerely hope for either one of two things. Either 1) this statement is in fact being taken out of context, or more likely 2) he has been humbled since joining the Eagles.

Only time will tell if this is actually the case, but he's saying all of the right things in his press conferences and to the Philly media at the moment. If he turns around and stabs the city in the back by essentially throwing the team under the bus to the national media, the fans will turn on him very quickly.

Again, I'm not saying he's doing that, and I absolutely hope he's smarter than that, but it wouldn't exactly be a surprise, would it?