NFC East News: Both Eagles and Cowboys Dealing With QB Injuries

The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles are now both 1-1 heading into week 3… but they have something else in common that is far more pressing. Both starting QB’s Michael Vick and Tony Romo are suffering from injuries that could have them missing time for some of the season.

First up – the Michael Vick situation. Vick has a concussion and will be out for an undetermined period of time. Second string QB Vince Young is also still out with a hamstring injury he’s been dealing with since preseason. That leaves third string backup Mike Kafka in charge of the offensive side of the Dream Team… not exactly inspiring. This is of course what happens when you plan your offense so much around a single player like Vick and take a risk with him getting injured. Don Banks of SI.com absolutely nailed it in his article up today:

"So now what do we make of the 1-1 Dream Team? With Vick, they play fast-break football, with enough speed and playmaking ability to make your head spin. Without him, and we don’t know yet how much time he’ll miss, if any, the Eagles will have to reinvent themselves to a certain degree. No one gives a defense more to worry about than Vick, and if he’s replaced by Mike Kafka or Vince Young for any length of time, the Eagles will remain potent on offense. But they’ll be different, because, well, there’s only one Michael Vick."

Giants fans know that just like when Plaxico Burress got injured (shot) in 2008, it’s hard to reinvent your offense and turn on a dime like that when the most important offensive weapon you have goes out. And for the Eagles, they were all-in… with their chips directly in front of Michael Vick. Fortunately for the Eagles they still have great receivers and a great run game — but a key injury to Vick for any length of time no matter how short is going to slow things down without question in Philadelphia.

Now the Cowboys and Tony Romo.

Basically from what I gather, Romo defied all probability (and coach’s orders) by coming back in the game and leading his team to victory over a storied rival in the 49ers, in overtime, with fractured ribs.

"“I just told [Coach] I was good to go. I think he asked some of the guys. I didn’t give him too much of a chance. I just ran on the field.”"

Pretty heroic stuff I must say — and the choker image of him ginned up last week all over the mainstream sports media seems to have ignited a fire within the Cowboys starting QB. Whether he’ll continue to play with fractured ribs or not, nobody is certain. But I have a feeling pain killers are not going to take care of this injury all on its own. And even though Romo will likely take more shots to his ribs throughout the season, Jerry Jones leaves room for doubt that he’ll miss time.

"“I know what he had to do before (painkillers) took hold to relieve him from his pain. But, boy, did he come back. That was inspirational.”"

Is it in the Cowboys best interest to let Jon Kitna lead this offense once again while Romo recoups on the sideline? There are worse backups in the league for sure, and risking further or permanent injury to Romo may not be the kind of tactic the ‘Boys prefer to take here. That blood doesn’t wash clean of the hands to easily — but it sounds like Romo is putting himself in harms way just as much as the Cowboys staff is by letting him go under center.

So to bring it back around, the Eagles will have the Giants to deal with next week most likely without Michael Vick — a team that has yet to show us their rebound skills after last weeks disappointing opener against the Redskins. In the mean time, questions of whether the Giants defense can get back to their dominating ways is shouldered by the injuries of DE’s Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. Osi will not play tonight, but Tuck probably will. In any case the Giants backup pass rushers JPP and Dave Tollefson will get another opportunity tonight to showcase their talents against another banged up team – the St. Louis Rams.

The givens are that the Giants will need to get to 1-1 to tie the Cowboys and Eagles for position in the NFC East… which is important. But is it more important than playing backups until the team is more healthy next week to do battle with the Eagles? So here’s the question — do you play Tuck and Nicks tonight or do you rest them? If the Giants play this one right they could have both Tuck and Osi back full strength next week against a division rival on the ropes rather than risking further injury to your defensive captain and star receiver.

On the other hand, the Giants are sputtering a bit and clearly not in rhythm on offense… any time with the starters in the game is clearly going to be better than putting it off for a week even if they’re more healed from injury. I think the Giants will focus on the task at hand and try to get their first win at home against the Rams by playing Tuck and Nicks — I would still however limit their snaps with increased workload to the backups if it looks like they’re struggling.

In any case, we’ll see what happens tonight at 8:30. Lets Go Giants!