Reuters

The Eagles got their second scare in as many weeks from quarterback Michael Vick when he left their game with the Patriots in the first quarter after taking a shot from linebacker Jermaine Cunningham.

Vick went to the locker room for x-rays on his ribs, a painful reminder of last season’s broken ribs that cost Vick three games. It turned out not to be a repeat of that injury as the team announced that x-rays were negative for a fracture.

X-rays on Vick’s thumb were also negative last week and the successive injuries make it hard to imagine that Andy Reid is going to keep risking his starting quarterback in the preseason. Whenever Vick plays again, it will help him stay in games if he makes smarter decisions than he made on Monday night.

The play that caused his exit started to go wrong when Kyle Love overwhelmed the middle of the Patriots line and came charging into the backfield. Vick dropped further back to avoid Love and then rolled to his right a bit, putting himself directly in Cunningham’s path as he threw the ball away down the field and took a shot to the ribs. Vick needs to either step up into the pocket or get himself or the ball out of danger more quickly in such situations.