As Michael Vick prepares to make his fifth start as an Eagle, the upcoming against Washington will mark his first Monday night start since September 25, 2006. For an avid fan of Monday Night Football, that's a long wait to get back on the big stage.
"On Monday night, you know everyone's going to be watching," Vick said Thursday. "Everybody is relaxing, the game starts at 8:30, and everybody's tuned in. I've always been a fan of Monday Night Football, and I still watch it to this day as a fan.
"Everybody's tuned in so you have to come out and play at your best."
Vick is 3-1 in his career on Monday night. He lost that 2006 game 23-3 in New Orleans, but won all three Monday night games the Atlanta Falcons played in 2005.
Opposing Vick will be Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb, who continues to work through an injured hamstring and a bruised ego. Of course, Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan benched McNabb for the final two minutes of the team's last game in Detroit. Since then, a number of allegations have come out of Washington questioning McNabb's endurance and his ability to grasp the playbook.
While Vick said he hasn't spoken to McNabb, he's confident that the former Eagles quarterback will have plenty of motivation come Monday night.
"I know there will be a lot of emotions tied into the game on his behalf," Vick said. "We'll just have to wait and see. We can't be focused on that right now. The thing we're trying to do is just go down there and get win number six and keep it going."
In order to get that win, the Eagles offense must perform better than it did in Week 4 when the Redskins came to Philadelphia. That afternoon, the Eagles only scored 12 points on two David Akers field goals and a Brent Celek touchdown catch from Kevin Kolb (with a failed 2-pt conversion).
The Redskins defense played a deep cover two that day in South Philadelphia, and (successfully) tried to take away the deep passing threat that the Eagles present. Vick said Thursday that while the Redskins defensive scheme worked that day, they must be ready for anything Monday night.
"In this league, a team can come out and play a different coverage at any given time," Vick said. "If that's the way they feel they can stop you or slow you down then that's what they're going to do. It's up to you to make adjustments and do things the right way.
"They may play cover two or they may play cover three all game, you never know. So we're just preparing for whatever they might do and we'll try to have something to offset what they do."
-- Posted by Josh Goldman, 1:35 p.m., November 11
