The Arizona Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a game that featured a poor performance from Michael Vick. Monday morning Eagles head coach Andy Reid announced that Vick played the entire game with two broken ribs. Vick was visibly inaccurate with his passes and finished the game completing just 16-34 (47%) which is well below his 60 percent completion rate for the season.
According to Reid, Vick broke two lower ribs on the second offensive play of the game. The replay shows that play was a 2nd and 2 with Vick lined up in the shotgun. The Cardinals blitzed inside linebacker Daryl Washington off the left side of the line.
Washington was completely unblocked and hit Vick with his shoulder in the mid-section just as the ball was released. The pass was completed to TE Brent Celek for a 13-yard gain. The replay didn't show any issue at the time. Vick got up from the hit and ran the next play with no indication he was hurt.
According to Reid, Vick didn't know the injury was as bad as it was and he didn't inform the team of any issues. It's impossible to say how much the injury impacted Vick's performance in the game.
In the fourth quarter of the game at about the seven minute mark, Vick was knocked out of the game after getting hit in the mid-section on a run by ILB Paris Lenon. Vick was replaced for on play by Vince Young and it was reported at the time that Vick had the wind knocked out of him. He finished the game.
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