Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid conducted a conference call with 49ers beat writers (AUDIO) Wednesday morning and naturally there were a few comments about Michael Vick's injury status. Reid said that Vick had "improved quite a little bit." Reid did state that if Vick could not squeeze the ball completely he would not play. When Vick receives the snap, his left hand is on top, which means that is where much of the initial pressure hits. He still needs to squeeze a bit with his right hand (the bruised hand), but it's not quite as big an issue as if he had his right hand on top normally.
While the hand is not 100 percent at this point, Vick seems pretty convinced he'll be playing on Sunday. Playing against Vick instead of Mike Kafka or even Vince Young increases the degree of difficulty of this contest (duh), but will tell us quite a bit about the 49ers defense if Vick is not slowed by the hand injury. We know the 49ers can dominate against the run, but they've had plenty of ups and downs against the pass.
The 49ers faced a scrambling QB week one when they faced Tarvaris Jackson, but given Jackson's relatively limited passing skills, Vick is the first real test in that regard. The 49ers defensive line has been impressive to date but will need to show plenty of athleticism if they're going to track down an incredibly mobile Vick.
What I'm curious to see is whether Patrick Willis is kept in as a spy on Vick. With NaVorro Bowman taking command of his inside linebacker position, this could potentially leave Willis free to focus more on Vick. Would you leave Willis in more of that spy position given Vick's legs?