Team hopeful Vick won't need surgery

Parcells sorry Cowboys won't face Vick SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- While Michael Vick's injury might improve the Dallas Cowboys' chances of beating the Atlanta Falcons in the season opener, head coach Bill Parcells isn't happy about it. "That really saddened me because he's an exciting young player," Parcells said Sunday. "I think he's good for the NFL. It's not good for the game when good players like that get hurt." Vick fractured his right fibula Saturday night in a 13-10 exhibition loss to Baltimore and is expected to miss at least the first four games. That means Cowboys fans won't get to see the budding superstar play Sept. 7 at Texas Stadium in what also will be Parcells' debut as the Cowboys' coach. "I'd rather play against the best players that that team has all the time. And I mean that," Parcells said. Any preseason injury to a star player raises questions about the number of preseason games or about how long starters should be used. Parcells avoided talk about the schedule, but addressed the second topic head-on. "You can't protect the players. I learned that a long time ago," he said. "You can't play like that or else you'll have a whole team of players who think they should be protected. "The way I try to protect my quarterbacks is to block the blitz efficiently. That's what we try to do. ... If a guy is limited in what he can do, I'd protect him by not playing him." Vick was hurt while scrambling out of the pocket on third-and-6 from the Atlanta 5 late in the first quarter. He fell awkwardly on his right leg and grabbed it even before he hit the ground.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) -- Atlanta Falcons orthopedist Dr. Andrew Bishop met Sunday morning with Michael Vick to reassure the star quarterback that his fractured right fibula will heal 100 percent.

Though Vick is supposed to miss a minimum of six weeks, Bishop indicated the franchise player could face surgery if the talus -- the bone below the ankle joint -- and the tibia and fibula -- the bones above the ankle in the foreleg -- begin to displace.

"The break is very clean. It's not displaced at all," Bishop said. "The bones are perfectly lined up."

Vick was injured with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter of Atlanta's 13-10 preseason loss Saturday night to the Baltimore Ravens. He scrambled from the pocket and cut to his right in the middle of the field when defensive end Adalius Thomas tackled him from behind.

Bishop reiterated his early diagnosis from the night before that Vick sustained no major ligament damage. He will use X-rays over the next two weeks to ensure the ligaments are sound.

"We don't know absolutely for certain, and there's no way to tell -- an MRI is not going to tell you, no other test is going to tell you -- how much damage there is here and here," Bishop said. "If there is significant damage, then we would expect these two bones over the next two days to two weeks to migrate laterally. We'll follow this very carefully to make sure that doesn't happen."

Vick, who left the team headquarters before reporters arrived, could begin rehabbing his leg this week.

"He'll be able to some upper leg work -- quad, hamstring, weights -- pretty quickly," Bishop said. "Not [Sunday], but pretty soon."

Bishop placed a cast on the 23-year-old's lower leg before he left the Georgia Dome on crutches Saturday night.

"The plan right now is simply to treat him with a cast, follow him along with X-rays," Bishop said. "At the appropriate time, we'll place him into a moveable-type cast... Uncomplicated bone healing is about six weeks. That just means the bone is healed. That doesn't mean everything else is as it should be."

The 270-pound Thomas corralled Vick by jumping on his back. As the two players began to fall, Vick's right leg bent awkwardly as he tried to brace himself.

"It could be six weeks that he's back playing football," Bishop said. "We don't know. It could be eight, 10. That's really about all we can say right now."

Bishop refused to compare Vick's predicament to the broken right ankle that sidelined Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb for the final six weeks of the 2002 regular season.

McNabb, who avoided surgery, returned Jan. 11 to lead the Eagles to a 20-6 playoff win against the Falcons.

 

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