Bob Ford: Mike Vick Will Get Eagles QB Job Because Riley Cooper Used the “N” Word

What a weird Bob Ford column on Sunday. The Inquirer columnist seems to say that Mike Vick will get the Eagles starting quarterback position—at least to start the season—because the team handled the Riley Cooper “I’ll fight every (N-word) in this place” incident so badly. If everything else is equal—and Ford suggests the race between Vick and Nick Foles is neck-and-neck—the tie goes to the black guy.

Only Ford doesn’t really come out and flat-out say that so much as very strongly hint at it and let readers decipher.

Vick didn’t win the starting job when Cooper’s Def Fence-Climbing Jam became public. He won it when the team handled the situation so abysmally that the organization risked losing the respect and trust of every African American on the team. At last look, that was quite a few guys.

Vick is a popular player in that locker room, on both sides of the demographic aisle. It borders on hero worship with some of them, including the team’s best receiver. And veterans, because they believe it should mean something, always pull for the veteran. A smart, new coach, one carrying the burden of an organizational misstep, will consider all of that.

Kelly has a choice to make, a coin he has to call in the air before it hits the ground Sept. 9. Both sides of the coin are the same to him, as far as he lets on. Is there any advantage to be gained by calling one instead of the other?

There shouldn’t be, but there is.

Is there a way to make a suggestion by asking questions without flatly stating one’s conclusion? There shouldn’t be, but there is.