Vick vs. Ryan matchup in jeopardy again

"He has friends on that team," Philadelphia coach Andy Reid said Wednesday via telephone. "He would love to play against them. I don't think any of the emotion is gone from him."

Last season, the Eagles, with Vick accounting for two touchdowns, defeated the Falcons 34-7 at the Georgia Dome.

The "We want Vick; we want Vick" chants cascaded to the field after the Eagles built a 20-0 lead. Reid obliged the crowd and Vick, in his 10th game back in the NFL after a suspension, tossed a late touchdown pass to Brent Celek.

Ryan, a suburban Philadelphia native, doesn't plan to get caught up in the Vick vs. Ryan hype.

"It's business as usual for me," Ryan said. "I don't view it any differently than I would any other week. I will go out there and prepare as best as I can and cut it loose on Sunday."

There aren't many Falcons left who played with Vick, who is arguably the most talked-about and controversial player in franchise history.

Vick led the Falcons to the playoffs two times and to the NFC championship game after the 2004 season. He was 40-30-1 as a starter from 2001-06 under coaches Dan Reeves and Jim Mora.

After two seasons of missing the playoffs, Mora was fired and Bobby Petrino was hired. Vick's fall from grace started in the spring of 2007 with a federal dogfighting investigation that resulted in a guilty plea and jail sentence.

His six years in Atlanta was a study in contrasts, and now he's surprising everyone after making good on getting a second chance from Philadelphia.

He won the starting job there this season and was playing well, leading the Eagles to back-to-back victories over Detroit and Jacksonville, before suffering an injury against Washington.

"It's big for him," said wide receiver Roddy White. "That's my friend. That's my guy ... it's great for him to get back into the league and have such a good start."

The two have been texting each other about tickets for White's mother. They've steered clear from texting about the game.

"He's playing well," White said. "I think that's good for him. I'm just happy for him, as long as he continues to play well. ... Maybe he can take off another week or two, get ready for the games after us."

That's entirely possible, as Vick's rib cartilage injury has already kept him off the field for one week and could extend at least one more.

"He's actually starting to lift light weights," Reid said. "He hasn't thrown. We are just taking it day by day."

If he doesn't play, the Falcons will face Kevin Kolb, who was expected to be the Eagles' 2010 starter before Vick played well enough to supplant him in that role. He guided the Eagles to a 27-24 victory over San Francisco last week.

They're very different styles of quarterback, and few know what Vick is capable of better than his former teammates.

"He was a winner; he did whatever he could to win football games," said Falcons wide receiver Michael Jenkins, who played with Vick from 2004-06 and is expected to make his 2010 season debut Sunday after recovering from a shoulder injury. "Making unbelievable plays and just outrunning [defensive backs] in this league as a quarterback was just really unheard of. That's just the kind of guy he was."

He was also a different style of quarterback than most have played with before or since.

His ability to run, combined with his strong arm, made him as much of a dual threat as any quarterback the NFL has seen.

His play on the field and personality made him a popular player, both in the locker room and among some fans in Atlanta. Four years later, the players who were here still speak well of him, even after the problems that sent him to federal prison.

Plenty of teams who lose their star quarterback take many years to recover, but the Falcons' selection of Ryan in the 2008 draft has allowed them to climb back to respectability quickly.