As the Michael Vick shockwaves rolled through the nation, wide receiver DeSean Jackson first received word of his new starting quarterback while making an appearance on Comcast SportsNet.
"Are you serious, or are you just messing with me?" Jackson asked when first told of the breaking news on live television. "Well, that means we're going to go out there and have some more fun."
That fun, as Jackson put it, led to an awfully good performance by the Eagles receiver last week in Detroit. When all was said and done, Jackson finished with four catches for 135 yards and one brilliant 45-yard touchdown. He also hauled in four catches from Vick in Week 1, albeit for a less-staggering 30 yards.
Jackson said on Wednesday that the change at quarterback had everything to do with Vick's play, and little to do with anything else.
"With Vick stepping in and playing the way he played, it was just a situation where you have to stick with the hot guy," he said.
But what about the man that sits next to Vick in the Eagles' locker room? Kevin Kolb was groomed to be the heir apparent to Donovan McNabb, and the team spent this offseason preparing for a year with Kolb at the helm. Head coach Andy Reid admitted that Kolb was disappointed with the situation, as anyone would imagine, but Jackson knows that Kolb will remain positive and keep working hard.
"As far as all the hard work that (Kolb) put in, the things he's done to get us to where we need to be so far, I think nothing will change," Jackson said. "(He'll still) take the (scout team) reps and prepare himself in his mind the same way he did to help us in any way possible."
Jackson clarified that neither he, nor any of his teammates, were pressed for information by any member of the coaching staff with regards to the team's feeling on the quarterback situation. He said he was just as surprised as anyone else.
"It was a situation where it caught us all off-guard," Jackson said. "It wasn't like Coach Reid came to any receivers or any of the offense to ask what we thought as players.
"As far as (Reid's) decision, I support it and I think the team supports it."
The challenge for the Philadelphia Eagles moving forward is to do just that, move forward. While the NovaCare Complex is buzzing today with reporters from near and far, there's still a game to be played Sunday in Jacksonville.
-- Posted by Josh Goldman, 2:20 p.m., September 22
