At a time when few teams in the NFL would touch Michael Vick, the Philadelphia Eagles took the chance. Looking back at the process, Vick on Wednesday called Donovan McNabb “very instrumental” in helping bring him to Philadelphia.

Now, the two quarterbacks will be on opposite sidelines in one of the most anticipated matchups of Week 4. McNabb will be making his first start as a visitor at Lincoln Financial Field following 11 seasons in Philadelphia. Vick hopes McNabb gets a standing ovation from his former home crowd.

“I hope it’s a positive reaction and I hope it’s a great reaction and maybe a standing ovation,” Vick said.  “I think that would be great.  Donovan sacrificed a lot for this organization.  He took them to the playoffs plenty of times and made an appearance in the Super Bowl, so he put in his work.”

For his part, McNabb said Wednesday during his weekly appearance on ESPN 980 in Washington that he views the matchup as a normal game and hasn’t thought about what it will be like when he takes the field, although he does expect a favorable reception.

“Honestly, I think that I would be more cheered than booed,” McNabb said. “No matter what the situation is, right now I’m with a different team and obviously it’s a rival and it wasn’t by my choice. But the whole deal about is we had a successful 11 years. We had a lot of great times, great moments, exciting plays and obviously some down times … but there were more exciting things that happened in 11 years. I think you can’t just forget about that.”

– Frank Tadych

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