PHILADELPHIA - The debate was over the amount of snaps Michael Vick and Nick Foles received Monday at Chip Kelly's second open Eagles practice.
For what it's worth, Foles unofficially got more in a very unscientific straw poll conducted Monday in the media work room. If anyone actually counted the snaps, they didn't volunteer it.
There was no argument, however, over which quarterback was most effective running Kelly's hurry-up offense. It was Foles by a landslide.
When practice was over, Vick came off like the guy wailing "You dropped a bomb on me" in the old disco tune, which was on the Kelly playlist blaring during work. Substitute `new scheme' for `bomb.'
"I can go out and run the practice with the 1's or with the 2's or whoever I'm out there with and get guys lined up," Vick said. "I think I can still make all the throws. I'm confident in that. I think for the most part I'm just learning to play football a different way. It's different concepts. It's different schemes. You've got to key different guys. So every day we're learning. We're all a work in progress."
Foles started the practice with the first team and confirmed he's more comfortable than ever in the new system. Not relaxed enough to discuss the open competition for the starting job, though.
"You play like you're the first team, you play like you're the starter," Foles said. "You have to have that mindset, no matter who you are."
Foles made most of the throws in the roughly 90-minute practice.
Quarterback Dennis Dixon, who ran the offense for Kelly at Oregon, operated it most efficiently.
Rookie Matt Barkley showed promise. Free agent addition G.J. Kinne looks like he could function in the offense.
Vick probably would like to take a few snaps back from Monday's session, although in all fairness he's played better in games than in practices since joining the Eagles in 2009.
"It's starting from scratch," Vick said. "Everybody is pretty much learning something different. It's not the same terminology. It's not the same pass concepts. Routes are run at different depths. You've just got to make the adjustments.
"But you know, it's fun. It's fun when you learn. It's fun when you get it. The hardest part is the beginning when you have to first open up the book and learn everything from Day One."
There's no question the Eagles have a long way to go to get to where they can line up and compete in the NFC East.
Practices have featured experimentation although tight end Clay Harbor stuck at his position rather than take any snaps at outside linebacker, where he worked in last week.
In the midst of the culture change the quarterback position has been the easiest to observe.
On paper, Vick's skills suit the read option offense more than any of the candidates, including Dixon. Vick has mastered the art of getting away from danger in a 10-year NFL career although, just one month short of his 33rd birthday, he's not the threat he once was.
"I think everything that's installed in the offense pretty much suits what I like to do," Vick said. "Everybody knows that I always like to carry the football, run with the football, get yards and kind of play off improv, too. It just suits my game."
The quarterback doesn't have to rush for 1,000 yards to make the Kelly offense work. The running backs handle most of the load and the Eagles made use of LeSean McCoy, who exited early with a sore knee, as well as newcomer Felix Jones and veteran Bryce Brown.
Though the quarterback doesn't have to run like Vick or Colin Kaepernick, for that matter, he has to keep defenses honest. The 6-6, 243-pound Foles seems to have improved in the read option area compared to last week, when he was as awkward as Chevy Chase in his clumsy routine.
"I think if you run it successfully, it's a great play," Foles said. "As a quarterback, you've just got to be able to get a couple of 5, 10-yard runs a game and you know it puts the defense on their heels because they really have to watch out for you. They don't want to give up a big run to the quarterback, I'll tell you that."
While it seems early to put Foles in the lead for the starting job, more will be revealed at the third open practice next week.
The best thing you could really say about Vick's Monday practice is he's been better. Much better.