• March 29, 2024

Michael Vick Should Be Eagles Starting Quarterback

In his debut as the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback, Kevin Kolb was wildly inaccurate, looked incredibly lost, and played scared. He stared down his receivers, refused to plant his feet, and had a deer-in-the-headlights look every time the Packers hurried him.

Michael Vick, on the other hand, did everything a starter should do. Let’s even forget for a second his individual play. While Kolb was in, the team looked flat. There seemed to be a lot of confusion for everyone on the field and a total lack of confidence that Kolb would make the play.

But with Vick, the guys were flying around doing everything they could because they knew that if they played just a half-second longer, Vick would make something happen.

The offensive line was throwing two or three blocks in one play. When Vick took off, the wide receivers were throwing blocks all the way down the field. When he was moving around behind the line of scrimmage, the receivers were doing everything they could to get open.

And Vick, in the fashion of a leader by example, rewarded their efforts by making the plays when they needed to be made.

I never thought I would be advocating Vick as the starter, but here I am. I have always viewed Vick as a running back with a strong arm, but his play against the Packers has me singing a different tune. He did all the little things a starting quarterback should do and, at the very least, I’d like to see if he can keep it up.

But I do understand the other side of the coin. The Kolb supporters will say that he was only able to play one half, so how can we determine that he’s not the answer?

Well, that’s a fair point — if we don’t dig past the surface. Looking at Kolb’s entire career, he’s never been overly impressive.

In 2007, his rookie year, Kolb did not see the field. Not a single attempt. So, obviously, not much to talk about.

In 2008, Kolb saw action in four games. It was all garbage time — except for his surprise appearance against the Baltimore Ravens after Donovan McNabb’s infamous benching — so one would expect at least a decent or average stat-line.

Instead, this is what we got:

Week 1 vs. St. Louis Rams: 5-6 for 53 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs
Week 3 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: 2-3 for 18 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT
Week 11 vs. Baltimore Ravens: 10-23 for 73 yards, 0 TDs and 2 INTs
Week 14 vs. Cleveland Browns: 0-2 for 0 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT

It probably goes without saying none of that did a whole lot to breed any confidence that this was the guy for the future.

Then, in 2009, Kolb saw action in three games. Two of them were his only two career starts before his debacle against the Packers and apparently were the two games that gave the Eagles the confidence they needed to dump McNabb and anoint Kolb the starter.

But when we look a bit closer, he wasn’t as impressive as we’ve been told he was.

Week 1 vs. Carolina Panthers: 7-11 for 23 yards, 0 TDs and 0 INTs

Kolb entered this game after McNabb broke a rib diving into the endzone. Damione Lewis landed directly on top of McNabb in a hit reminiscent of Mike Rucker’s in the 2003 NFC Championship game, and that was the end of McNabb’s day.

What we saw from Kolb was a guy who looked panicky, held onto the ball far too long, and was overall pretty ineffective. But the excuse for that game is easy. He was thrown into the fire.

Fair enough.

At this point we find out McNabb’s rib is broken and that he will not be able to play in Week 2 against the New Orleans Saints. Kolb is the guy, with a full week to prepare as such.

Week 2 vs. New Orleans Saints: 31-51 for 391 yards, 2 TDs and 3 INTs

Sure, the yardage looks good, but Kolb threw a couple costly interceptions that changed the tide of the game. He was by no means terrible against the Saints, but this is where the hype started getting a bit out of control.

Time for start number two.

Week 3 vs. Kansas City Chiefs: 24-34 for 327 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs

Again, the stats look pretty good, but this was against a very bad team. Even the touchdown he threw to Jackson — the slant that Jackson took, split the defense, and flipped into the endzone — was behind him and would have been picked off by a good defender.

Kolb showed some potential in this game, but that’s about as close as it ever got. It was certainly not enough to give Reid and the Eagles faith that he could come into the season and do anything other than what he did against the Packers.

My point is when you put these two quarterbacks up against one another, there really isn’t a comparison. I know Kolb will be the guy because Reid is married to him, but I think the frequency in which we saw Vick even in the first half shows that Reid’s faith in Kolb was never as great as he made it out to be.

It’s likely Kolb is forced to miss the Lions game with a concussion, and if Vick plays well again in his absence and gets the Birds their first win of the season, it’s just going to get the flames of this controversy burning brighter.

I certainly won’t pretend like I’ve always supported Vick as a quarterback, but right now he is without a doubt in my mind the best option and gives this team the best chance to win.

Bob Cunningham

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Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
September 14, 2010 10:18 am

In all fairness Bob,
You forgot to mention Kolb’s Perfomance at the “Stephenville County” Pee-wee All-Star game in
1995 where Kolb went 7-9 for 143 yards and 2 TD’s as his 85lb team took the County Championship
played at the old “Cotton Bowl” stadium

greenfan
greenfan
September 14, 2010 10:23 am

will MM be inserting Kafka into the wildcat on the first play too?

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 10:28 am

The problem Bob is that the Eagles may not be concerned about winning right now as much as developing Kolb for the future. This organization is always thinking 2-3 years ahead instead of right now. That’s good sometimes and bad others but Reid has to play Kolb when he’s ready because he sent McNabb to Washington because of their belief in Kolb and the Eagles are too stubborn and arrogant to make it look like they made a mistake. Vick will walk after this season and start some where else and we will be left with Kevin “work-in-progress” Kolb.

KTDawk
KTDawk
September 14, 2010 10:34 am

I agree Bob, unlike some ‘fans’ on this site, i am objective in my evaluation of this football team. At this particular point Vick is our best option, our offense needs to run the ball, Shady is going to be good, he just needs touches. Owen Schmitt will be a solid in your face lead blocker, Vick’s legs are another weapon, and with the speed at the WR position play action will make everyone’s job that much easier. Much more to defend when Vick is in the game. Kolb shouldn’t play, concussions are nothing to mess with especially when we have the option of a more than functional back-up. I also was never the biggest fan of Vick being the face of our team but to be honest, I am a Birds fan and he gives us the best opportunity to win right now. Go Eagles!

UKEagle
UKEagle
September 14, 2010 10:45 am

OK, so let’s say Vick starts the rest of the season and we go say 10-6, win a wild card game and then are sent packing in the Divisional rounds… what has that achieved? Maybe it appeases some fans but aren’t we back to square 1 next season? Or are you saying Vick = Championship?

I’ll be the first to admit Kolb hasn’t impressed but neither did Peyton in year 1. I say give the guy a chance a full season at least.

A couple of my observations (for what they are worth)

– Stop stop stop running Vick in and out of the huddle every other play. When a QB lines up on the outside who’s that fooling? Have we had 1 big play from the Wildcat in 2009/10? I can’t remember one.

– If your OLine can’t pass block for toffee, maybe dropping back for 51 attempts a game isn’t your best way of winning… just a thought.

– Sorry Andy, I think most of the players are in a position to perform, I think your staff needs to take the blinkers off and help Kevin succeed.

greenfan
greenfan
September 14, 2010 10:48 am

To the self-proclaimed objective evaluator KTDawk, how can you make all of those positive statements about what the offense needs to do and never mention the terrible play of the offensive line? Everything you mentioned is predicated on the line doing their job, which to this point in season they have not demonstrated they can be sucessful at.

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
September 14, 2010 10:49 am

While I would agree with Scorpion’s general statement above,
I do think the wild-card factor in this case is that AR is proabably Coaching for his future job and contract.. I don’t think AR and the FO have the luxury of “training on the job” and hope Kolb develops in 2 years time, for the FO knows the Fans,Local Media would just tear them up over 4-5 win seasons
AR is under pressure to win (or at least be competitive with a chance to win) and right now it appears
that Vick gives them a better chance

erock
erock
September 14, 2010 10:52 am

He’s not going too lose his job too injury. Does it happen in football,yes. Not in this case. That said…let Mike kick the heck outta the Lions and then give Kev the start in Jacks. If he looks shakey,ineffective against a subpar Jags d then Mike’s the man until he’s hurt. The East doesnt look like theres a clear cut “top” team.

I think Mike has put some serious work into his game. You know he saw flaws in his footwork and pocket poise. He has made some really big improvements.The throw too Celek was flawless. Have i seen that from Kev? Yes,at lehigh when it was red jerz time.But i’m not ready too give up on the kid cause of a half and a moster lb falling on him. Dilfer made a great point about qb’s…its a dependent position. He couldnt depend on his o-line and that shook him. Should it of..no .But he’s a young Q. I’m not ready too throw the baby out with the bathwater. Go Birds.

UKEagle
UKEagle
September 14, 2010 10:59 am

If that is the case for AR then he should never have traded #5.

Everyone is on Kolbs back for a poor performance and now ready to accept Vick as the starter after 1 spirited half of football. I wonder who we call for when Vick fumbles a couple away and throws a pick or 2? Paging Mr Garcia…emergency.

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 11:01 am

Paul, I fully agree. That should be the motivation. This is why I don’t understand why some fans seemed content to take a step back. People’s lives and jobs are at stake. No time to go 8-8 just to prove a point.

KTDawk
KTDawk
September 14, 2010 11:04 am

greenfan, that was comparing the two QBs and our current situation our o-line isn’t changing so there really isn’t anything to discuss there. You can talk about them all you want, it is what it is. We have to try and win with what we have.

jddcp
jddcp
September 14, 2010 11:04 am

Kolb really isn’t THAT young. He is 26 and has been in this league for several years now. I saw Bradford on Sunday playing for another team that doesn’t have a great line and he made some mistakes…yes…but he stood in there and took it… AND he made NFL QB throws which I am not sure Kolb can make. We can’t live off dink and dunk. I haven’t seen Kolb do that when under pressure and unfortunately that what we need right now with a shaky OL. That being said, I really would like to see one full game of Vick at an improved Detroit D and one full game of Kolb against Jacksonville before making any real decisions but I agree Andy also has to think about his job and let’s face it….if he turns around Vick’s career and makes him into a Pro Bowl QB again (as a passer AND a runner) he could assure himself HOF consideration as a coach.

erock
erock
September 14, 2010 11:13 am

Having the take a step back mentality and we’ll re-shuffle b.s. is flat out without a doubt…LOSER TALK!!!Go be a Bucs fan!!! Theres studs all on the defense and we have one of the top recievign tandems in the league. If we can put the top back-up in the league in and go 10-6,then the kid you annoint your future shoudl be able too come in and do the same.

Boys-in trouble and more predictable then the Birds on offense.
Skins-Moss only reciever who was uncovering and how long can Portis do that.
Giants-Panthers handed them the game with picks and bone-headed plays.

greenfan
greenfan
September 14, 2010 11:16 am

KT, you talked about shadey, owen schmidtt and the wr’s. How is this only talking about the qb’s?

Did I read your posting incorrectly?

SONGSRME2
SONGSRME2
September 14, 2010 11:19 am

Bob, thanks for the truth…I will never understand why there’s some fans who would rather the whole team sink in an experiment and waste our defense while subjecting our player to injury, instead of admitting kolb is not an NFL quarterback.

What do they see in Kolb? Do they just hate the fact Vick could become the face of this franchise?

Vick was the best player on the field Sunday hands down and didn’t make mistakes that could lose the game.

The fans will be alright if this FO admit they made a mistake with Kolb . Reid can salvage this organization by continuing his coaching of Vick and sign him to a long term deal if he proves he can win this year….I think because he was out of the league for two years his body have less wear and tear…and he’s still young in Quarterback years..Let’ build a line around him and we’ll have what we didn’t have with Randall. Vick showed he can play under pressure, manage a game, stand in the pocket yet make a play when the defense is in the backfield. Kolb is one dimensional, don’t have an NFL arm….you can’t coach up a weak arm and no heart….This team can contend if we give Vick the Keys early and have him know it’s his team to lose. We have the weapons in the skill positions…please Lurie, Banner, and Reid…Listen to the fans on this one.

Vick is hungry and is playing for a new contract next year….that’s the hunger we need at the helm.

If Vick is the Quarterback…..Go Eagles!!!!!

WellWellWell
WellWellWell
September 14, 2010 11:25 am

Crap, I looked at this article thinking Randell said it. I’m a dumbass.

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 11:31 am

WWW, I did too. I think Bob did that on purpose.

tbl33_01
tbl33_01
September 14, 2010 11:34 am

I’m not a big Vick fan either but hey, the dude got the team rolling and looked pretty good doing it. I agree, he probably gives us the best chance to win this year but, is it really only about this year?
Can he be the QB for the next 4-5 years in Philly? Sure, why not. Go Eagles!!!!!

greenfan
greenfan
September 14, 2010 11:41 am

WWW- me too.

True_Eagles_Fan
True_Eagles_Fan
September 14, 2010 11:49 am

This is a pass first offense Vick is a run first QB. It doesnt fit together. Kolb looked like shit ok but you have to give him another shot at it. The Packers are supposed to be one of the best defenses in the NFL. They gameplaned for Kolb not Vick who was basiclly running and dumping the balls off

WellWellWell
WellWellWell
September 14, 2010 11:50 am

If Bob reads the responses to his articles like Micah does…I bet he’s laughing right now.

Bobby says…”Gottcha!!!”

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 11:54 am

true eagle fan, you are not incorrect but that still doesn’t mean Vick isn’t the better QB right now. Especially with this bad offensive line, you need the guy with the athleticism to make plays. He keeps defenses honest and from blitzing all the time because he’ll run right by them. Kolb on the other hand will get killed. Even if he doesn’t get sacked he will take a lot of big shots. So Vick MAY be the better option right now. You can’t game plan for Vick’s speed. You just need to have good athletes up front and at the LB position to counter his speed. But the majority of teams don’t have that so he probably has the better chance of playing well against a good aggressive defense. Just like McNabb was getting killed by Dallas and Vick comes in and throws a TD. Why? Because Dallas backed off on the rush instead of blasting up the middle like they did when McNabb was in the game. Right now, Vick is the better QB. Kolb will start as soon as he is healthy but that doesn’t mean he should. I’ll move forward with the BETTER QB whoever that may be.

WellWellWell
WellWellWell
September 14, 2010 11:55 am

So, now what will happen I believe is coaches will go into the record rooms, dust off that binder titles 2006 M. Vick Defense plan and use it. The OLine will give up pressure inside and as long as you keep a speedy type spy on Vick it will force him to beat you with his arm. He did make a few nice passes against the Pack Attack but…can he do it consistantly enough? Will he become predictable again?

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 11:58 am

Yeah, I fell for the Randall thing too. Does anyone factor in the fact that if Vick ran it in, we’d have tied the game? He had an opportunity and missed it. Sure, we wouldn’t have been in that situation anyway had it not been for him, but he’s no savior. We don’t play a team as good as greenbay till Indy, so I think Kolb, once healthy, should definitely get the start. In his last full games, Kolb threw for 300yrds +. He hasn’t had a full game since then. At all. So really, the GB game was an outlier – he did have a shitty half, but then he was concussed…. the situation still needs time to evaluate. Vick had a chance to get to the tie – and he blew it. Nobody seems to talk about that. But heck, I don’t care who’s at QB if we win. That’s for sure. I have no loyalties to Vick or Kolb yet, and frankly, I just want the team to succeed.

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 12:00 pm

Vick has shown throughout his career, and sunday, that he cannot close out the big games. He’s athletic and will make plays, but cannot command an offense against a D that gameplans for him. So he can get us back to the payoffs perhaps, and then we’ll be set in that same ‘mediocrity’ that guys like Songs (who are now all over Vick’s jock strap) claim to be sick of. It’s funny how that works.

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 12:01 pm

tbl33_01 exactly. It doesn’t have to be just about this year. If he’s truly the better QB, you gotta keep him. If not and Kolb stinks then you got rid of McNabb and Vick and that should cost everyone their job. If he’s better, make him the QB, resigned him and trade Kolb. But that’s only if he’s better. I’m afraid the only way to determine that is to let Kolb play. Shoot, I’d rather let Vick play because he probably has more upside that Kolb. But they gotta let Kolb play to see if he can play. That leaves us at a disadvantage because we could lose the entire season with the experiment and then decide Vick is going to be the QB when he could have been it the entire time. Truthfully, I’d rather take the time and let Vick continue to play and develop than Kolb. Vick is proven and as we see with coaching he already makes throws he would not have in Atlanta. He is only 30 and that’s not old for a QB especially being out 2 years he didn’t take that beating. I rather see him over Kolb anyday. But that’s just me.

ChrisS
ChrisS
September 14, 2010 12:05 pm

The way I see it a W is a W and I’m all for who ever can get us the most Ws. Now if that means Kevin Kolb is that starting QB or Ron Mexico as long as we get the W I’ll be happy with choice.

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 12:05 pm

schiller, I’m with you. I want the best QB. Regardless of who it is, BUT I’m not willing to sacrifice the season to experiment. No time to play around and not care about this year. If you start Vick you clearly say you want to be competitive this year and attempt to make a run. You start Kolb you are saying it’s a work in progress and we are going to go through the lumps this year. This young team will only go through growing pains with Kolb. A veteran QB, there is no growing pains. This is the same team as last year with McNabb and no one was talking about growing pains then.

scorpiodsu
scorpiodsu
September 14, 2010 12:06 pm

schiller, Vick also shown in his career and Sunday that he can put a team on his back. You choose to look at one side of the coin. And you talking about closing the deal as if he was up 17 points and caused them to lose. WE WERE GETTING BLOWN OUT.

FanSince1960
FanSince1960
September 14, 2010 12:11 pm

Dear Bob, this is the worst comment by a moderator I’ve ever seen at this site. Reid is the coach. He invested 3 1/2 years in Kolb. We need to see if Andy Reid made a good or poor choice in investing all his marbles in Kolb. If it was a wrong choice, we will know for sure at the end of the season in which we wouldn’t be able to win with Vick anyway. If Kolb is still in over his head, then he and Andy can both go. Should we have kept McNabb because he gave us a better chance to win–this second–even though he couldn’t win a Superbowl?

JAsh21
September 14, 2010 12:11 pm

I can’t believe this is even a conversation. As much credit as this town gets for “understanding football” too many people just don’t have a damn clue. Look, I’m not saying that Kolb is Aaron Rodgers or the next coming of an NFL stud…but get a grib fellas.
Majority of you ushered out McNabb touting Kolb and how much better of a QB he was… all why booing the addition of M. Vick and the PR hit. “The locker room is favoring Kolb and he is a better leader for this team.” So many people chirped and tried to scream the loudest only for everyone to pull a 180 and act liek they didn’t say any of it. Now, the arguemnt is that Kolb looked like a deer in headlights and the players weren’t putting in effort for Kolb. Drink your beers, paint your faces and go tailgate…because the last thing these FANS should do is talk like they understand football.

Packers never planned for Vick. They had a lead and played a soft defense. Is Vick better suited for this pourouse O-Line? Yes. But if/when he does put up some numbers…it will only be to get a contract with another team. Philly is NOT going to resign him with what they’ve invested in Kolb. Know that.

That said, Kolb looked bad. We all know that. But it was 1 half. If you are all ready to jump off and ride what’s sexy right now… go for it. Kolb needs to make his mistakes and learn like every other QB has had to do. its a big jump from back up to starter…no matter who you are… especially when you don’t have a line to block and you certainly don’t run the ball.

This isn’t directed at everyone… but you know who you are. Again, not saying that this kid is the next big thing… just pointing out how everyone listens to talk radio and watches a few hilights and is ready to act like they know a damn thing. Give Kolb his fair due. Like it or not…thats at least an entire season under center…and probably all of next…

I know we want to win…but its only a controversy because some fans like to see who can cry the loudest!

Butch007
Butch007
September 14, 2010 12:15 pm

WWW, you’re not the only one thinking that’s something Randall might say. It definitely shot to the front of my head after reading the headline probably because I was wondering what he might say. I’m pretty sure though that Randall Cunningham will not make any kind of Eagles related comments.

Another thing, even though we’re in the midst of a QB controversy can we get an article or two on the defense? In the second half the defense got exposed. Even in the first half, while Bradley was in there were a couple running plays that were more productive for the Packers than I would have wanted to see. Every complaint I’ve seen has put the entire failure of whole defense to stop the run on Gaither when in fact the defense being undersized is going to show up in second halves, regardless of one player. As I suspected Juqua Parker was more effective at DE than Brandon Graham this past week. I think Parker did enough to earn his starting job back. Personally, I think Antonio Dixon should get the start over Patterson this week as Patterson was just not effective at even slowing the progress of the pulling guard enough to give more teammates a shot at shutting the run down. The Eagles need to release Abiamiri if they haven’t already, bring back Pannel Egboh to rotate with Parker on running downs and then get creative with substituting Graham at various spots along the line. Darrel Tapp may have to be a healthy scratch or get cut, but if he was suited up on Sunday I wouldn’t have known.

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 12:34 pm

Scorp I’m not saying they should have put Kafka in over Vick, trust me. We WERE getting blown out, and Kolb was playing like shiP, but Kolb was removed due to a concussion. OF COURSE THEY WERE RIGHT TO PUT VICK IN. Vick played very well. And he missed an opportunity to tie the game. And the Eagles lost. Many on here act like Vick got us the win. He didn’t. he had an opportunity to tie it, easily, and failed to do that. I’m not saying that he can’t do better or shouldn’t play, especially while Kolb recovers. I’m just saying, that you are annointing him god and he hasn’t won a football game as the starting QB in many years.

Paul Mancini
Paul Mancini
September 14, 2010 12:35 pm

Tapp, Teo, A Howard, Wer all heathy scrates from last week..
To trade Clemons and 5th Rd pick for a player who gets replaced by A Barnes who was picked up a
week earlier tells you that the Eagles Coaches cannot be too happy with what they have seen from
Tapp all Camp Long.. If he looked good, he would be playing and they probablly would not have acquired
Barnes (who I though did look pretty good) but Tapp is another off-season bust like TE C Wilson, DE C Clemmons, S S Jones, were.. I want to see how Guard V Wells look and see if he is up to speed with this offense yet

SONGSRME2
SONGSRME2
September 14, 2010 12:39 pm

True_Eagle….. I don’t give a rat ass that this is a pass first offense….Kolb can not avoid the rush in a pass first offense…Kolb stinks in a pass first offense….Vick is the better quarterback ….period. It kills me how you losers come on here and use the system we’re running to excuse a bad quarterback that actually stinks in the same system. O K…Kolb knows X’ and O’s….So do Reid but he’s not your quarterback….it takes an Arm and Heart to be a successful QB and Kolb have neither. Your eyes did not decieve you Sunday. That’s Kevin Kolb…and what you seen from Vick..is Michael Vick at his best. You can’t wish and hope Kolb become better. His demeanor and body language is telling and I can’t blame Reid for Kolb’s faults because Mcnabb was successful in spite of those faults, and Vick showed he can lead a team and inject spirit in his team in spite of Reid’s faults.

Kolb is actually what we all seen this Sunday and we shouldn’t waste another win or another injury to find out what we already know.

Kolb makes this team worse.

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 12:40 pm

Butch, remember, we’re talking about the Green Bay Packers. The team that is so heralded as complete and dangerous this year. What was the score at end of the first quarter? 3-0 Eagles. Sure GB got 10 points in the second Quarter, but if I remember correctly, most of that was after Bradley’s concussion. Yeah, maybe GB got a few runs, but if you’re going to hold the GB O with our young, unkown D to 0 points in the first quarter, I’m pretty happy with the D.

Iggles
Iggles
September 14, 2010 12:43 pm

Right up front, I believe Reid needs to go. We’ve heard all this hype about Reid’s working with QB’s such as Favre. Favre was already a skilled QB before Reid ever worked with him in GB. I still scratch my head why an offensive lineman is going to be a guy who “trains/mentors” QB’s??? At any rate, he picked Kolb as #1, but essentially made Vick #1a at the outset of game. That will NEVER help a young QB’s confidence and gamesmanship, thus Kolb never settled in after first few plays.
Now here we go again with Reid not having an NFC east team ready to go at outset of season: to rely of your center after only 8 months of rehab is NUTS! I expected Jackson never to make it through the season because his knee would give out. It wasn’t his knee, but his overcompensating with his upper body (arms) led to a season-ending injury. Reid has not dealt with Peters’ consistent errors. Why? Player loyalty, making him earn his big contract, or both? There is no way Reid should have assumed that because Jackson was starting that his OL was going to be ready, particularly with a 3-4 defense and blitzing LB’s… which were all over this QB from the git-go. But there is no way this young QB was going to be able to confidently direct this team when looking over his should #1a was coming in every series. Aikman and many others strongly disagreed with that philosophy.
Reid’s eyes/ears should have been tuned-in especially to Bradley’s flopping on the field after the concussion. Ridiculous! And then we have Reid using up all his timeouts before there were 5 minutes left in game.
I have never been a supporter of Reid since the SB game vs the Patriots. Time and again he never puts his players in best situation to succeed. He’s stubborn and won’t change… because he can’t. Lurie needs to bite the bullet as he had to do with the Andrews bros and send Andy packin’ by the end of the season. From certain things April has said about who will be on ST, Andy’s making many of the key decisions on his own.
Andy is as “out of it” as Wade Phillips is in Dallas; neither have the skills and mind to remain head coaches. Reid must go after this season. Mr. Lurie, start your search into new HC now. Sean McDermott and the defensive coaches constantly make adjustments during games, and this season you really get to see how effective Sean is. In fact, McDermott would be a far better head coach because he knows how to delegate authority to others; Dick Jauron is already here to work with the defense. I’m not saying SM should be the next HC, but just saying at some point down the road he’ll become one just like Harbaugh and Spagnola.
Reid must go!

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 12:46 pm

Songs, it kills me how you dismiss common sense and wisdom that you don’t discount a player too early. You are sure of your assessment, you should be, it’s how you see things. But you are so pigheaded and arrogant, that you think you’re view is the absolute truth. G just pointed out in another article how Steve Young was written off too early. Remember Winston Justice being a turd? How many games, total games, has Kolb played this year. Yep, less than one. How many (real) games has he played against teams that aren’t one of the superbowl favorites? 0. It IS still too early. You may be right that Kolb is a bust, but it is way too early for your assessment to be reasonable. He DID look crappy – very crappy – v. greenbay. But he does deserve another few starts (when healthy). You are incapable of being patient and balanced in your views, and I know, you just don’t care. But fact is, NFL wisdom and history, using what we already know about how QBs develop, says you’re rushing to judgment. Not that you’re wrong, but that you’re jumping to conclusions.

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 12:50 pm

Why does Reid get all the hate and not Marty? I personally, have no faith in the coaching/playcalling of Marty. He calls most of the plays right? Isn’t that what we were told when Reid gave up some of the playcalling duties? I think Marty has to go. Big time. The offensive playcalling was better when Childress was here. As a huge Shady McCoy fan (PItt alumn, not claiming to be objective there), I think more running is needed too. I also think our O line is built for running the ball (Peters, Herramans especially, McGlynn too). Marty is the main playcaller IMO and he needs to go.

drummerwinslow
drummerwinslow
September 14, 2010 12:50 pm

Against New Orleans, Kolb scored only one TD in the first half while New Orleans racked up 34 first-half points. Did New Orleans relax?

JAsh21
September 14, 2010 12:52 pm

SongsRME… thank you for proving my point. You don’t know a damn thing about football. Enjoy your highlight reels. FYI… it takes a little bit more than just an Arm and a Heart. If that was the case, there would be A LOT more NFL QB’s popping up everywhere.

By the way, if Vick is so great… why didn’t he ever win a Championship in Atlanta? As a matter of fact, he was very pedestrian in the NFC Championship game. You can gameplan for a running QB. Yes, he will make plays and get everyone excited…but you’re not getting a championship with Michael Vick. I love his athleticism…but I won’t fool myself into believing that he is the answer.

drummerwinslow
drummerwinslow
September 14, 2010 12:52 pm

Schiller – Marty does only what Andy tells him to do If Andy was unhappy with is play calling, he could fire him.

SONGSRME2
SONGSRME2
September 14, 2010 12:52 pm

Another thing…..To hell with the future!!!!…. for this organization have not shown us anything to trust they’ll do the right thing years from now. They told us 4 years ago “Kevin Kolb” would be ready in the future and look at what we hang our hat on 4 years later.

The future is one game at a time. We found out last year this offense can be prolific with the skill positions. We found out Sunday this defense can play with the best of them and if Vick starts that game we’re not talking about the offensive line or 4 and 1. We’re talking about an Eagles victory against a tema experts picked for the SB. The FO office owes it to their players as well as their fans to let Vick build on the momentum he sigle handedly injected in this team. Last Sunday also showed us the importance of the most important position in sports. If the QB is bad the whole team looks bad and the positives we can take form the game is that it didn’t take us a season to find out what most asumed…..Kolb is not the future of this team….He’s a Bum

JAsh21
September 14, 2010 12:53 pm

Well put Schiller

drummerwinslow
drummerwinslow
September 14, 2010 12:54 pm

This organization has sold us on the idea that we’d be in contention each year. That’s why they didn’t go all out to win the Superbowl in any one year. Has that story changed?

drummerwinslow
drummerwinslow
September 14, 2010 12:56 pm

I guess that’s why their stance is that we’re not rebuilding.

schiller
schiller
September 14, 2010 1:14 pm

drummer, that’s NOT why they didn’t win a superbowl. The idea that being competitive every year means you’re not going for the superbowl, is entirely absurd. They go for it, go all out for it, every year. No superbowl team has won because they spent top dollar to get every free agent big name one year. If I’m wrong on that, prove it. So if by not getting every top name free agent on year, you mean they didn’t ‘go all out for a superbowl’, than that’s BS because that method has never lead to a superbowl win. IF you think that teams either decide to go for the superbowl, or for consistently being competitive, you’re a dope. That’s not an either/or thing. All NFL teams are going for both, every year. Some just suck at it.

SONGSRME2
SONGSRME2
September 14, 2010 1:16 pm

Jash21…how can Kolb prove he’s a good QB behind this line with no mobility? you’re double talking!!

In one breathe you’re saying his failures is due to a faulty offensive line but on the other hand you’re saying we should give him time behind the same faulty line.

Let’s not talk about the passes thrown when the offensive broke down. How did Kolb look when he actually had time to throw the ball?

Did you see that out pattern “duck” of a pass he threw up for grabs?

Did you see him overthrowing receivers when he was given time?

If he can’t excel and don’t have the athletic ability to work behind an injured line ..how can he come in and prove he’s the QB of the future? Linemen will get through and he will not be able to execute the play or get away from defenders in the backfield…or may even get killed, and please don’t put it on Andy to run more….Please…for if that’s the answer Vick can hand off a ball to McCoy…Vick can hand off and actually make plays with a bad offensive line.

Now, if Reid would have worked on putting a decent line in front of Kolb this off season we would have a chance to evaluate but he didn’t. So, we can’t go there now and must understand this team in its present form is a recipe for disaster for an immoble, weak armed quarterback.

There’s no true way to evaluate whether kolb is as bad as exhibited this Sunday but we do know the defense is formidable and that Michael Vick is a better Quarterback than he was in Atlanta and most of all….THE PLAYERS SEEMED LIKE DIFFERENT PLAYERS….When Vick became the starter in the 2nd Half.

That speaks volumes.

MaybeTheyCan
MaybeTheyCan
September 14, 2010 1:20 pm

JAsh21 – You took the woprds right out of my mouth! I posted a couple of weeks ago about the supposedly “well educated Philadlephia’s football fans” being a bunch of $^&* and I still think that. I want a QB not a runner that can throw the ball too. I’m more than willing to take a losing season to find out if they have one. I’d rather not but you break a few eggs to make an omlette. I just wish that Reid didn’t come up with even more creative ways to make Kolb’s job moer difficult. Nothin’ like being pulled for first down and starting out at 2nd & 15 now is there. Hey, while we’re at it, let’s choose not to run the ball more than a couple of times while your under center and create nice open lanes for Mathews to remind Reid that he’s a monster cause’ he forgot and didn’t change his game plan to account for the problems that the Packers D was creating.

MaybeTheyCan
MaybeTheyCan
September 14, 2010 1:21 pm

Play Kolb, bench Reid