In normal situations, you must give a new quarterback at least a year in the lineup in order to get comfortable in the position of being the guy leading the offense, but any player who takes the field must display a certain level of competence or you can’t continue marching him out to play.
Blind allegiance doesn’t exist at any position in the NFL. Nobody is promised a starting job regardless of how poorly they play.
In my opinion, the Eagles should stay with Kevin Kolb as their starter, but he’s got to play at a certain level of competence or they can’t continue to send him out on the field. He gave the Eagles no chance to run their offense on Sunday.
Out of the ten passes he threw, three of them should have been intercepted. That’s not NFL caliber play and Kolb must play better or they can’t continue to start him. There’s no excuse for a quarterback in his fourth year to play so poorly. If 30% of your pass attempts are good interception possibilities then you can’t play in the NFL.
If Kolb were to continue to play at that level he’s been playing at there’s no way they can’t continue to march him out there.
If Andy Reid and his staff were to continue to play Kolb with him playing at that level, they would lose all of their credibility with the other players. This group of offensive players know how good they can be. They broke the team scoring record last year with the same lineup and Donovan McNabb at quarterback. They were one of the most explosive offenses in the league.
You can fool some of the fans and you could fool some of the media, but you can’t fool the players who are lining up with Kolb.
Wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin gave public support of Kolb, but if he continues to play like he did in the first half of the game against the Packers, they’ll drop him like a bad habit. You could tell by the body language of the offensive players in the first half that they had no confidence that he could lead them down field.
It’s a tough situation for Kolb with a former Pro Bowl quarterback like Michael Vick breathing down his back, but that’s the cards he’s been dealt and he will have to attack it.
Kolb has to take on this challenge head up. He’s not a raw 22-year old rookie. Kolb is a 26-year old 4-year veteran who has started three games and supposedly knows this offense inside and out. He must start out by playing better in practice. He will regain the confidence of his teammates by executing the offense and doing his job.
That starts wilth confidently calling the play in the huddle. Then he must recognize what the defensive fronts and coverages he’s facing. Kolb must drop in the pocket and stand strong, read the coverage, then deliver the football to the open receiver.
It doesn’t matter how many members of the media endorse him and it doesn’t matter what player say publicly. Kolb must regain the confidence of his teammates by showing he can do the job. He’s got to go out there and lead the team to some success.
He’ll likely get a week off but he had better get himself prepared to play some good football or else.
G, I’m with you! Reid is suppose to be a good coach. Why are you running Vick in and out the game in the first place? You traded away 5 because Kolb was suppose to be so much better at running this offense. I don’t want to hear excuses. He is a 4 year vet. It showed some lack of confidence in Kolb to use trick plays and Vick in the first place. Truthfully I know Vick is a better QB and will help us win some games. The only problem with that is Reid will get a pass again. Reid will look like he reinvented Vick. We will be stuck with this overrated coach again. I would rather Kolb start and then we can get the true assestment of Reid as a coach! What do you think? Me personally I want a whole new front office!
i agree eagle im with the whole new front office bit.
good article G. i didnt know the offense broke any records last yr nice.
well we dont have to worry about breaking any positive records this yr.