I think we have all become too familiar with Andy Reid's promises and commitments. His press conferences have become ironic, paradoxical, and downright unreliable. What once was the voice of a stubborn system stickler has turned to the wavering crumble of a man desperate to win football games. Today's decision to temporarily pull the plug on Kevin Kolb did little to dispel this recent trend. Not a soul outside of the immediate camp Reid will know the true reason why Kevin Kolb will once again take his familiar place on the Philadelphia Eagle's bench. Was it the spectacular growth and play of Vick, a weakening confidence in the seemingly shaky Kolb, or organizational pressure to not throw a chance at a competitive season down the toilet? What we do know, for sure, is that this rapid change in plan has dealt a serious blow to the brilliant plan of Kolb becoming the heir apparent to Donovan McNabb.
Reid seemed to make it clear at his early evening press conference that this was not an injury related decision and politely motioned that the change was based on issues of performance. It also seemed clear that the job now lies in the hands of Vick, to capture for the season and lead this team. So in essence, Kolb will take his newly acquired 12 million dollar contract and attempt to once again "learn and progress in the system". In reality, by the time he retires, he may be better suited to author a book on the system than to execute it.
It is now important to analyze what kind of effect this benching will have on the psyche of Kolb. If he ever does get his starting job back, will the youngster be constantly looking over his shoulder for his next replacement? One could not blame him for hesitantly taking the field and attempting to force the issue in lieu of his lack of big game experience and Reid's quick hook. The media, coaching staff, and Eagles locker room all describe Kolb as a mentally tough, born leader with an uncommonly strong desire to succeed. He will need to be these traits, and perhaps more, to overcome this slap in the face and continue his trust in Reid and the organization.
So without further pageantry, we move forward in the Michael Vick Era. He has received coach Reid's vote of confidence and will be starting for the team that took a gigantic risk to sign him. Not to mention, the revived one will also put on display his best bargaining chip for his own lucrative contract. Until that point we will faithfully wait for the words of our coach and fearless leader, to propel us to another playoff run. That is, if we put any credence in the speech of a man who once told us Donovan McNabb is returning as our quarterback and Kevin Kolb is the future of our franchise.
Reed faced a new set of facts and adjusted. Reed was getting kiled either way from teh sports writers. Good call.
ReplyDeleteNo question about it. I hardly believe this was his idea. I think the more pertinent pressure came from upper management and the locker room. With such a young developing team, Reid can ill afford to lose his team this early
ReplyDeletePeople don't mention this, but Kolb got replaced by QB that may go down in history as one of the top 10 QBs of all-time. We always use the "He wasn't a great QB before he went to prison" charge, but remember that at QB on a horrendously offensive team, he won 60% of his games.
ReplyDeleteHe was the only QB (Eli Manning later in 2008) to beat the vaunted Green Bay Packers at Lambeau in the playoffs. And he DESTROYED that team.
Kolb will never have to look over his shoulder, because there will never be a situation where a future hall-of-famer QB still in his prime is on the bench. Most likely what will happen is that they could franchise tag Vick like the Pats did to Matt Cassel and get some picks off Vick.
They can also have him go nuts the next two weeks and trade him later on in the season. Based on how they have treated Vick, upper management does NOT want him to be their QB of the future. But if they want to get something from to build a better team around Kolb in the future, right now they need him to dance for scouts on the field.
Vick = wins + marketing + money + NFC East contention + future compensation + Kolb still is franchise QB.
I don't know, but that looks like a good equation to me. People don't understand, but that is why there aren't a lot of people that don't understand management.
Vick certainly was not a marketing gem in the beginning. Don't forget, he had a little mishap on the dogfighting front. This team took a huge PR risk just to sign him.
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