The Good Gone Bad

Coming into the 2010 season it seemed as though everything was going for Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb. He was under the wing of Andy Reid, the old quarterback coach of the Packers (when Favre first became a starter) who has had a knack for breeding winners throughout his career. More importantly however, is the allegiances he had gained. He is inheriting an offense no older than him, and a fan base that is happy that a season not featuring # 5 is finally getting underway. Cue the violin. When Kevin Kolb rolled out last Sunday, and was was slammed head first into the ground by Packers' linebacker Clay Mathews, it all fell apart. During half time Kolb was deemed unfit to play, and left a mess for back up Michael Vick. When Vick picked that mess up, doing all but licking the plate clean in a 27-20 loss, what was once a first year starter's utopia, is now a living hell.

Since Kevin Kolb, along with middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, failed his concussion test earlier this week, Michael Vick has been announced Sunday's starter for the first time since 2006. And while Shaun Hill fills in for Matthew Stafford for the opposing Detroit, things are way different in Philadelphia. Kevin Kolb is being backed up by a 6-time pro bowler, not a late round draft pick up, so if Vick beats Detroit on Sunday, and shows that he has control of the offense, speculation will begin to rise. Do the Eagles continue to treat this as a rebuilding year, a year to get Kolb situated into the the NFL, or do they go with an option (Vick), that may give them a better chance to win. Starting or not, Michael Vick will be on the free agent market come this off season, but will starting him ruin the confidence of a project that Reid and the organization believes in? Kevin Kolb has officially stepped into the same boat as Donovan McNab; a boat called the dog house. In order to "do well" in eyes of the Philadelphia fans, Kolb needs to one, not make any mistakes, and two, out do Michael Vick, who looks the best he has in years. When it seemed that these fans could be rational, almost patient as a young quarterback gets acclimated into an established organization; a small concussion could be the burden on a career that has hardly begun.

JD