Reid Was Raked Over The Coals For Benching A Legend Like Kevin Kolb

Earlier this year Andy Reid had to tell the first player he ever selected in the draft that he was trading him.  He had to tell the player who led his teams to the playoffs year after year for more than a decade, and who was most responsible for him getting promoted to team V.P. of Football Operation and getting multi-year extensions of million of dollar contracts, that he was shipping him out of town.

He had to tell this player the bad news in the off season after that player had again led his team to the playoffs while helping the offense break the team’s scoring record.

If Reid had the stomach to tell McNabb that he was going in another direction and was trading him to Washington, surely he can tell a young quarterback like Kevin Kolb who has very little if anything on his resume, that he’s being benched for a better quarterback, like Michael Vick who happens to be a former All-Pro.

Despite that background information,  today, Reid was raked over the coals for benching Kolb.

With a straight-face a media person asked Reid, if benching Kolb, a quarterback who didn’t play well this preseason or in the first game,  was the toughest in-season decision that he had ever made.   Think about that question.  Again, after having benched McNabb a couple of years ago, he was asked whether benching Kevin Kolb was the toughest in-season decision he had ever made.

Did I miss the last ten years when Kevin Kolb was leading the Eagles to the playoffs?  Did I just wake up from a decade long slumber?

Reid was then asked how he could tell the great Kevin Kolb that he’s the starting quarterback on Monday and then tell him he’s not on Tuesday.  Reid responded with, “Well, listen, there are things that I have to do in a leadership position and there are certain things that take time. I’m dealing with young men and their livelihoods. If there’s a tough situation, I’m going to make sure I think it through and I’m going to buy time to do that. I think that’s very, very important.”

He was then asked if he might be viewed as not being a man of his word and that the organization is very unstable, then he responded, “No, I don’t feel that it’s unstable. If I’m the bad guy, I’m okay with that. I think it’s important that the players – that I do what I think is right for them. How I’m perceived outside of them, that’s not my concern. I’ve got to take care of this football team, number one, and that’s what I’ve always done and I will always do.”

Reid was asked if Kolb had told him that one-half of football isn’t enough to judge him by when they sat down and talked.  Yeah like Kolb has a lot to argue about.

I never knew how important it was to be available at all times to talk to the media.  I will tell you this that Kolb did a great job of always being available for the media.  He answered any and all questions.  You can see that they all appreciated it, but I’m from a different cut of cloth.

What you do on the field is much more important than what you do in the interview room?  Kevin Kolb’s career has not been worthy of the reaction by the local media.  He hasn’t done anything yet for the Eagles, so his getting benched is not really a big deal.  At least as far as I’m concerned it’s not a big deal.