Kolb’s Two Starts A Year Ago Don’t Answer The Questions In His Future

Everybody’s trying to figure out how good Kevin Kolb is going to be by going through the two games he started a year ago, but I don’t see how you can figure out what’s ahead for the young quarterback by looking at those two contests.

Of course on one-side you have the McNabb defenders and on the other side you have the McNabb haters who think they already know that Kolb is going to be either a Hall of Famer or terrible bust.

These statements are more about the fan’s feelings toward McNabb than their knowledge of Kolb’s future.

In his two starts a year ago, they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champs and they beat a Kansas City Chiefs team which would win a grand total of four contests.¬† Looking back there wasn’t much of a surprise in the way those games turned out.

Kolb was 31 of 52 passing while throwing for 374 yards with 3 interceptions as the Birds were blown out by a 48-22 score by the Saints.   The young quarterback threw the ball well but he turned the ball over three times with the game on the line.

The 2010 season is going to come down to whether Kolb can avoid making the costly mistake.  Yes, he gets rid of the ball quickly and most of the time his throws are on the money, but let the ball go so quick could make him prone to throwing interceptions.

He can’t continue to make the mistake he made on the first offensive play that the Eagles had in the second half of last year’s Saints game.

With the Eagles trailing 24-13 and possessing the ball on their own 23 yard line, Kolb telegraphed a pass to his right flat and it was picked off by a Saints linebacker.  A few plays later, the Saints had taken a 31-13 lead and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

He threw for a lot of yardage after that but the New Orleans defense was playing a bend but don’t break style and they weren’t concerned about giving up yardage.

In the Kansas City game with his wide receivers running around wide open and no pass rush pressure on him, he sliced up the Chiefs like a butcher slicing up some filet mignon.

He completed 24 of 36 passes for 327 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. It was the first time in NFL history that a quarterback threw for over 300 yards in his first two starts.

There will be a few games in the upcoming season where Kolb will be able to have target practice but most of the games will be tight and a turnover here or a turnover there will mean their downfall.

Kolb will have to move the offense, put the ball in the end zone but stay away from the costly mistake.¬†¬† It’s obvious he can run the offense.¬† We saw that A.J. Feeley can run the offense but he also turns the ball over too much.¬† Kolb has a stronger arm than Feeley, which should allow him to complete passes that Feeley can’t.

Some of you are laughing at Feeley but remember how he scared the undefeated New England Patriots a few years back.¬† Feeley ran the offense but he couldn’t stay away from the costly interception, so he’s proved to be nothing but a backup.

Like Kolb will be doing Feeley threw the ball early before the receivers came out of their breaks, but he couldn’t stay away from the costly mistakes.

You risk throwing more interceptions when you throw the ball early.¬† McNabb would look and look and look before letting it go.¬† His arm was strong enough to do that, but it also resulted in more sacks, but he’s got the lowest interception to attempted throw percentage in the history of the game.¬† He would probably take more chances if he was a more accurate passer.

McNabb is a very good quarterback but not a great one.¬† He’s got great arm strength and good judgment. He’s among the second tier of quarterbacks in the game today.

Tom Brady leads the top tier of quarterbacks in the game today.  Drew Brees is right there with him amongst the top tier of quarterbacks.  They all get rid of the ball early.  They have the necessary arm strength.  They have great accuracy.  They have great judgment and they can take their game up another notch in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Brett Favre throws the ball early, has a strong arm like McNabb has great accuracy but his poor judgment and inability to take his game to another level in the playoffs has stopped him from being the best quarterback of All-time. He’s ended quite a few seasons for his teams with terrible interceptions.

I remember the awful pick he threw against the Eagles at the end of the 4th and 26 game.¬† What about the interception against the Giants at Lambeau Field to end the Packers’ playoff hopes.¬† Of course we all remember last year’s pick he threw a year ago.

Peyton Manning has the arm strength, accuracy and judgement which has made him the greatest regular season quarterback ever.¬† But for some reason, he’s a mediocre playoff quarterback with a winning percentage barely over 50% which means he lacks something inside.

Manning didn’t even play well in the one Super Bowl that he won.

Where will Kolb land when we are able to look at his body of work after a few seasons of starting?  Will he lead a team to a Super Bowl victory in his career?  Will he be able to consistently lead them to the playoffs?  Can he stay healthy despite being pounded by the monsters in the league?

His arm strength is okay, his accuracy is good but his judgment and abilty to lift his game up in the playoffs are unknown.

Kolb can run the offense but can he throw the ball early and do it nearly 40 times a game, against the good defenses in the NFC East, yet stay away from throwing too many costly interceptions.

I don’t know the answer to that question, yet.¬† Do you?