Vick’s Rise And Kolb’s Struggles Have Been Quietly Going On For Months

Many of you are probably shocked by what has happened at the quarterback position for the Eagles, but this isn’t as much of a shock as you would think.  I’m not shocked by Kolb’s struggles or Vick’s progress because neither of these situations have happened overnight.  It was all going on during the mini-camps which the Birds had in the spring and it continued through the summer and is now showing up for all to see in the fall.

The improvement of Michael Vick started last year when he was signed and the problems of Kevin Kolb started when Donovan McNabb was traded.  Kolb has been saying all the right things, but the right things haven’t been happening on the field, since he became the number one quarterback.  It was disregarded by most, but it was happening.

I remember the Birds running a red zone drill in the first mini camp immediately after the draft.  Kolb ran about ten plays and only a couple of them resulted in completions.  Two of them resulted in interceptions, which were run back for scores.  He was running plays that he knew in and out.  I didn’t make a big deal of it but I noted it in one of my reports.

There were many practices during the mini-camps which Kolb performed poorly.  Understand the fact that I remember Kolb being right on target with his throws. when he was the number two guy behind McNabb.  I didn’t make a big deal of his prowess in practice because I know the difference between throwing balls at practice with that red “don’t hit the quarterback” jersey on, as compared to throwing the ball with 11 “hired killers” trying to knock your brains out of your head.

Kolb was up and down at training camp with everybody’s eyes on him.  I saw the coaching staff talking to him and trying to reassure him.  Kolb was pressing and it wasn’t helping him play better.  Say what you will about Donovan McNabb he knew how to keep things loose and laught at the Eagles practices and they missed that this summer.

The guys have benefited from Vick’s swagger.  Vick has a quiet confidence about him that comes from always being the “chosen one” throughout his career.  It makes me think of him grabbing a basketball during training camp, then going up with two hands and jamming it like it was no big deal, to show LeSean McCoy that he could dunk with no problem.

Last Wednesday, Vick talked about having fun playing the game and not taking the games too seriously.  Kolb has been just the opposite.  He’s been stressing and talking about not letting people down.

During training camp, very few times did the offense go out and play with the promise we saw in the Kansas City and New Orleans games from a year ago.  It may have come across as being negative but I simply reported what I saw.  Kolb has been having trouble sitting in the big chair of being the number one quarterback and the progress of Vick has made that big chair more uncomfortable for him.

I’ve always known that being a backup doesn’t have the pressure of being the starter, especially in a place like Philadelphia and especially at the quarterback position.

At that same mini-camp after the draft which I mentioned earlier, Vick was focusing on reading defenses and being disciplined.  It hasn’t been an overnight thing with Vick.  The guy has worked his butt off to get his game together.  Just last week he was talking about making sure he bent his knees when he throws the ball because it makes him more accurate.

Eagles quarterback coach James Urban has spent countless hours working with Vick on his technique and it’s paid off.  There are times he loses his focus by starting to run then not resetting his feet to throw the football.  Urban and the coaches have stressed footwork to Vick and he’s seen it take his game to another level.

Vick had talked previously about living with his playbook.  During the mini and training camps, I could see Vick fighting against his instincts to take off and run on many plays.  It was battle for him to stay in the pocket and set his feet to throw the football.

From day to day there would be progress, but there would be times when he tried to force the ball into receivers that were covered in much the same way he did on Sunday.  Still through the entire time since last year when they signed him, Vick has gotten better just about every week.

For years Andy Reid had the belief that Vick could be made into a pocket passer and nobody took him seriously until now.  I had written last week that I know Steve Young is on their mind when they think about Vick as a reclamation project, but think about what I said now after the performance he put on yesterday.

The sky is the limit for Vick and Reid tried to play it down after the game, but it’s going to make it very difficult for the Eagles to let him go.  There’s not another quarterback in the league who could have done everything Vick did yesterday in the game.

Back to Kolb, the Eagles have got to get him turned around.  He’s got to relax and have some fun playing the game.  He can’t be putting too much pressure on himself.  The coaches need to start all over with him and they shouldn’t go into overload by putting in a million plays.

I think less is more in this case.  Keep things simple and let him have some fun.