"Only four men hath ascended into heaven - Elijah, Enoch, Jesus Christ, and most importantly, Mike Vick."
-Prophet Peter King
I am not saying Kolb had a great game - he didn't. He threw a lot of checkdown passes, made a few bad decisions, and had a big miss on a long pass that could have been a TD. However, saying he had a bad game would be stretching the truth as well - Kolb had a solid, yet unspectacular game against a defense that kept their safeties deep the entire game. He exploited what the defense gave him - underneath routes. The Redskins were determined to keep speedsters Maclin and Jackson from busting big plays. Drops from a few of his players didn't help him out either.
My point is that if you were to read the game recaps, you'd have thought Mike Vick was shredding up the Redskins prior to his injury. He wasn't. Not even close. Vick completed 5 passes for 49 yards, and 31 of them came off of a screen to McCoy. The remaining completions were for 0, 5, 7, and 6 yards. He had one shot down field - a deep pass to Celek that was broken up. Being fair, he did have a big play (where he was injured), but even that was called back for a penalty that allowed Vick to spring out for a huge gain. Vick was hitting the open receivers - there simply was not anyone open down the field. The deep cover two played by the Redskins made sure of that.
Neither Vick nor Kolb was chucking the ball downfield, and it wasn't there fault. The Eagles were outcoached this game. From the delay of game penalty at the end of the half to the lack of creativity in the playcalling to exploit the cover 2, Andy Reid had what may have been his worst coaching display in his career. While the cover 2 takes away the deep ball, the best way to counter it is to run the ball straight up the gut. The defense typically will respond by sending a safety up close to the line, which opens up the possibility for a deep play. Shannahan knew Reid would keep throwing the ball, and he let his safeties stay in the cover two, completely fearless of an Eagles' rushing attack. He called Reid on his weaknesses, and Reid didn't make adjustments, running his backs only 19 times. The fact that he can't even properly manage the clock (and we all know this isn't the first time that's happened) makes me question what on earth he's focused on out there.
"Uh, coach Reid, we need to get a play call in before time expires.... Andy?... ANDY?!?"
Even if the run was abandoned, Reid needs to call in plays where the receivers find the seams in the cover two, and then do what the Eagles' WR's do best - make plays in the open field. While the backs did their job catching passes out of the backfield, Reid kept calling routes that didn't allow their receivers to get open. What is Kolb supposed to do? Launch the ball to a well covered receiver and pray?
To top it all off, the Eagles played undisciplined - 8 penalties for 80 yards. That's inexcusable, especially considering that so many of them ended up costing the Eagles much more than just yardage - a horsecollar tackle penalty on 3rd down that ultimately gave a first down and a TD, holding penalties bringing big plays back, the delay of game, and a host of others that had major implications. To top it off, the defense played pretty terrible - about the only thing they did do was hold McNabb's stats down. They got torn up by a RB who was just activated from the practice squad. Stewart Bradley had his worst game as a starter. Ditto for Quintin Mikell. Of course, there also was the Curt Koleman play. Just a mediocre showing by most of the defense- the lone bright spot was probably rookie Nate Allen who played decently against the run, had an interception, and kept his coverage tight enough to avoid throws in his direction.
Perhaps the thing that burned me up the most about this game was that Kolb was sent into this game under pretty much the same conditions as Vick was sent into the Green Bay game. Down by 14 points, and the team didn't have much going for it. Sure, he was given a field goal, but the defense gave up a field goal on the next possession just to even it up. Kolb got this team moving, and he received no credit for doing it - Kolb drove the ball down the field at the end of the first half, and Reid blew it with the delay of game penalty. Kolb drove the ball down the field yet again in the 3rd, and McCoy lost a fumble while they were already within field goal range. He took the team down the field in the closing seconds, and the Eagles were a dropped pass away from the win. Kolb put the team in position to put points on the board, and in every occasion, points were left on the field through no fault of his own.
It's true that Kolb didn't play as well as I had hoped he would, but to blame him (or the absence of Mike Vick) for the Eagles loss is foolish and rash. Kolb did what the defense let him do - he hit the open receivers. Reid did not do what he needed to - he panicked, continued sending the receivers on bad routes, and refused to budge on his gameplan. I was ready to choke out the commentators, who continued blaming Kolb for "not getting the ball to his receivers." While Maclin was open on a few plays, for the most part, the receivers were covered, and it had nothing to do with Kolb - it had everything to do with Reid. If you want Vick back, that's fine. But don't pretend that Vick was doing anything better than Kolb was. Don't blame Kolb for this week's loss - blame Reid.
