Philly’s new QB could slice up defenses
Posted on 11. Apr, 2010 at 4:00 am by Meerkat in Football, NFL Football, Philadelphia Eagles
Cha-ching! … Ted Nugent is smiling from ear-to-ear after just purchasing a #4 Philadelphia Eagles jersey at his local sporting goods store. Why? … you ask. Because newly minted starting Eagles QB Kevin Kolb is one gritty-knife-wielding-dude from Texas.
Longtime Philly QB Donovan McNabb was traded to the Washington Redskins last Sunday, aka Easter. This meant backup Kevin Kolb would get the keys to the kelly green sports car after sitting shotgun since 2007. A lot of Philly fans are getting what they want … the close to the McNabb era, an era that has brought a lot of winning seasons, yes, but also a lot of frustrating moments falling short of the finish line.
McNabb will be remembered as a good QB, but not great. He was the guy that led the Eagles to 5 NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl appearance. He is certainly considered the best QB in Philly’s history (sorry Jaws). But, #5 didn’t win the big games. He was never thought of as the guy that could lead the team down the field in a flashy 4th quarter drive. More importantly though, he didn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve. Which is why Brian Dawkins will be better remembered in the hearts of Eagles loyalists.
So now we’re gonna find out why Andy Reid loved Kevin Kolb so much that he had him selected in the 2nd round in 2007. Kolb’s selection set off a storm of controversy around the QB position all offseason after that draft. Will McNabb be phased out? Is Kevin Kolb the future? Is Kolb just a backup? McNabb’s annual injuries certainly weighed in on the Eagles decision to think ahead and solidify a guy that can step in for Donovan if and when he goes down, and can’t get back up.
So with 10 years of great stats but no Lombardi Trophy, McNabb was dealt to the Redskins. The timing was perfect because the youth movement going on in Philly right now means Kolb can afford to stumble a little, but he cannot afford to fall … not after 3 years playing understudy.
| Career Stats | |||||||||||||||||||
| Season | Team | Passing | Fumbles | ||||||||||||||||
| G | GS | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Sck | SckY | Rate | FUM | Lost | ||||||
| 2009 | Philadelphia Eagles | 5 | 2 | 62 | 96 | 64.6 | 741 | 7.7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 88.9 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 2008 | Philadelphia Eagles | 6 | 0 | 17 | 34 | 50.0 | 144 | 4.2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 21.8 | – | – | ||||
| 2007 | Philadelphia Eagles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| TOTAL | 79 | 130 | 60.8 | 885 | 6.8 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 40 | 68.9 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
Before Kolb plays game 1 as The Man in green, he might be close to super-cool status in Philly. Rabid Eagles fans are embracing the country boy from down south. Stories of pre-philly Kolb hunting wild hogs back home in Texas have peeps clamoring to know more about the guy.
Here’s an excerpt from an article just after Kolb was drafted:
For one thing, if you can hunt wild hogs with a couple of dogs and a 12-inch bowie knife, the way Kevin Kolb and his friends have, maybe getting booed or being lambasted on talk radio won’t seem like such a big deal.
“It’s not just [about] killing an animal,” says Kolb (pronounced Cob), taking a lunch break last week after a workout at the University of Houston. He didn’t want to come off like some bloodthirsty savage to the non-hog-hunting fans of his new team, the Eagles, who shocked everyone from Allentown to Atco by taking Kolb with their first selection in the 2007 NFL draft, 36th overall. “A lot of times you’ve got to work before you reap your reward.”
“Our dogs go and find ‘em first, and then we stab the pigs. It’s a little bit dangerous, but as long as you know what you’re doing, you’ll be all right,” he says.
So Kolb isn’t exactly Rambo, but anytime a dude is running around with a knife the size of my arm and killing wild hogs, that’s gonna make for folklore among diehard Philly fans. And slicing and dicing pigs is a good way to earn some street cred before you have to take on the daily grind of media questions and lofty South Philly expectations as the starting QB of brotherly love.
Kolb will appeal to the everyman in Philly much more so than McNabb ever did. The low-key kid does some serious hunting and fishing …
“I killed an 18-point [buck] about four years ago,” Kolb said. “We all fish together, too. I’ll fish for whatever and whenever. I’m very excited about trying some [Pennsylvania] fly-fishing. I once caught a 76-pound yellow cat[fish]. I caught a 250-pound blue marlin a couple summers ago. It probably took about 25 minutes to reel it in. Fishing is a way for me to get away from everything. It’s my solitude.”
Hopefully, for Eagles fans, he also tosses TDs and collects trophies — shiny trophies that is, not dead ones mounted on a wall.
The love fest is in full swing right now with a Facebook page that is growing allegiance by the minute: My Quarterback Hunts Wild Pigs with a Knife, Whats Yours Do?
WR DeSean Jackson can’t wait to get the Kolb era started in the fall.
“It was time for a change,” said Jackson – a shot, clearly, at McNabb. “We’ve got some young players here. I’m just excited about everything.”
A whole lot of Philly fans feel the same way.
Let’s just see if Kevin Kolb can slice and dice NFL defenses like he can dirty swine.
9 Responses to “Philly’s new QB could slice up defenses”
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bbryan
11. Apr, 2010
Philly fans are going to be getting what they deserve soon. They treated a great QB like shit for his entire career. Those teams lost those big games because of:
A.) Andy Reid is a bad big game coach. His game plans were awful. In the 5 NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl Loss the rushing attempts were as follows: 189 – 104. Even “The Greatest Show on Turf” ran the ball 31 times in that game.
B.) Considering that the Eagles were a one dimensional offense, their front office did a poor job of supplying any playmakers at WR.
C.) Their defensive philosophy is flawed. Sure blitzing all the time works great against crappy teams, but it doesn’t work against good teams. The constant blitzing gets you in trouble. In those 6 games their Defense recorded a total of 6 sacks for 31 yards. Pretty pathetic for a mass blitzing team. Also only forcing 6 turnovers didn’t help either. Good teams had a field day against that gimmick defense.
I know the QB gets all the blame and all the credit, but Philly fans were over the top with McNabb. The booed him on draft day and never stopped. And now they will get a taste of what 6-10 / 8-8 feels like every year.
Meerkat
11. Apr, 2010
a– those same game plans got them to 5 nfc championships and 1 super bowl … andy reid is certainly not considered a great gameday coach, he’s had plenty of mishaps. but you can win a super bowl with no running game, the 08-09 cardinals beat the eagles and then lost to the steelers in the super bowl (because of a santonio holmes catch), cards had zero running game that season (dead last reg season in 2008, 21.2 attempts a game) … its a passing league now
b– terrell owens a playmaker? they played in the super bowl against a patriots team that was very similar offensive wise, besides tom brady, who were the other offensive stars on that pats team? tom brady being a seriously accurate qb, makes dwarf wrs like deion branch look good because he puts the ball right on their hands every time. i lost count of how many times aikman has called an eagles game and mentioned donovan’s inaccurate passing.
also, philly fans won’t forget donovan’s 3 super bowl ints and then puking in the 4th quarter while under center
c– the jim johnson defenses were the real reason the eagles have had so much success over the years … his blitzing schemes worked great except for those games that the opposing teams offense stuck with the run game which neutralized dbs creeping up at the line. it might be a stretch calling jim johnson’s scheme ‘gimicky’, he blitzed mostly banking on an offense’s tendencies
Tom
11. Apr, 2010
Bbryan also blames Andy Reid for Mcnabb Puking in the 4th Q of the super bowl, for mcnabb being a choker and for mcnabb being a boozer. (Mcnabb was seen out partying night before SB.) Truth is, Mcnabb is a chump, Kolb will be solid, but the eagles still won’t win a super bowl.
Chip Kelly
11. Apr, 2010
I hate gimmick schemes.
stake
12. Apr, 2010
Not speaking for Meerkat, but Philly fans are some of the worst around, Cubs/Chicago are the worst. They have a hard time grasping the idea that failure is part of the game. Who throws snowballs at Santa? Besides those who rhyme with Mark Few’s last name. I can’t wait for them to start booing Rollins or Howard after they go into a 10-15 game slump.
Bryan, you saying Fred was not a play maker? Child please.
Hugh
12. Apr, 2010
Stake, that was truly a great party at the mansion. I was thrilled that you could attend.
Meerkat
15. Apr, 2010
Stake, your boy Freddie loves partying in Philly
bbryan
15. Apr, 2010
Fred may have been a playmaker with the ladies, but certainly not on the football field.
Meerkat
15. Apr, 2010
Completely agree bbryan. FredEx walked & talked like he was Ochocinco, except for one major void, he did not have NFL game.
But he will live forever in Eagle lore with 4th & 26.