After getting humiliated by a division rival the last 2 weeks, it is safe to say that the Eagles have a long road ahead of them, just to get back to the top of the division, let alone the conference. Just last year the Eagles embarrassed Dallas, ending their season and beat Minnesota in the playoffs on their turf. Now both teams, among others, are looking down on them.
Andy Reid is locked up until 2013 so there is no point wondering if he is the best guy to lead this team. There is no point to wondering if a different philosophy is what the team needs. No point to wondering what a running game would look like setting up the abilities of Jackson, Macklin and Celek. No point to wondering if a coach with the ability to adjust would be better than a guy who is too stubborn to think he could possibly be wrong.
QB is hardly the teams only issue so we will take a couple of different posts to cover all the issues.
Lets start by taking a look at the Quarterback situation. Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick are all under contract for 2010. None of them, for 2011, yet. Let's assume (hope?) that the Vick experiment is over and maybe something positive can finally come of it, like a draft pick. Any draft pick..
McNabb has led the team to a 92-46-1 regular season record over the past 11 years. He's led them to 9 postseason victories. He's played a big part in 7 postseason losses. The Eagles set the franchise mark in points scored, in each of the past 2 seasons under McNabb but he has not gotten them over the hump. He looked horrible, as the rest of the team did, in the 2 losses against Dallas. Kevin Kolb was a second round draft pick in 2007 and has played sparingly.
Kolb looked terrible in a tough spot in '08 and looked pretty good in 2 games in '09. He has completed 60% of his passes in his limited action. Close to 70% if you include his completions to the opposing team.
Andy Reid has said that McNabb will return as QB but really, what else was he going to say about a guy under contract.
I belive that Donovan McNabb is a better QB than Kolb and will always be a better QB then Kolb. But...For this team to improve I think it is best to give Kolb a shot.
With Kolb at the helm, I think the Eagles will be less reliant on the passing game. I think Reid will be forced to implement a balanced attack. Even if I am not sold on Kolb as a QB, I think there is enough talent around him for him to be successful. I also think they should draft another QB fairly early in case my previously stated thoughts turn out to be incorrect.
Donovan McNabb is 33 years old and only has 1 year left on his deal. He got a bump in his salary last year but did not get any extra years. He is owed a $6.2 million roster bonus on May 5th, which is curiously late heading into a possible cap-less year. I cannot see the Eagles initiating contract extension talks with Donovan. I cannot see McNabb being happy playing out the last year of his deal without any security whatsoever. Something has to give and I think getting value for McNabb now, is the move.
What would you do?
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