Kolb and Vick Continue to Battle for Starting Job
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The Eagles quarterback situation is pretty hazy. For starters, no pun intended, the injury report lists Michael Vick as questionable. Andy Reid, on the other hand, said he’d definitely play. “Michael Vick will be in and I can’t tell you right now whether he’ll be [the backup] or [third string],” Reid said.
One thing seems certain though – Kevin Kolb will start in Tennessee. After that, your guess is as good as anyone’s. After last week’s game, Reid left things up in the air, saying he’d take “Michael Kolb” and that he promised one of them would be out there. It won’t be Vick, at least until after the bye, but at that point he should be ready to go. “He’s pretty close right now, so I think I would be pretty confident of that,” Reid said.
So does that make Vick nervous as he watches Kolb try to steal back the job? If he’s worried, he won’t admit it.
“I’m not concerned at all,” Vick said. “Kevin’s just got to play when he’s got to play and I go out and play when I have to play. That’s pretty much the way it’s been. We both enjoy playing the quarterback position, we have fun doing it, we take pride in what we do and that’s what it’s all about.”
Kolb meanwhile says he’s just concerned about his own development. “That’s what you have to do as a young player, you have to just keep improving and keep trying to build like you said and that’s my mentality,” Kolb said. “I mean as soon as you settle you get embarrassed in this league.”
So far Kolb hasn’t experienced that since his opening day debacle, completing 44 of his last 60 passes for 579 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception. That adds up to a passer rating of 118.7, but Kolb credits his supporting staff.
“I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but a lot of that is our teammates,” said the 26-year-old. “They create the situation for us. Some of the stuff that happened last week, you saw how easy it was for me and I’m sure Michael would say the same thing.”
Kolb and Vick, outwardly at least, are putting the interests of their 51 teammates ahead of their own. “Mike and I have tried hard at it and we keep the same mindset throughout the whole thing, although we both want to be out there,” Kolb said. “So we’ll continue to do that and make sure that the team comes first.”
“That’s Andy’s decision, whatever my role is and whatever I’m asked to do, I’ll do it,” stated Vick. “I’ve been on both sides of the fence where I’ve been a starter and a backup, so like I said, I’m a total team player.”
Until they find out who holds the starting job after the bye week, Vick said he and Kolb will keep trying to help each other improve.
“It’s just competition, it’s pushing one another and helping one another and then just trying to win football games at the end of the day,” Vick said. “You’ve just got to deal with it week to week. I know I can play this game, we all know we can play. We’re all very effective when we go out and play the game of football.”
So far, they both have been. But sooner or later, one must emerge as the starter.
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