The first Monday morning after the opening weekend of the NFL season usually features the same things –
overreacting to poor/great performances, assessing injuries to key players, obsessing over fantasy football results, reading incessant “WE (sic) won!”-type status updates on Facebook and at least one potential quarterback controversy.
And on cue, we have one brewing in Philadelphia, where there is now a debate over who should start in NFL Week 2 – Michael Vick or Kevin Kolb. This is great news for sports radio station WIP, whose airwaves have been filled today with callers debating this topic.
Vick replaced the injured Kevin Kolb (concussion) with the Eagles trailing the Green Bay Packers 20-3. He was 16-for-24 for 175 yards and threw for one touchdown, and also rushed for 103 yards. (Yes, fantasy football degenerates – more rushing yards than most starting running backs had this week.) While the Eagles fell short and lost, 27-20, Vick’s presence clearly sparked his team and already riled up the usually critical Philadelphia fans and media.
Head coach Andy Reid tried to restore order today by said today that, “…Kevin Kolb is the No. 1 quarterback.” But since Kolb is still suffering from the effects of his injury, Vick is likely to start in Week Two against the Detroit Lions. This, combined with the fact that Kolb performed poorly before he got hurt, has all the makings of a looming controversy for the foreseeable future. Remember, this is the same city which once extolled the virtues of the likes of Bobby Hoying, A.J. Feely and Jeff Garcia.
Looking ahead, if Kolb is still injured in Week Three, Vick would get to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in another favorable match-up. This would lead to the perfect storm in Week Four: an even-bigger QB controversy coinciding with the return to Philadelphia of – you guessed it – Donovan McNabb and his Washington Redskins.
Even “American Idol” would be jealous of this script, except that Fox doesn’t have a staff of writers on this show. Here’s hoping this scenario pans out and we’re rewarded with such potentially riveting reality television. If you can stomach Joe Buck, that is…
Used with permission of the author.
Chris Lardieri covers the Los Angeles Dodgers for Examiner.com and has written about Major League Baseball for Inside Edge, a scouting company that provides content to ESPN Insider and Yahoo Sports. He previously wrote for 1766, the Rutgers Alumni Magazine, and popular blog, ‘The Outer Loop’. Be sure to follow Chris on Twitter for more MLB and sports observations.
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