Kevin Kolb Lovefest

Stop reading now if you think a lovefest for a player who has yet to play a regular season minute is premature.

I love Kevin Kolb. I think he has Pro Bowl talent. I have touched on this earlier, but a lot of things I saw tonight sealed the deal.

There were perhaps 2 plays in which I said "rookie mistake," and it was delightful to see that he did not repeat any mistake twice. The first was the first time all preseason I've seen him with legitimate happy feet, and he ended up getting sacked. The second was a pass thrown to a fully-covered Bloom. Other than that? Nada.

Obviously we can't judge from his playing 2nd & 3rd team defenses, but I really think Kolb's playing the majority of the game tonight speaks more to how close he is to the #2 spot rather than anything Feeley will do next game. I mean, if you asked me who I would rather have out there should all hell break loose at the QB position, I would pick Kolb perhaps 7 times out of 10.

His out-pass to Jason Jamesomething (#17) was incredible. Perfect. Tight spiral. Excellent velocity. Excellent trajectory. Brilliant placement. Definition of an NFL throw.

His reads went to the next level as well. Madden noted how he was able to get to his 4th read due to excellent protection, but the bigger thing I noticed was that he went to that fourth read in a timely manner -- and the very fact that he was able to get to his fourth read so calmly speaks wonders to his ability as a QB.

As I think someone mentioned, over at www.footballoutsiders.com they did research and found that the greatest indicator of success in the NFL for a QB came from not only success as a collegian, but specifically a lot of games played at that level. Kolb could not really have started more games -- 50 (!) as a collegian made him ranked most likely to succeed amongst the statistically minded NFL fans.

His dropbacks are good (not great yet, but footwork comes last for many QBs). His velocity makes me giggle joyously at 1:30 AM. He steps up into the pocket consistently, and his throws tend to be spot-on. I think 4 of his drops during the Steelers game were his receivers just dropping easy balls -- anyone remember Jason Davis taking one to the face? And I'm not even going to get into his excellent, timely scrambles (one of which consisted of an admittedly funny self-tackle).

My point with all this? I think Kolb might be the Eagles real #2 QB. I think Feeley is as much the #2 QB as Detmer was last year -- for lists and situational purposes only. I'm almost certain that if Andy had a gun to his head, Reid & Co would say  that Kolb gives the Eagles the best chance not named McNabb to win.

I am thrilled with this pick. Then again, I was also thrilled with J.R. Reed before he jumped that fence. But what do you guys think? Is Kolb the new #2?