A lot of people in the comments and in the media have made mention of the notion that Kevin Kolb was handed a raw deal when Andy Reid named Michael Vick the Eagles starting QB.
And they're absolutely right. Kevin Kolb spent 3 years earning his chance to start. He spent the entire offseason preparing himself. The team invested $12 million to ensure that they controlled his rights beyond this year. They traded away Donovan McNabb to pave the way for him... And after all that he got to throw 10 passes in one half of the first game and got injured. He gets cleared to play again, told that he will resume his role as the starting QB only to find out a few days later that the coach changed his mind and that barring an injury or extended poor performance by Michael Vick, his year is finished. His "shot" this year was 10 passes.
It's a complete joke made even worse by the fact that Andy Reid basically telling him it's a good thing. "Kevin Kolb has done a phenomenal job for us here and the future of Kevin Kolb is not slighted by this one bit" Reid said. Really? Benching a guy before ever giving him a chance to do what he's prepared his whole life to do? Something you told him he was going to have the chance to do? Something you're paying him a ton for? The guy spent 3 years on the bench to start his career and now you're telling him he still needs time to "continue his maturation process?" It's a joke.
I really can't see how this could even be up for debate. Kevin Kolb was screwed here. Flat out screwed and there's no denying it.
All that said... who really cares? Andy Reid has one job and one job only, which is to do every thing in his power to win a Superbowl for this team and this city. If even for a second he thinks Michael Vick gives them a better shot to do that, he owes to himself and to us to explore that possibility. Now, he may very well be wrong... but that's a separate issue. The fact that he made this move tells us that he thinks Vick give them their best shot to win, which means at least for him that it was a move he had no choice but to make.
I'll be honest, I'm still not convinced that Michael Vick is the right guy to lead this team this year. I still want to see what Kolb has to offer and admittedly I'm disappointed that it appears we won't get to see it this year... but I'm not terribly concerned about what is "just" for Kevin Kolb. I want my coach concerned first and foremost with winning and he's proven here that winning is his top priority. There's more than a few coaches in this league that would have still done the "right and just" thing and let Kolb start even though they felt Vick gave them a better shot to win. That would have been wrong.
Does this immunize Andy from criticism for the move? No way. Am I going to take him to task if it blows up in his face? You better believe it!