RON CORTES / Staff photographer
If Kevin Kolb starts Sunday against New Orleans, it should provide a truer gauge of what he can do.
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- Andrews thankful to Reid
- Baskett released; Andrews done
- Eagles story lines, Saints updates
- Garcia returns to Eagles, but Kolb likely to start
- Les Bowen: The Bottom Line: Kolb's job is to manage game
- John Smallwood: This early in Eagles' season, no need to rush McNabb back
- Reid, McNabb hopeful, but look for Kolb to start for Eagles
- Eagles' starting QB not a concern for Saints
- Patriots take advantage of Bills' miscue in late win
- QB's lawyer wants woman's statement stricken
- Scott Graham to be new voice of 'Inside the NFL'
- Eagletarian
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Further Review
Les Bowen: Further Review: The Bottom Line: Kolb's job is to manage game
DREW BREES vs. Kevin Kolb.
Not a matchup fans have clamored for, is it?
But as Eagles Nation desperately seeks a miracle of healing by the weekend, the thought here is that Brees vs. Kolb might not be the end of the world for the Eagles.
It all depends on whether that really is the equation. If the Eagles need for Kolb to outplay Brees in order to win, that's a problem.
But in the Eagles' opener, Donovan McNabb didn't have to do anything extraordinary. He completed 10 of 18 passes, with a couple of early drops, for 79 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, before fracturing a rib on the play that gave the Birds a 38-10 lead. Even if fans can't ask Sean McDermott's defense to come up with seven turnovers again this week, they can ask for contributions from Brian Westbrook, DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Jason Avant, and Brent Celek.
I don't think the 2009 Eagles offense is going to be about McNabb trying to make stuff happen on his own. And I think Kolb will just need to manage the game, avoid turnovers, convert some third downs. Let McDermott, Trent Cole and company be the focal point, the counterpoint to Brees.
"I think the biggest thing I have to work on - and it's going to be tough this week if I do have to play - is not thinking I have to make every play," Kolb said yesterday. "We have a very talented team. We were talented last year. I went in against Baltimore [in the famous McNabb benching game] and tried to do too much. I just need to focus on running the offense and being efficient and consistent for my teammates."
Yeah, Kolb has some fairly awful career stats - four picks and two fumbles lost, just 45 passing attempts - none of them from a game he actually started, or prepared to start.
In preseason games (yes, they are preseason games, not real games, obviously), where Kolb has had a decent chance to prepare, he has played very well, even when matched against other teams' top defenders. If he starts this week, the world just might not end, after all.
Developing story lines
* There is no way the Eagles will continue to carry seven wideouts. They deactivated Reggie Brown and Brandon Gibson on Sunday, and didn't throw any passes to a totally invisible Jeremy Maclin. They are going to need one of those wideout roster spots for Jeff Garcia.
* The Birds' longest gain of the day from scrimmage was 25 yards on a DeSean Jackson end-around. Yet they scored 38 points.
* The Panthers lacked a top-flight tight end and didn't throw underneath much, something that might change this week when Drew Brees and Jeremy Shockey come to town. "I think linebackerwise, we've got to focus on Shockey," Chris Gocong said.
* Among the many possible problems discussed endlessly in the offseason and preseason that didn't come up in the opener was defensive leadership. Turns out, Trent Cole is a pretty good leader, rampaging into the backfield with a full head of steam.
* Andy Reid noted that middle linebacker Omar Gaither "ended up playing the whole game, and I thought did just a heckuva job leading the defense . . . He's the one that makes all the calls. When I say they were accurate with all their assignments, that starts with Omar, and him controlling that defense."
Obscure stat
The Eagles had the ball for 5 minutes, 51 seconds in the second quarter. They scored 28 points. I was an English major, but I'm pretty sure that's better than 4.5 points per minute, which is making very good use of your time.
Who knew?
That "Delhomme" actually is a Cajun term for "man who keeps coughing up footballs."
Extra point
Yes, a lot was written about right tackle Winston Justice in yesterday's paper, but maybe not enough.
It came up again in Andy Reid's news conference yesterday - the night of the dozen sacks, Sept. 30, 2007, at the Meadowlands. Justice made his only previous start, at left tackle then, for Tra Thomas. You might have heard, he had a tough time with the Giants' Osi Umenyiora.
"He was a young kid when we got him," Reid reminded reporters, not for the first time. Justice, 21 when the Birds drafted him 39th overall in 2006, turned 25 yesterday. "I think he's just matured, both on the field [and] off the field. I think he's developed into a good, solid player here."
Reid also recalled that according to the team's accounting, "he had four of the 12 sacks," which is really bad, but not quite legendary. That was the first time the Eagles saw former Jim Johnson assistant Steve Spagnuolo move his pass rushers inside and outside, all along the line, much as the Birds did Sunday against Carolina. Nobody reacted well, including Reid, who ackowledged yesterday that he should have given Justice more help.
It's hard to live something like that down, especially when you don't start a game again for nearly 2 years. And one game won't dramatically change public perceptions of Justice. But you didn't hear yesterday that the Eagles had signed Jon Runyan, which looked like a good bet going into the weekend. Nobody asked a followup question when Reid's only comment on Shawn Andrews was that his back is still sore. Justice seemingly is going to get more than one game to change his image - maybe a lot more.
"I thought he played very physical," Reid said. "He had to make a couple of adjustments on a handful of plays; I thought he handled that well."
Said Justice: "I'm looking forward to next week, I'm not looking in the past ... It'd feel nice to get two solid starts under my belt, to get some type of groove going."
