What about Kolb? And Vick...
Here's a detailed look at how Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick performed in Week 1 Sunday afternoon against the Packers.
What about Kolb? And Vick...
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Every week, I'm going to take a close look at Kevin Kolb's performance in this special feature.
Obviously, given how things went against the Packers, it makes sense to include Michael Vick this week.
Here's the rundown:
PASS DISTRIBUTION
| Targets | Catches | Yards | YAC | |
| DeSean Jackson | 11 | 4 | 30 | 7 |
| Jason Avant | 7 | 4 | 41 | 9 |
| Jeremy Maclin | 5 | 4 | 38 | 9 |
| LeSean McCoy | 5 | 5 | 47 | 47 |
| Brent Celek | 4 | 2 | 32 | 0 |
| Eldra Buckley | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 |
| Mike McGlynn | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
As you can see, the Eagles tried (unsuccessfully) to get the ball to Jackson. Four of those 11 targets were while Kolb was in the game, but none of them resulted in a completion, as Jackson did not have a catch until the second half. Neither did Avant or Celek.
Yards after the catch were non-existent. During the first half, no Eagles receiver or tight end picked up a single yard after the catch. The McCoy numbers are deceiving since those yards came on screen passes.
All offseason, we heard about the short passing game and putting receivers in a position to make plays after the reception, but that didn't happen on Sunday, and was a key in Kolb's struggles.
I didn't count any drops, although there was a Kolb throw to Celek that he got his hands on. The timing of the play was completely off though, and the throw was not on target.
THE BLITZ, PRESSURE, SHOTGUN, ETC.
Kolb dropped back to pass 13 times and was blitzed seven times (53.8 percent). Now, keep in mind that blitzes are more difficult to define with the Packers' 3-4 defense that employs hybrid linebackers/defensive ends. With the Eagles, identifying a blitz is simple. It's when they rush a player other than the four defensive linemen.
For the Packers, if they lined up four guys at the line of scrimmage and rushed the passer, I did not include it as a blitz. If they rushed four, but the fourth was a linebacker coming on a delay up the middle or something of that nature, I did count it as a blitz. The important thing is I used the same criteria for both Kolb and Vick.
Kolb was 3-for-5 for 17 yards against the blitz, and was sacked twice. On his other throws, Kolb was 2-for-5 for 7 yards. The idea that Kolb was under constant pressure is not exactly true. The protection wasn't great, but he faced no significant pressure nine of the 13 times he dropped back. On the two sacks, it looked like Kolb had time to make his first read, but then was met with pressure in his face. On the play where Kolb was chased down from behind by Clay Matthews and suffered a concussion, the Packers only rushed three.
Only one of Kolb's pass attempts was from outside the pocket - a 6-yard completion to McCoy.
Kolb was in the shotgun on 11 of 13 snaps, and all five of his completions were out of the 'gun.
The Eagles ran play-action just once while Kolb was in the game, and it resulted in an incompletion.
As for Vick, he was blitzed on 14 of 31 dropbacks (45.1 percent). He had excellent numbers against the blitz, completing 8 of 11 passes for 95 yards. By my count, he faced pressure on nine of 31 dropbacks, but of course had more success because he was able to make plays with his legs. He was also very decisive.
The contention that Vick was overly eager to run at the first sign of pressure is not exactly true. He was 16-for-22 for 175 yards on throws inside the pocket. Only two of his 24 attempts (both incompletions) were outside the pocket. He took off and ran four times out of 31 drop-backs and was sacked three times.
Like Kolb, he worked primarily out of the shotgun (25 of 31 dropbacks out of the 'gun).
THIRD DOWN, RED ZONE
Really, no situation better illustrates Kolb's struggles than his performance on third down. Kolb was on the field for four third downs, and here were the results:
1. Sack.
2. Incompletion (originally ruled an interception, and then overturned).
3. 1-yard scramble on the play where he sustained a concussion.
4. Flukey completion (McGlynn caught the ball after it popped up, intended for McCoy).
Kolb did not attempt a pass in the red zone.
Vick, on the other hand, had most of his success on third down. He was 5-for-7 for 71 yards and a touchdown on third down. And there was also a conversion where Maclin drew a holding penalty. Vick's 17-yard touchdown pass to Maclin was on third down.
In the red zone, he was 2-for-5 for 17 yards.
The play Vick would like to have back is the third-down incompletion in the red zone. He had open receivers and also room to run, but instead forced the ball to Jackson, and the Eagles settled for a field goal.
SUCCESS BY DISTANCE
Here's a chart of each quarterback's throws by distance. I used the same ranges that Football Outsiders uses so we'd have a point of reference. Short is 5 yards or less. Mid is 6 to 15 yards. Deep is 16 to 25 yards. And Bomb is more than 25 yards. These are measured from the line of scrimmage to the point where the ball is touched, hits the ground or goes out of bounds.
| Kolb | Vick | |
| Short | 4-5, 18 yards | 10-16, 82 yards |
| Mid | 1-3, 6 yards | 4-5, 49 yards |
| Deep | 0-1 | 1-2, 17 yards |
| Bomb | 0-1 | 1-1, 27 yards |
What stands out here is that the Eagles, a big-play offense in 2009, relied on short and intermediate passes all game. Was a lot of that due to protection issues? Probably. But with Jackson at their disposal, I expect them to take more shots down the field going forward. Nine of those 11 Jackson targets were within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. The one deep ball and the one bomb came while Kolb was in the game.
Twenty-one of 34 (62 percent) of the Eagles' pass attempts were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Twenty-nine of 34 attempts (85.2 percent) were within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage. The biggest play of the day was the beautiful throw and catch form Vick to Celek.
OVERALL
Obviously, the numbers pass the eyeball test. Vick was a much better quarterback than Kolb on Sunday.
With that being said, anyone who is ready to write off Kolb's career based on 22 snaps, 10 pass attempts and one half of a football is going overboard. The Eagles traded their franchise quarterback to a division rival and paid Kolb $12.25M in guaranteed money. When he's healthy, he's going to start.
As for Vick, the numbers could have been even better. He missed a few receivers and couldn't get the ball in the end zone on the play mentioned above. But he made some spectacular throws, was decisive and led the Eagles back. As was the case early in his career, Vick's legs are a weapon unmatched by any other quarterback in the league. Based on 31 drop-backs and 24 pass attempts, he looked like he could definitely start in the NFL.
Having said that, now he will have to perform against a team that has seen him on film and is game-planning for him. I'm not saying he'll struggle against the Lions (he's likely to start), but this will be a better gauge of what kind of progress he's made in the last year.
You can follow Moving the Chains on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
And download the 2010 MTC app from the ITunes store.
Thank you Sheil, that's what makes you better than the Philly sportswriters, especially that old curmudgeon Les Bowen, you analyze the game and give us hard data to prove Kolb, in fact, can't play. Do we really need an entire season to see that Kolb can't play? Why is everyone willing to throw away 3 years on this stiff? People in Philly are finally starting to see the light of day, something which I knew before the third preseason game. Try and tell that to the idiot Philly sports writers who apparently have been covering football their whole lives but don't know the FIRST THING ABOUT FOOTBALL and continue to support Kolb: RAY "the fraud" DIDINGER, Les Bowen, Howard Eskin, Paul Domowitch, RICH HOFFMAN, ANTHONY GARGANO and GLEN MACNOW, lonewolf, and John Gonzolez, (yes Gonzo does in fact deserve to be listed after lonewolf, he's that stupid). HEY MORONS, NEWS FLASH, KOLB CAN'T PLAY, and the so called "football experts" continue to throw away their credibility by supporting this stiff who can't throw and certainly can't move. To paraphrase Rich Hoffman: "Kolb has the same mobility at 26 that Donovan has now at 33" LOL, Rich, you are truly a moron.— brmorgen81- The Packers came out in a nickel defense, I'm sure to curtail the obvious (throwing to 1yard over and over again) and to bail out there rookie DB's. Did AR and MM make one adjustment to this in the 1st quarter? The most frustrating aspect of being an Eagle's fan (besides the lack of candor in press meetings) is the unquestioned dedication to the stupid West Coast offense. Any professional head coach, let alone one with 11 years experience, should have changed up the play calling after 1 play. To see the Packers playing back and defending the pass while inviting the run was a preview of what every single team is going to do to start the game, i.e. take 1yard out of the mix. He's a typical WR in the idea that if he doesn't get the ball early, he's going to get frustrated. He won't pull a T.O. and blow up on the sidelines, but AR and MM have to do a better job of adjusting to the other teams defense and call the right play. Any discussion of the QB is useless until AR gets his big head out of his gigantic backside and opens his eyes to what is actually happening on gameday. Successful coaches change in mid game based on what the other team is doing, stubborn coaches end up with no rings after 11 years because of a reluctance to adapt. And if he was anywhere other than Philly, he'd be unemployed too.— Bleue
- and what did Rome look like after one day?— erbower
Comment removed.- Vick last 2 seasons starting in ATL. 2005 15 tds 13 INTs. 2006 20 tds 13 INTs. Higher ceiling for Kolb, bottom line. Not that Vick cant be better with a different system and team, but his accuracy held him back from what we have seen in the past when he started, no doubt hes better at this point.— peteike
Sheil is the bets writer on this site— elijah29- This much was obvious before the season began: teams will blitz the Eagles until the line and quarterback prove they can handle it. If the line is going to be porous, Vick will probably continue to have better stats than Kolb. His quickness and reputation slow the rush down, equivalent to an additional blocker. Even with inadequate protection, Kolb's decision making was alarmingly bad, much more like a first-game rookie than a 4th year guy getting the starting call. It's a no brainer that defensive coordinators will blitz him until he shows he can make them pay. Right now you just have to hurry him to get a terrible throw into double coverage.— tacklinjoe
elijah29 -- he is by far the best. he gives numbers and not fluffy opinions. good work once again Sheil!- No disrespect to Kolb, but maybe Vick is a better style QB in Reid's offense. I know that sounds backwards from what we've been told ad nauseam -- accuracy and quick read/release(supposedly Kolb's strengths) are 'vital' to the WCO -- but maybe Reid's version requires a mobile QB to double for a run game. What first made me think of this was Reid's comment that the Packers played nickel 'D' the whole game. The differences between the first half and the second in this game are well-documented, so I won't rehash. We have more than this one game for data -- we can look back at McNabb's career. For instance, a quick run of numbers showed McNabb rushed 4.7 times per game from 2000-2004, while only 2.9 times per game from 2005-2009. Is there a correlation between these numbers and the Eagles' success? Sheil, I would be very interested in your analysis on this.— trixman
- How long is it going to take before the Coach and Offensive coordinator get the blame for poor game plans and plans that take half a game to adjust??? Reid has a game plan of short pass and run plays; line that are poor blockers; no running attack and poor..poor game management. Signing Vick was the biggest waste of money. Why do we keep signing these BYU players that never play???— tulsaphil
I had the eagles going 7-9 or 8-8, but now that you lose your starting center and fullback it just got worse. Reid will continue to try to throw the ball 60+% even though Mike Bell is standing on the sideline wanting to get in the game, and gets 1 carry. 1 CARRY. its complete stupidity. Reid has a one-track mind and its going down the wrong %#$%$#% track as he will continue to keep throwing, throwing, throwing the team to oblivion. Thats what happened in all the big championship games, and its why 60% passing HAS NEVER WON A SB. NOT 1 TIME. Reid will NEVER win a SB. EVER.- Comment removed.
- TRIXMAN....EXCELLENT POINT!!!...THE 49ERS WITH MONTANA RAN THE BALL A LOT MORE THAN PHILLY DOES IN THE WCO....SO DID THE 49ERS WITH STEVE YOUNG WHEN THEY HAD RICKY WATERS...SEATTLE RAN A LOT WITH S. ALEXANDER...THE PACKERS RAN A LOT EVEN THO' THEY HAD RB'S BY COMMITTEE...WHY???..BECAUSE RUNNING SETS UP THE PASS/PLAY ACTION PASS AND SHORT THROWS ARE AN EXTENSION OF THE RUN...BECAUSE OTHER COACHES KNOW THAT ANDY REID WILL THROW THE BALL 6O-65% PER GAME... THEY WILL BLITZ OUT OF THE 3-4 UNTIL HE CAN EST. A RUNNING GAME...OR THEY WILL ROTATE DIME FORMATIONS STARTING WITH COVER 2...— CHUCK JR
- brmorgan81 cuts and pastes again. I don't know if Kolb is a superbowl QB. I do know that Vick isn't. I'd be willing to go 5-11 to find out, rather than 8-8 with Vick and still not have a QB. rebuilding isnt a dirty word.— dragoon6
- There are no silver linings for this dark cloud. And my predictions about NEXT year pretty much went down the drain along with any hopes I had for this O-Line. And where is my pal briandawkins20....I could stand some cheering up.— TBear
Andy Reid will try to make Vick into a pocket passer rather than altering his game planand adapt it to Vick's strengths. Pocket play is NOT Vick's strong suit. Once again, Reid will try to fit a square peg into a round hole rather than just make the hole round to begin with. The problems lie there.— tpizza- as a fan, i dont want a 5-11 team. i like to see wins, every sunday if possible. this is the nfl, one game per week in fall and part of winter. thats not long. therefore i want to see the best team on the field every game. i get tired of hearing people say that rather have bad year 1st. WHAT! do ya'll like kevin THAT much. i understand given this guy another start(without bringing vick in every so often), but if he isnt playing well, then make the switch. why waste a year when the division is up for grabs. play the better qb.
- If your obsessive conpulsive tendency is to drop back and pass you better have the O line to handle it and you better have a QB who can scramble and make things happen. If you refuse to establish the line of scrimmage with a power run game the defense is going to come after you every single time.Obviously Kolb doesn't have the wheels to escape pressure but Vick does. No Brainer. Kolbs career may be short lived.Andy's has been way too long.— MJPD345
- 13 pass attempts against the number two rated defense at years end last season and the leading superbowl contender from the NFC... and you want to pull the plug on the kid. I like Mike Vick, he can be electric. But the fact is he is a career 78 qb rating, 52% career completion % and went 8-8 and 7-9 his last two years. In 04, he went 11-4. GB didn't prep for Vick. When teams do prep for him, the rule that Jim Johnson established was let the DEF Ends maintain their positions not getting up field. Force Vick to stay in the pocket and read down field. He has proven that he cant over the long haul. On any given sunday he is electric. Scrambling Qbs don't win until they learn to pass. Randall, McNabb, McNair, Vick, Elway and Young in the beginning of their careers all ran a lot. It wasn't until they learned to pass accurately and on time. Eagles need a brees, not a vick. Give Kolb 8 games... not 13 passes. Aaron Rodgers got banged around so did Manning in their first few starts. If the kid can play, it will show, but not in one half of football with a coach pulling him in and out every other play. REID IS A LOSER.— 1st and goal
- This is a loser team and always will be with the team management has. Its just great to see these cry baby fans react every time their team loses.— MRD
Follow
Sheil on Twitter. And become
a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds
coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Download it here.
