Packers quarterback Rodgers can relate to what Eagles' Kolb is facing

GREEN BAY - Nobody knows better than Aaron Rodgers what Kevin Kolb is feeling right now.

The Packers' starting quarterback played the same, often-frustrating, 3-year waiting game that Kolb did. He dealt with the same replacing-a-legend pressure that Kolb is feeling right now. (OK, so maybe Donovan McNabb isn't a legend, but he is a six-time Pro Bowler with 216 career touchdown passes.) And he faced the same doubts from critics who felt he'd never measure up to his predecessor that Kolb is facing.

So it should come as no surprise that Kolb has reached out to the Packers' quarterback for advice. And it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows him that Rodgers, whose Packers will face Kolb's Eagles on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field, has been only too happy to be of assistance.

"We've definitely conversed more than once in the last few months," Rodgers said. "He reached out to me and wanted my number. That was a no-brainer for me. I was just honored that he wanted to seek my input-slash-advice.

"I'm definitely a fan of his. Having been in a similar situation, he's definitely a guy I'm pulling for 15 weeks out of the season. He's a very talented guy. I have no doubt he's going to make a very smooth transition, as he proved last year in the two games he started."

While it's hardly been a stroll in the park for Kolb since his promotion to starter following the Easter Sunday trade of McNabb to the Redskins, it pales in comparison to what Rodgers went through 2 years ago when he succeeded The Icon of The Great White North, Brett Favre.

Kolb has had several months to get comfortable with the idea that he finally is the Eagles' starting quarterback. So, too, have the team's fans.

Rodgers wasn't so lucky. He was named the starter in March 2008 after Favre announced his retirement. Little did he - or the Packers - know that a Favre retirement announcement isn't worth the tear-stained paper on which it's written. He had to endure a crazy summer in which Favre showed up at training camp, was essentially told he'd have to compete with Rodgers for the starting job, and finally was traded away to the Jets.

While most Eagles fans were ready for the team's Super Bowl-less marriage with McNabb to end, the same couldn't be said of Packers fans in '08, who overwhelmingly were in favor of extending the Favre era another year rather than rolling the dice with the unproven Rodgers.

"I was in a little different situation compared to the one Kevin was in," Rodgers said. "I'm not saying it was tougher or easier. It was just different.

"But most of the pressure comes from outside the facility. If you believe in yourself, you'll be fine. I think Kevin is very confident and very talented. I don't think [the pressure] is going to bother him."

Said Packers general manager Ted Thompson, who selected Rodgers with the 24th pick in the 2005 draft: "It's always difficult in a situation like that. This one was especially difficult. To Aaron's credit, he didn't really get involved in a lot of the stuff. He just concentrated on trying to be a good quarterback. At the end of the day, when you take everything else out, that's all you've got to do. Try and be a good quarterback."

If Kolb handles the pressure of replacing McNabb half as deftly as Rodgers did replacing Favre, the Eagles will be ecstatic. In just two seasons, Rodgers has established himself as one of the league's top quarterbacks. In 32 starts, he has an impressive 98.5 passer rating that includes a .641 completion percentage, 58 touchdown passes and just 20 interceptions. He has thrown for 250-plus yards in 19 of those 32 starts and has thrown more than one interception in a game just four times. Last year, he led the league in third-down passing with a not-of-this-world 133.5 rating.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy feels Rodgers benefited greatly from the 3 years he spent backing up Favre.

"I think it helped Aaron immensely to wait," McCarthy said. "I felt he was probably ready to play his third year here. But being able to sit behind a longtime veteran, that definitely helps. That's the best way to go."

In case you haven't noticed, evaluating football talent is an imperfect science. At no position is it more imperfect than quarterback. The Eagles think Kolb, who was the 36th overall pick in the 2007 draft, is going to be a very good quarterback. But they don't know that for sure yet.

His impressive play in two early-season starts against the Saints and Chiefs last year, when McNabb was sidelined with a fractured rib, certainly has increased their comfort level with the kid. But there are no guarantees. He might be the Eagles' Next Great Quarterback, or he might be Bobby Hoying.

"There have been a ton of really good personnel people who have taken one quarterback instead of another, and you look back in hindsight and say, 'How is that possible?' " said Thompson. "But that's the nature of the beast in personnel. You're trying to project how a young man is going to develop not only physically and mentally, but [other things like] is he grounded? Does he have whatever that 'it' thing is?"

The Packers got a little lucky with Rodgers in the '05 draft. The 49ers, who had the first pick in the draft that year, were in the market for a quarterback and were considering Rodgers and Alex Smith. Ultimately, they felt Smith was more athletic and took him. They should have chosen Door No. 2. In 40 career starts, Smith has eight more interceptions than touchdowns and a .563 completion percentage.

After San Francisco passed on him, Rodgers ended up tumbling all the way down to the Packers at 24. Ironically, one of the Niners people who preferred Smith over Rodgers was McCarthy, who was the team's offensive coordinator at the time.

"We kept hearing there was a possibility he could fall," said Thompson, who knew he needed to look for an eventual successor to the then-36-year-old Favre. "It wasn't that people didn't like him as a quarterback. But a lot of teams already had their two quarterbacks and were looking at another position. So we did a little bit more extensive study [of Rodgers] in the 10 days leading up to the draft. We decided that if luck happens and he falls to us, we were going to take him."

Rodgers got a lot less work during his 3-year apprenticeship under Favre than Kolb did in his under McNabb. Kolb appeared in 12 games, Rodgers only seven. Kolb had two starts, Rodgers none. Kolb has 130 regular-season pass attempts under his belt; Rodgers had just 59 when he became the Packers' starter in 2008.

If there was a point when which Thompson and McCarthy became convinced that Rodgers could replace Favre, it was a late-season game against the Cowboys in Dallas in 2007.

Both teams entered the game with 10-1 records. Favre got hurt in the second quarter and Rodgers replaced him. While the Cowboys won the game, 37-27, Rodgers completed 18 of 26 passes for 201 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

"That game was important for both him and us," McCarthy said. "It gave him a confidence boost. To go into a big game like that, in that climate, and play well, I thought it was huge for his confidence level.

"Quarterback school is great. Seven-on-seven is wonderful. Team drills are good. Preseason games are good. But until you have to go out and do it in the regular season and get up off the ground and deal with the different schemes that the other teams are throwing at you, particularly when you're young and inexperienced, that's a huge hurdle that some guys don't get over."

Rodgers said he never doubted he could play at this level, but admitted the game in Dallas was helpful in convincing both the organization and his teammates that the world wouldn't end if he replaced Favre.

"I think it was good for my teammates to see that," he said. "You can only convince them so much in practice. I think the organization probably got a little less worried about their long-term investment in me after that as well. But it was good for my confidence as well to go in there and play the way I felt I was capable of playing."

Rodgers thinks Kolb's play last year in his two starts has given him with same confidence boost going into this season that the game against the Cowboys gave him.

"The process [of becoming a successful quarterback] is you've got to become an expert in your offense first, then you've got to start trying to figure out defenses," he said. "It takes a while to understand what you're trying to do. Once you do, it's all about reacting to what you see out there. The quicker your reactions are, the faster you'll play and the better you'll play.

"I'm excited for Kevin and his opportunity. I think he'll do well. I just hope he waits a week."