Bob Ford: Eagles' Kolb saying all the right things

So far in his brief career as starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, Kevin Kolb has been a lot better at saying the right things than doing them.

That counts for something, though, and Andy Reid no doubt appreciates it when Kolb supports sharing the field with Michael Vick and Reid's vision of a two-quarterback platoon.

When Kolb comes back from his concussion hiatus this week, he will resume his position as the starter and Reid will resume his intention of placing his second-string quarterback on the field for 25 percent of the plays or more.

"I think it's a beautiful situation," Reid said on Monday. "I look at it a lot different than other people look at it. I've got two quarterbacks that can play. I'm a happy guy about it."

Kolb echoed the company line, saying he was fine with Vick coming in as a change-of-pace quarterback during his offensive drives. It doesn't affect his rhythm or continuity, Kolb said.

"We were just out of rhythm the whole time [against Green Bay in the first half of the opener]," Kolb said. "I don't think it had anything to do with him coming in and out of the ball game. I think it was more about us just executing and doing our parts as individuals and me doing the right things with the ball."

In any case, Kolb has to get used to Reid's schemes. The Eagles ran 19 plays before Kolb suffered his concussion and Vick was on the field for five of them. That's a hefty percentage, and when someone asked Sunday night, after Vick's impressive game in Detroit, if it would be tough to keep the backup happy with just a few snaps a game, Reid made it clear it wouldn't be just a few.

"You saw the last game that it wasn't going to be a five- or six-plays-a-game thing," Reid said. "We've incorporated him in there a little bit more than we had last year. He'll have opportunities to make plays."

Last year, Vick was still heavy and looked to have lost a step during his two seasons away from football. He was also playing behind a 10-year veteran quarterback who probably wouldn't have been as tolerant of constant interruptions. In the 12 regular-season games Vick played in 2009, he attempted a total of 13 passes and ran the ball just 24 times.

This season, however, Vick appears to have located that step again, and his arm looks pretty good, too. He threw for 284 yards against Detroit, which is the fifth-highest yardage game in his career.

Reid might have a dual motive in working Vick into the offense with much greater regularity. For one thing, Vick has been making plays. His history is that he eventually hurts his team with ill-considered runs and interceptions, but that history hasn't shown itself yet. And the second thing is that maybe the strategy actually takes pressure, and some attention, away from Kolb.

Whatever the motivation, Vick is going to be getting a significant number of snaps and Kolb has to deal with it, just as he has to deal with the background chatter that the wrong quarterback is starting.

There is some history for this kind of thing. In 1986, Buddy Ryan's first season as head coach, Randall Cunningham was used as a situational replacement for an aging Ron Jaworski, typically coming in for third-and-long plays. It was a little weird and certainly awkward for Jaworski and Cunningham, but that was the strategy until a hand injury in the 10th week ended Jaworski's career with the Eagles. (In one otherwise unmemorable game against the Chargers at the Vet, the Eagles actually used three quarterbacks in a single series . . . and no one had gotten hurt. Third-stringer Matt Cavanaugh came in for a fourth-and-1 sneak because Jaworski already had a sore thumb.)

It isn't a parallel case, because the idea is that Kolb is on the way in, not on the way out like Jaworski. But just as Cunningham was used to mortar the cracks in Jaworski's game, Vick can do some of the same things for Kolb. At least, that's how Reid might see it.

"We'll see how it all works out. I'm not here to justify one over the other. I'm not doing that," Reid said, asked about his decision to play Kolb ahead of Vick. "Michael was one of the all-time greats in this league at one time, and he's on his way back. Kevin's future is a bright one. So, we'll see how it goes."

Yes, we will, and for the time being, assuming both guys are healthy, it will go back and forth, with mostly Kolb on the field, and with a good deal of Vick as well. Kolb says he doesn't mind at all, but we'll see how that goes, too.

It's easier - and smarter - to say the right things when you haven't done them yet.