Kevin Kolb Or Michael Vick: Who Should Start for the Eagles When Vick Returns?

The Eagles are about to have a problem on their hands.  No, it’s not whether or not to put a player on injured reserve or find a way to fill a starting position. 

Instead, they have to make a decision as to whether or not they want to keep fourth-year quarterback Kevin Kolb in the lineup or bring back seasoned veteran Michael Vick as their starting quarterback.

When Vick was in the lineup, the Eagles almost beat the Packers. He was there when they beat the Detroit Lions, and he was there against the Jaguars before finally succumbing to an injury in the Redskins game.  He ended up leading the team to a 2-1 record (counting the game the Green Bay Packers game).  

Enter Kolb who has started the Eagles last two games (and played in the game that Michael Vick got knocked out in) and has gone on to win both games.  He appears to have settled in well as the starter and has utilized the weapons around him to win games.  Kolb is really starting to look like the guy that they thought he would be when they drafted him.

Vick has quite a bit of talent himself and when he was running the offense, he did very well.  Being a dual threat (to run and pass the ball) made it difficult for teams to defend against him and his knowledge of the game is solid. 

He has desire too.  He has the desire to want to prove those who felt he was no good (after the dog fighting convictions) and that he had really messed up.  He is well on his way to proving a lot of people wrong.

So now, with Vick almost fully healed from the rib injury that he suffered in the Redskins game, the Eagles have to make a decision as to who will start.  So who should start?  Vick or Kolb?

In the interest of continuity, the Eagles should look to keep Kolb as the starter at least until he falters.  He has the hot hand right now and the Eagles might throw their offense out of sync by starting someone else.  That is the right decision.

Will the Eagles make this same decision?  Most likely they will because they like what they see in Kolb and like most any NFL coach, they won’t want to change something that’s working out well for them. 

So look for them to keep Kolb in as the starter until he either gets injured or he starts to be ineffective.  After that, we will probably see Vick once again.

Andy Reid is a smart coach and he will do what’s right for the team.  He knows which quarterback will give them the better chance to win and he knows that continuity is important so he won’t want to disrupt his team’s balance.  He’s got to stick with what’s working.