The City of Philadelphia vs. Andy Reid: The Eagles Quarterback Controversy

As there is no court that presides over coaches and their decisions, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid will have to be tried in the court of public opinion. 

Issue No. 1: Trading Donovan McNabb for a Second-Round Draft Pick to Division Rival Washington Redskins

The writing was on the wall, so to speak, when the Eagles drafted Kevin Kolb (QB Houston University) in the second round in 2007.  As soon as the draft pick was made, Andy Reid made a call to All-Pro quarterback Donovan McNabb to explain the decision to draft a quarterback so high, which is a testament to the character of the head coach.  

Kolb sat on the sidelines as the understudy to McNabb for three seasons (coincidentally the same amount of time that Aaron Rodgers played second fiddle to Brett Favre), getting spot starts when Donovan was injured or even benched. 

Coming into the last season of Kolb’s rookie contract, Coach Reid had decisions to make: (1) Keep longtime and aging franchise quarterback and risk losing a highly drafted quarterback who was primed to start; or (2) break ties with an elite quarterback who has lost the ability to show up in big games. 

Option 2 seems feasible enough, but here is where it gets complicated.  In shopping McNabb, there were a few teams that were kicking the tires (Buffalo, Oakland, San Francisco, etc.), so why choose to send him to a division foe?  McNabb was traded to Washington for a second-round pick this year and either a third- or fourth-round pick next year.

Now while the second-round draft pick being used on safety Nate Allen may be a big positive in retrospect, the Eagles sent a rival team the most extensive scouting report on how it operates. 

This means that twice in a season you will be facing a star who is playing under the façade that in some way they have been wronged, while giving them every weakness that they can exploit. 

The jury finds Coach Andy Reid GUILTY.

Issue No. 2: Allowing the Quarterback Controversy To Spiral Out of Control

Going into the preseason, the Eagles presented a united front on the consensus decision to start Kolb.  After all, Michael Vick came into camp with a potential legal disaster and Kolb had already paid his dues as back-up. 

The preseason does little to convince anyone of the state of readiness of football teams, so the fact that Kolb was not stellar and failed to inspire held very little weight. 

The first game of the season, Kolb was unable to pick up the blitz, did not stretch the field and proved to be too immobile for Green Bay’s athletic linebacker corps and pays for it with a concussion.  Enter Michael Vick. 

When backup quarterbacks come into games, it is usually to manage games and attempt to keep the team in the game.  Vick accomplished what everyone hopes a backup is capable of, and he became the game-changer he had been at times in Atlanta.   

Vick’s performance inspired and instantly made fans forget about the projections that the Eagles were going to play .500 football this season.  He drew on memories of an athletic, mobile, rocket-armed quarterback of the Eagles yesteryear and of himself (see note below). 

Even in a losing effort, Michael Vick made Coach Reid’s life a lot more complicated.  Fast forward two weeks and two impressive wins later, when Kolb is cleared and available to play again. 

Playing Vick would be playing the hot hand, so why was Coach Reid overzealous in stating that Kolb was the starting quarterback on Monday only to rescind his remarks and name Vick the starter on Wednesday? 

The team approached him in a collective effort and convinced him that their best chance to win would be with Vick under center. 

Then the Redskins happened. 

Vick went down early on a play in which he scrambled to the goal line that was negated on a penalty, and Kolb was once again handed the reins. 

After losing to his former star's new team, Coach Reid quelled all controversy by stating Vick was the starter for the remainder of the season.  Coming to their coaches’ aid are both quarterbacks, being very diplomatic and stomping out any fires that may arise with politically correct and ho hum answers giving the media nowhere to go.

The jury finds Coach Andy Reid NOT GUILTY.

With the bye week approaching and Kolb reverting back to his uninspiring ways, the Eagles will once again have Vick at the helm.  Mike Vick remains the Eagles best option at this point and still is a viable option for a franchise quarterback. 

By letting Kolb go back out there he would gain more experience, but at what cost?  The Texans wanted to get quarterback of the future David Carr some experience behind a hodgepodge line and we all remember how that ended up (third-string quarterback in San Francisco!)

• And the Eagles quarterback who was referenced earlier was none other than UNLV standout Scrambling Randall Cunningham