![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.nflpassers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/kevin-kolb-si.jpg\" "\\"Kevin")
Kevin Kolb looked like a legit NFL starting quarterback on Sunday<\/p><\/div>\n
Forgive me if I wasn’t impressed by wins over Detroit, Jacksonville, and San Francisco (though all were on the road and any road game in the NFL is tough), but in today’s win over Atlanta, the Eagles did look like a legit contender for another NFC East title.\u00a0 The most obvious reason for the excitement is that Kevin Kolb looked great.\u00a0 He continued his intelligent check-downs (for which he gets far too much criticism), but what he added this week was a downfield threat.\u00a0 He had deep touchdown passes to both major outside weapons, DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin.\u00a0 And, as good as Kolb looked, he wasn’t the only one that stepped up in a big way today.<\/p>\n
I think the most impressive part of this game was the way the Eagles absolutely dominated <\/em>the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.\u00a0 Coming into this game, the Eagles offensive line had been, by far, the most disappointing unit on the whole team.\u00a0 But, today, even with King Dunlop replacing Jason Peters at left tackle, the o-line was absolutely fantastic.\u00a0 There was a ton of room all day for LeSean McCoy and Kevin Kolb was given the necessary time to make the big plays.\u00a0 On the other side of the ball, the D-line kept pushing Atlanta’s line backwards, creating a frustrating day for Michael Turner and Matt Ryan.\u00a0 Trent Cole (the most underrated d-lineman in football) was all over the field today.<\/p>\n And, with all the pressure on Matt Ryan, it enabled the secondary to continue to develop.\u00a0 Asante Samuel continues to be one of the best playmaking corners on the planet, and he even made a tackle of two today.\u00a0 But, the two guys that have consistently developed every week this year are the two safeties, Quentin Mikell and rookie Nate Allen.\u00a0 These two guys are really developing into a very, very good duo.<\/p>\n And, finally, the special teams were highly improved.\u00a0 There were still a couple questionable kick coverages and three<\/em> missed field goals, but the kick and punt return teams looked highly improved.<\/p>\n The one sobering event of the day was the absolutely wicked (and totally clean) hit that Falcons safety Dunta Robinson put on DeSean Jackson in the second quarter.\u00a0 Jackson left the game with a very scary concussion and did not return.\u00a0 He will have to go through a battery of concussion tests just to get cleared to play this week, and it doesn’t look good, considering he had a serious head injury just a year ago.\u00a0 So, we’ll have to see how this all plays out.\u00a0 Fortunately, Jeremy Maclin is looking more and more like a pretty good #1A wide receiver in this offense and after the game this week against Tennessee, the Eagles have a bye week to get more healthy.<\/p>\n Today, after another really nice game by Kolb, the controversy started to swirl again, but, as usual, Big Red was cool and coy with the media about his starting quarterback situation:<\/p>\n Our self-proclaimed "chubby coach" is pretty happy with the QB situation right now<\/p><\/div>\n “I promise you, we’ll have one of them out there,” he said, as the question inevitably arose.\u00a0 And, he finished the topic with, what I think, is the ultimate point (not so much the “chubby part”):\u00a0 “When you’re sitting here as a chubby coach in the National Football League and you’ve got two quarterbacks, you’re a happy guy.”\u00a0 That sums it up perfectly.\u00a0 Instead of focusing on who “should” play, let’s just be happy that we appear to have two <\/em>legitimate NFL starting quarterbacks.\u00a0 Ask fans of Cleveland, San Francisco, Carolina or a handful of other NFL franchises what they would give for either of our guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t worry, there will be plenty of Phillies talk tonight (expect a live blog during the all-important Game Two), but right now, we need a quick word on the state of the Eagles after a highly impressive 31-17 victory over … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.lehighvalleylive.com\/sports_impact\/2008\/12\/large_andy%20reid.JPG\" "\\"Andy")