Kolb paused, grimaced and raised his hands as if to say, "Everything was A-OK."
There were certainly times that were less than A-OK for both parties. Sitting behind McNabb for three years wasn't exactly easy for Kolb, although it did have many advantages. And McNabb had to play with the second-round pick always there, just over his shoulder.
"There were times that he was sarcastic, but I just let it roll right off my back," Kolb said. "I learned this real fast: My job as the backup was to get better as a player and to make sure he was in the best mind-frame possible to win football games. So that's the way I took it.
"I didn't take it as 'I got to go in there and prove myself and try to hold my ground,' or anything like that. I just tried to make the relationship as good as possible, and it was really good."
It was, for the most part, a really good working relationship. Kolb got to observe and learn from one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and McNabb didn't have some impatient backup sticking needles in his back.
That doesn't mean Kolb didn't want to play.
"It was very frustrating for him," Kendal Briles said.
Kolb once sat behind Briles at Stephenville High School. They eventually teamed up at Houston, with quarterback Kolb throwing to wide receiver Briles, and became best friends.
So did Kolb ever say he just wanted to be traded?
"It was like when people say stuff, but they don't really mean it, because they know how good it is," said Briles, now an assistant coach at Baylor. "But he wanted to play. He would think, 'I want to get traded. I want to get that big contract. I want to do something.'
"But he also knew that, 'Hey, as long as I'm staying here and I'm the backup and I'm still making money and I'm not getting injured, it's all pretty good, too.' "
