Bob Ford: Vick might be better option to start

The problem with leaping to conclusions after the first game of the NFL season is that it's easy to misjudge the ground. Deciding after the opener that this player is the problem and that player is the answer is wrong as often as it is right, and when the ground comes up unexpectedly in a week or two, the early conclusions are left with broken ankles.

Still, it has to be said that Kevin Kolb, before suffering a concussion on Sunday, was just awful in his regular-season debut as the Eagles' starting quarterback. He was wooden and obvious with his reads and could easily have thrown three interceptions among his 10 pass attempts. You can repeat all the standard disclaimers about first-year starters, and those are valid, and about the fact that getting to run only four series of plays is not a fair test. All true. But still . . .

We now come upon a situation that was either part of Andy Reid's master plan or part of his worst nightmare upon trading away Donovan McNabb. Reid had steadfastly said that Michael Vick remained on the roster because he is a quarterback capable of leading the team in an emergency. He never said Vick was on the roster in case the emergency is that Kolb isn't any good. Any possibility that the franchise whiffed on the evaluation of its quarterback of the future was never broached.

That scenario is in play, though, even though Kolb will and should get a number of additional chances before the Eagles decide Vick is the better option for this season. The only question is the number. Is it three more games of not playing well? Five more? How many?

This is speculative, because when Kolb comes back he could throw for 300 yards again, as he did in each of his starts last season. He could have one of those steady, efficient games that quiets the murmurs and allows the organization to exhale.

Reid already said that Kolb will start Sunday in Detroit if he is cleared by the NFL's stringent rules for returning from concussion. (Of course, those rules also are supposed to prevent a player from re-entering a game after suffering a concussion, and that didn't work out so well.)

At least for the moment, and for as many moments as he can delay it, Reid is not having any quarterback controversy on his team, even though his construction of this season's roster virtually assured one sooner or later.