Kevin Kolb

Nine days after Clay Matthews drove his head into the ground, Kevin Kolb was blindsided by his coach. On Sept. 21, the Eagles' starting quarterback walked into Andy Reid's office on the second floor of the NovaCare Complex and, after a long conversation, exited as the backup quarterback. "That," Kolb said more than three months later, "was a tough, tough day. " Reid had decided - after an off-season of building up Kolb, a half-game of football in which the quarterback was ineffective and then concussed, and 11/2 games with a new and vastly improved Michael Vick - that it was time to make a switch.

JASON AVANT SPOKE like a prophet. On Oct. 17, 2010, in the aftermath of the game that would stand as Kevin Kolb's finest Eagles moment, wideout Avant said: "If you can keep him clean, I think he's as good as anybody. " Kolb had just led the Eagles past the previously 4-1 Atlanta Falcons, 31-17, at Lincoln Financial Field. He'd completed 23 of 29 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns, compiling a 133.6 passer rating. This game, which Kolb played because Michael Vick was out with a rib injury, helped set the stage for the Eagles trade of Kolb the next summer to Arizona for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2012 second-round draft choice.

The answer to the New York Jets' quarterback woes could be . . . ex-Eagle Kevin Kolb? Or could it be Geno Smith - if he slips past the Eagles, who have the fourth pick in the coming NFL draft? The speculation about Kolb has heated up for several reasons, according to several sources. The Arizona Cardinals owe Kolb a $2 million payment if he's still on their roster Saturday ("which is some pretty sweet St. Patty's Day drinking money," quips thescore.com) so he's expected to be cut. Also, his base salary is $9 million, with a cap number of $13.5 million, and Arizona just signed according to profootballtalk.com.

BRENT CELEK characterizes Kevin Kolb as "a country boy who likes to fish," but, in fact, Kolb did not grow up pursuing his current favorite off-the-field passion, competitive bass fishing. It developed after college, when he met up with some old friends. "I had no desire to get into it, I just kind of stumbled into it," said Kolb, who won a couples competition in Texas' Hubbard Creek Lake with his wife, Whitney. Kevin took fourth this year in an individual tourney that he said featured about 70 boats.

BETHLEHEM - Such is the magnetism of crime and rumor that, in his annual State of the Winless address, Jeffrey Lurie largely was spared a grilling on topics of real importance. Instead, the Eagles' owner spent most of yesterday's yearly press conference defending his decision to retain controversial ex-convict Michael Vick after Vick's latest indiscretion. The trade of Donovan McNabb? The rise of Kevin Kolb? The looming labor issue that could shut down the sport? The possible change in schedule that could result in 18 regular-season games?

With all due respect to Kevin Kolb, he is not going anywhere. It is great that he wants to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League, but unless some team comes at the Eagles with a ridiculous offer - say, two first-round draft picks, which is unlikely - Kolb is going to be right here next season, backing up Michael Vick. That is not Kolb's preference, but he is under contract through 2011, and the Eagles most likely are going to hold him to it. Coach Andy Reid has said it before and I'll say it for him again: In a quarterback-driven league, it is a beautiful thing to have two guys who are legitimate starters on the roster.

GLENDALE, Ariz. - They will forever be intertwined, Kevin Kolb and Michael Vick. They are disparate quarterbacks in many ways and have had dissimilar careers, but Kolb and Vick are the only ones that know what it was like to live through the 2010 season when Andy Reid benched one for the other. Kolb handled his demotion with class. So it was no surprise that he didn't gloat after he led the 3-0 Cardinals past an Eagles team that has a serious problem at the position he plays.

TEMPE, Ariz. - While Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb calls this week's game with the Eagles "unique," he promises, "It will be all business on Sunday. " Speaking with reporters on Monday, Kolb said he stays in touch with many of his Eagles ex-teammates and that "I tweeted several guys Monday morning. " But all that warm and fuzzy contact will end at 4:05 Sunday afternoon at the University of Phoenix Stadium. That's when Kolb, who started seven games for the Eagles over two seasons, is expected to lead the 2-0 Cardinals against his former team, the 2-0 Eagles.

OFFICIALLY, Kevin Kolb became the Eagles' starting quarterback on the evening of April 4, when Donovan McNabb was traded to Washington. In another sense, though, Kolb is still becoming the starting QB. Easter Sunday was the "paperwork" date of Kolb's ascension. The unofficial part of the organization's most significant transition in more than a decade - you could call it the "real" part - started with minicamps, but it accelerates this coming week at Lehigh, when the team reports for training camp.

The last time a rookie quarterback received this much attention at an Eagles training camp, the team was coming off its worst season in the 16-game era and there was no doubt that by the end of the year the kid in camp would be starting instead of the veteran. From that standpoint, the pressure is not nearly as great on Kevin Kolb today as it was on Donovan McNabb when he made his way to Lehigh University for the first time in 1999 as a backup to Doug Pederson. "I'm not going to say [Kolb]