Quarterbacks

THE OFFSEASON NFL players lost to the lockout last year has been blamed for just about every unfortunate thing that's happened, this side of the "Twilight" movies. Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson threw another log on the fire Monday, when he opined that the falloff in QB Michael Vick's play last season had a lot to do with Vick not being able to review mistakes with coaches and fine-tune this time a year ago. "Honestly, I think it was the offseason," Pederson said during a rare NovaCare media session with Eagles offensive position coaches, minus offensive line coach Howard Mudd, who isn't in town.

NEW YORK - Eleven high school quarterbacks represented Pennsylvania in the Randalls Island ESPN Elite 11 Regional camp on April 29 in New York. The camp invites the best high school quarterbacks in the country to show off their skills, with the top performers moving on to the final Elite 11 event in July. Sixty-two quarterbacks participated in the event, coming from as far as California and Utah. The group was largely made up of rising seniors, but with a privileged few underclassmen, including two freshmen, sprinkled in. Participants hailing from Pennsylvania included Timothy DiGiorgio of Frankford, Chris Geiss from Great Valley, Pat Moriarty from Harriton, Bryan Schor of Delaware Valley, Brennan Scott from Manheim Township, Nick Shafnisky from Whitehall, Matthew Voytik from Hickory, Alec Warner of Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg)

   Which quarterback would you rather have on your team this weekend?    Former Eagle Kevin Kolb got off to a good start with his new team, the Arizona Cardinals, and Eagles starter Michael Vick earned a victory. Only former Eagle Donovan McNabb struggled with his new team, the Minnesota Vikings.    Here is a look at how Kolb, Vick and McNabb compare after the first week of the season: Rk Player    Comp-Att Pct Yds Avg TD Int Lng 20+ Sck Rate 3 Kevin Kolb         18-27 66.7 309 11.4 2 0 70T 6 2 130.0 17 Michael Vick      14-32 43.8 187 5.8 2 0 41 4 3 83.7 28 Donovan McNabb     7-15 46.7 39 2.6 1 1 12 0 2 47.9

The season is just under way and the quarterbacks-on-crutches parade has already begun. Last week's victims were the Eagles' Randall Cunningham and Seattle's David Krieg. Pittsburgh's Bubby Brister sustained a concussion, but will return today. Four teams (including San Francisco and Phoenix, whose quarterbacks were injured before the season started) are already down to their second-string passers. With Pat Ryan's career resuscitated, can Guido Merkens be far behind? The trend is nothing new. Last year, six contending teams went into the playoff stretch without their regular quarterback.

Sam Bradford, Rams: No thanks. Ditto for the other rookie quarterbacks out there. Tom Brady, Patriots: Says he wants to play another 10 years. Even if she is a supermodel, married life will do that to you. Drew Brees, Saints: That Week 1 opener against Brett Favre and the Vikings should get the fantasy season off to a flying start. First one to 40 wins. Jason Campbell, Raiders: Campbell is an upgrade at quarterback over JaMarcus Russell. But, then again, Naomi Campbell would be an improvement for the Raiders.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Even with a new head coach replacing an icon who called the shots for 46 years, Penn State's annual Blue-White Game didn't show people much that was different. Bill O'Brien, the successor to Joe Paterno, kept his new offense, based on much of what he led as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, under wraps. Asked how much of the offense he showed to the estimated Beaver Stadium crowd of 60,000, he replied, "10 percent. " And the three quarterbacks battling for the No. 1 job showed the same-old same-old this overcast day. Matt McGloin, the incumbent, did well when he stayed within himself but threw an interception when he tried to force the football into a tight spot.

Old quarterbacks, young quarterbacks, and Philadelphia-area quarterbacks were the story in Week 3 of the NFL season. Love the locals. Penn Charter graduate Matt Ryan threw a 70-yard touchdown pass for the Atlanta Falcons in their win over Kansas City. Audubon High's Joe Flacco passed for just 129 yards but led a Baltimore offense that held the ball for nearly 38 minutes in the Ravens' win over Cleveland. Good, and not so good. Rookie Steve Slaton, the former Conwell-Egan High star, experienced a tale of two halves for Houston.

The Eagles acquired two new quarterbacks yesterday, but their names were not Bill Kenney or Gary Hogeboom. To bolster their corps of quarterbacks for next week's minicamp in Tampa, Fla. - and to insure against a possible boycott by Ron Jaworski - the Eagles added two relative unknowns, Kyle Mackey and Ken Cruz, to their roster. Contract terms were not disclosed. Mackey, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound graduate of East Texas State, played the 1984 season in St. Louis before being cut during training camp last year.

THE OFFSEASON NFL players lost to the lockout last year has been blamed for just about every unfortunate thing that's happened, this side of the "Twilight" movies. Eagles quarterbacks coach Doug Pederson threw another log on the fire Monday, when he opined that the falloff in QB Michael Vick's play last season had a lot to do with Vick not being able to review mistakes with coaches and fine-tune this time a year ago. "Honestly, I think it was the offseason," Pederson said during a rare NovaCare media session with Eagles offensive position coaches, minus offensive line coach Howard Mudd, who isn't in town.

NEW YORK - Eleven high school quarterbacks represented Pennsylvania in the Randalls Island ESPN Elite 11 Regional camp on April 29 in New York. The camp invites the best high school quarterbacks in the country to show off their skills, with the top performers moving on to the final Elite 11 event in July. Sixty-two quarterbacks participated in the event, coming from as far as California and Utah. The group was largely made up of rising seniors, but with a privileged few underclassmen, including two freshmen, sprinkled in. Participants hailing from Pennsylvania included Timothy DiGiorgio of Frankford, Chris Geiss from Great Valley, Pat Moriarty from Harriton, Bryan Schor of Delaware Valley, Brennan Scott from Manheim Township, Nick Shafnisky from Whitehall, Matthew Voytik from Hickory, Alec Warner of Bishop McDevitt (Harrisburg)

The first quarterback drafted by Andy Reid went down the corridor one way at the NovaCare Complex on Saturday as the most recent one was headed in the other direction. If Donovan McNabb took note of Nick Foles, a 6-foot-5 doorstop from Austin, Texas, and the University of Arizona, who is kind of hard to miss, that note went unrecorded. "I saw Donovan in the hallway but didn't have a chance to speak to him," Foles said. McNabb was in the building to lend his presence to the retirement news conference of Brian Dawkins.

With Michael Vick, coach Andy Reid is on franchise quarterback No. 3, following the Donovan McNabb era and the Kevin Kolb cameo. Will he take a shot on No. 4 this week? The NFL draft begins Thursday night with the Eagles holding the 15th overall pick, and most observers expect the team to use the first round to add an impact defensive player. There is a deep defensive tackle class, with Fletcher Cox at the top of the list, though the Eagles would probably have to trade up to get him. The team could also look for a big, top-tier cornerback such as Stephon Gilmore or Dre Kirkpatrick after trading Asante Samuel on Wednesday, while many fans have set their hopes on linebacker Luke Kuechly.

A DECADE AGO, Super Bowls were being won by guys like Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer. Two of the dominant quarterbacks in the NFL were undrafted Kurt Warner and sixth-round find Tom Brady, who also won Lombardi trophies. So, the idea that you could win it all without a "franchise" quarterback - or at least without a guy who emerged from college carrying that label - got a lot of traction. But as Thursday's start of the 3-day NFL draft approaches, the diamond-in-the-rough rationale seems a bit dated.

Now that Penn State has completed its first spring practice under new head coach Bill O'Brien, the evaluation of the players who were inherited from Joe Paterno's final team can proceed. O'Brien had to like some of what he saw in Saturday's Blue-White game. Converted wide receiver Bill Belton performed well at running back. Wide receiver Allen Robinson caught two passes that went for big gains. Jordan Hill showed again that he's "one of the better inside defensive tackles I've been around," according to the coach.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Even with a new head coach replacing an icon who called the shots for 46 years, Penn State's annual Blue-White Game didn't show people much that was different. Bill O'Brien, the successor to Joe Paterno, kept his new offense, based on much of what he led as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, under wraps. Asked how much of the offense he showed to the estimated Beaver Stadium crowd of 60,000, he replied, "10 percent. " And the three quarterbacks battling for the No. 1 job showed the same-old same-old on this overcast day. Matt McGloin, the incumbent, did well when he stayed within himself but threw an interception when he tried to force the football into a tight spot.

It isn't a popular reminder for Eagles fans, but the best draft pick of the Andy Reid era - yes, including Brian Westbrook, DeSean Jackson, or LeSean McCoy - was easily Donovan McNabb. When you pick a player at the most important position on the field, from among a list of apparently worthy candidates, and that player performs at a high level for more than a decade and helps transform your team into a perennial winner, that is a very good draft pick. McNabb, however, will be forever known here as a very capable, albeit goofy, quarterback who was able to accomplish everything except the only thing that mattered.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Even with a new head coach replacing an icon who called the shots for 46 years, Penn State's annual Blue-White Game didn't show people much that was different. Bill O'Brien, the successor to Joe Paterno, kept his new offense, based on much of what he led as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots, under wraps. Asked how much of the offense he showed to the estimated Beaver Stadium crowd of 60,000, he replied, "10 percent. " And the three quarterbacks battling for the No. 1 job showed the same-old same-old this overcast day. Matt McGloin, the incumbent, did well when he stayed within himself but threw an interception when he tried to force the football into a tight spot.

Bill O'Brien said some nice things about the three players vying to become the starting quarterback at Penn State for the 2012 season. He liked how they have competed and progressed, and that they have been enjoyable to be around. But as much as the Nittany Lions' new head coach wants to see one or two QBs move out from the pack by the end of next week's Blue-White Game, it's not happening yet. "Hopefully for the next eight practices, a couple of guys will separate themselves," O'Brien said on the Big Ten coaches' conference call Wednesday, a few hours before the start of the eighth of the 15 spring practice sessions on campus.