Kolb, McDermott show their inexperience in blowout loss

What a difference a week makes!

A week ago, I was praising the Eagles’ defense for the hurtin’ it put on the Carolina Panthers, yet this week, those same guys were blown out by Drew Brees.

A week ago, I wrote that Kevin Kolb was a terrible quarterback who wouldn’t be able to lead the Eagles to victory in a shootout with New Orleans.Well, the defense looked awful, Kolb wasn’t that bad, but unfortunately, I was right about the Eagles not being able to keep up with the high-powered Saints’ offense.

This week’s breakdown of the Eagles’ 48-22 loss to the Saints starts at quarterback.Kevin Kolb looked much better than the guy who tossed zero touchdowns and four interceptions in his first 47 NFL passes. He actually looked like a serviceable backup for a team that boasts 12 Pro Bowl selections from its other three quarterbacks.

In his first career start, Kolb threw for 391 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints, but also tossed three interceptions.While the yards and touchdowns look impressive, Kolb racked up those gaudy numbers against a Saints defense that dropped into a “prevent defense” for nearly the entire second half.

Yes, Kolb throws a very nice ball when given plenty of time, which gave us a glimmer of hope in the first quarter when DeSean Jackson found an acre of open space at Lincoln Financial Field, and tied the game at 7-7.

The problem with Kolb is that his abilities are similar to those of A.J. Feeley. Feeley is an excellent backup quarterback, but when he is forced to start, he is lulled to sleep by an easily beatable prevent defense, but then is quickly fooled by the blitz or a disguised coverage at a critical juncture.

Think back to the game against the Patriots in 2007 when Feeley almost derailed New England’s undefeated season. Filling in for Donovan McNabb, he threw for 345 yards, mostly against a defense that allowed him to throw underneath the entire game, but he also tossed three interceptions.

Their performances were so similar that the first interception of the game for both Kolb and Feeley came on a short, timing route to the right side. Asante Samuel (playing for the Patriots at the time) and Scott Shanle (of the Saints) both lured the quarterback into making a bad throw to a completely covered wide receiver. If you put them on a split screen, it would be the exact same play, except for Samuel taking it in for six points.

The comparisons don’t stop there. Think back to Feeley’s next game, when Westbrook took a late fourth quarter punt for 64 yards, and then Feeley found his favorite receiver, Seattle’s linebacker Lofa Tatupu, for his third interception of the game.

That pass was the exact pass that Kolb threw to Darren Sharper at the goal line, which was returned 97 yards for a touchdown. It’s also the same pass that Kolb threw to the Ravens’ Ed Reed last year, which was returned 107 yards for a touchdown. All three defenders fooled a backup quarterback into thinking they were leaning the other direction, and then picked off what both Feeley and Kolb thought were easy touchdown passes.

Kolb, like any NFL quarterback, can throw a spiral and hit a wide-open receiver, but he still hasn’t shown that he can make quick, intelligent decisions with the football.

Speaking of making quick, intelligent decisions, the Eagles’ secondary did not make a single one of them against the Saints.

Eagles’ cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Sheldon Brown apparently forgot that when covering a wide receiver, they should probably be somewhere near that player!I don’t understand what happened to the Eagles’ defense from Sunday to Sunday, but they left their talent in Carolina. The Eagles couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t stop the pass, and got nowhere near Brees.

After holding the talented duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to just 2.9 yards per carry last week, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell pounded the rock for 119 yards on 27 carries.This game showed that while McDermott can dial up the pressure when his opponents are back on their heels due to turnovers and poor execution, he doesn’t have an answer for potent offense that rarely makes mistakes.

I hate to bring up Jim Johnson, but it was almost as if McDermott was determined not to let Brees pick apart a defense that was constantly blitzing the quarterback, much the same way that Kurt Warner picked apart the Eagles in the NFC Championship game in January.

In that game, Johnson was constantly trying to pressure Warner into making mistakes, but it backfired as he threw for 279 yards and four touchdowns. McDermott watched that game from the sidelines, and decided that he was going to do the exact opposite, because while the Eagles got to Brees twice, they rarely forced him to make a quick decision.

Overall, I’m not too mad because this was one of the games that I pegged as a loss before the season started. Instead of being angry that McNabb didn’t out-duel Brees, I’ll just chalk it up as a learning experience for two youngsters who need to step up their games if they want to make an impact in the NFL.