Kevin Kolb finished his first preseason in Arizona having completed 21 of 38 passes for 353 yards and one touchdown.

Not bad, but not great.

“Seven starts under his belt, a few preseason games,” Kurt Warner said on the NFL Network, “nothing extremely impressive that we’ve seen up to this point in a Cardinal uniform.”

As far as criticism goes that’s fairly mild, but it’s also not what Cardinals fans want to hear (or maybe even believe).

But, as Warner noted, Kolb’s presence alone has helped energize a franchise that was beaten down by poor QB play last season.

“They’re excited for what he brings to the table, they know that he’s working hard, that he wants to be great,” Warner said. “That’s part of the position, you’ve got to want to be great and put in the time.”

And maybe, in time, Kolb will improve on the 55 percent completion percentage he tallied in four exhibition games, but the rest of the NFL Network gang seemed rather unimpressed with the Cards’ signal caller.

“Here’s the problem I see with my man Kolb,” Warren Sapp said. “You get big money as a veteran you have to produce right now.

“He’s under that pressure of getting big money as a veteran quarterback and he must perform right now. Is he going to be a franchise quarterback? I have to say no.”

One preseason, one analyst, one whatever do not a QB make. Kevin Kolb will ultimately determine how this story unfolds, and the analysts agreed that the NFC West is there for the taking, provided the former Eagle can be better than what the team had one season ago.

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