It’s only preseason, but Kevin Kolb must step up soon for the Cardinals

It’s only preseason, it’s only preseason, it’s only
preseason.

This is what I’m having to tell myself in order to not
panic over what I’ve seen from Kevin Kolb.

If you’ve read my columns over the last few months you
know I was not as high on Kolb as many others and, through
two preseason games the new signal caller has done little
to allay my concerns.

It’s not as if Kolb has been bad, as he’s completed 10 of
18 throws and racked up 148 yards, all without throwing a
pick. Kolb’s scrambled, shown accuracy and been willing to
throw the deep ball.

But he hasn’t completed a nice pass downfield (without the
aid of a miracle catch by Larry Fitzgerald), hasn’t always
been accurate and has yet to lead a touchdown drive. Kolb
has held onto the ball too long and missed open receivers,
and struggled to see the entire field.

It’s only preseason, it’s only preseason, it’s only
preseason.

Roughly one year ago the Cardinals had questions about
Matt Leinart. Their starting quarterback at the time, he
completed 10 of 13 passes for 77 yards, but led no
touchdown drives.

Kolb clearly has a lot more rope than Leinart did –
and rightfully so – but that doesn’t mean we should be
happy with what we’ve seen. And, let’s not allow the awful
QB play we witnessed last season to cloud our judgment
into thinking competence is actually quality play.

Because, so far Kolb has been merely average. It’s not,
and it won’t be good enough to win the NFC West. The
Cardinals have been outscored by their opponents during
the time Kolb has played in the two games, and the lack of
ability to punch the ball into the end zone – regardless
of game planning and play calling – has to at least be a
little concerning.

It’s only preseason, it’s only preseason, it’s only
preseason.

The good news, for my sanity and the Cardinals’ chances,
is that there are still three weeks left before the games
start to count.

There is still ample time to learn the offense, work on
timing with his receivers and get comfortable leading the
Arizona Cardinals offense, and it is not as if the QB is
starting from the bottom.

By all accounts Kolb has had a real good training camp,
one that has fans, media members, coaches and teammates
confident in his ability. That counts for something, and
is reason enough to believe in the QB’s ability to build
off of the first two preseason games.

Here we are, though, heading into the final week of
training camp with the third preseason contest just around
the corner. As former coach Denny Green said in no exact
terms, nobody takes the third game of the preseason like
it’s, umm, not important.

Kevin Kolb and the Cardinals will be no different this
year, as it will be the QB’s first time playing in front
of the home fans and maybe his last chance to get a
significant number of snaps before the September 11 season
opener.

While it will still only be preseason, a strong
performance would go a long way to making us all feel
better about Kolb and the 2011 Arizona Cardinals.

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