It was a truly unbelievable weekend at the sports complex and around the Philly sports scene. A home Temple game, one home Flyers game, an Eagles home game (of course) and even a Union home game in Chester. But all those home games pale in comparison to the two home NLCS games at Citizen’s Bank Park. On Saturday night, it was Roy Halliday who was out-dueled by Tim Lincecum in the Giants 4-3 win in Game #1. Then Sunday night saw Roy Oswalt at his dominating best, beating San Francisco 6-1, tying the series at 1-1. But earlier in the day on Sunday across the street at the Linc, we all witnessed a truly superb Kevin Kolb as he surgically led the Eagles offense with a 23-for-29, 329 yard, 3 TD’s and a 133.6 passing rating performance to a 31-17 convincing victory over the Atlanta Falcons. It should have been 40-17 win as the Pro-Bowl kicker David Akers missed from 41, 37 and 47 yards, respectively. We even saw King Dunlap make his first career start at tackle and he looked pretty good. We also saw the continued improved play of second year rising star LeSean McCoy, who had a combined 85 yards on the day. And lastly, we saw the brilliance of DeSean Jackson again, who had a combined 78 yards in just one quarter with 2 TD’s, one rushing and one receiving before he was knocked out literally for the game with a concussion.

Is this real or is this Memorex? That is the question we all need to see on a more permanent basis. I still feel, that Michael Vick should be our QB and hopefully, our starting QB for the foreseeable future. Yes, Vick does get hurt from time to time, but with his immensely improved play and unbelievable God-given talent, he is the best choice for now and going forward into the future. With some improved blocking, Vick will perhaps stay healthier too. He is a much better quarterback now and lot smarter than his playing days in Atlanta. But it is still hard to argue about the play of Kevin Kolb’s play too. In his 2-week return since Vick’s injury, Kolb has completed 44 of 60 passes (73.3%) for 579 yards, 4 TD’s with just the 1 INT, for a QB rating of 118.7. And the Eagles have won both of the games. Kolb has completed passes to seven different receivers with his favorite being Jeremy Maclin. Maclin rose to the occasion after Jackson left the game with a concussion on a somewhat dirty hit from Dunta Robinson, who blind-sided the defenseless Jackson in the head and later would be struck with a $50k fine. Robinson was also flagged for the flagrant hit on the play. Maclin added two more TD’s and 159 yards on 7 receptions, including an 83-yarder for a lightning-quick strike in the third quarter. And though this was a cakewalk, be aware that we have seen this before!

The Eagles struck fast and furious on the overmatched Atlanta Falcons defense. The Eagles offense outscored the Falcons 474-293 in total yardage. But the Falcons only managed 221 yards through three quarters and just 133 total yards in the first half. The Eagles took the first possession of the game and struck pay dirt rather quickly. On the first play from scrimmage, Kolb connected with Maclin for a 23-yard gain. Then Jackson ran the end-around for a 31-yard TD run. Their second drive lasted just 2:28 as Kolb connected again with Jackson with a long pass for a 34-yard TD. Just 8 plays and the Eagles led 14-0. After 3 straight 3-and-outs for the highly touted Falcons’ offense, it was another short TD drive, this time a tad under 3 minutes, but it ended with another TD. This time it was a diving Jeremy Maclin on an 8-yard reception in the end zone for a 21-0 lead. It actually should have been 24-0 as Akers missed his first FG of the game. The highly rated Matt Ryan and local kid could not get anything going in the first half. Ryan had pretty good numbers on a whole as he completed 23-of-42 passes for 250 yards, 2 TD’s, 1 INT and a rating of 78.5. If not for an ill-advised pass just before the half from Kolb to Celek, it could have been even worse for Atlanta. The Kolb INT gave the Falcons the ball at the Eagles 31-yard line. Ryan would convert the prime field position into 7 points as he easily completed a 1-yard TD pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was single covered by the helpless Ellis Hobbs. That made it 21-7 at halftime.

Halfway through the third quarter, Kolb again struck quickly to a wide-open Maclin deep down the left sidelines and he easily high tailed it to the end zone for an 83-yard TD play. And that was basically the competitive end of the game as the Eagles had a 28-10 lead. The Eagles played a complete game on all facets of contest. The defense held the Falcons to a 29% third down conversion rate. Only the kicking game suffered as the very reliable David Akers missed 3 FG’s in the same game for the first time in his career. Is it a safe bet that Kevin Kolb should be the starting QB the rest of the season? I say no, it still should be Michael Vick. We saw this before back in the 90’s when both Ty Detmner and Bobby Hoying looked like star QB’s before they fell flat on their faces. I’d say keep Vick for the future and sign soon to a 3-4 year contract extension and then either trade Kolb or keep him as your backup QB. Kolb will be a heck of a backup QB if you decide to go with the later scenario.