To get ready for Sunday's game I exchanged five questions with Bleeding Green Nation, SB Nation's Eagles blog. My answers to his questions can be found here, and his answers to my questions are below.
1. Like the Lions, the Eagles are dealing with an injury to their starting quarterback, granted it appears to be only a concussion rather than a shoulder injury. For those that missed the play, what exactly happened to Kevin Kolb, and why was he allowed to initially stay in the game after suffering the concussion?
Kolb was hit from behind by Packers LB Clay Matthews and his head was more or less driven into the ground jaw first. After he came off the field, he was given the mandated concussion tests which involve tracking eye movement and a memory test. He passed initially and was allowed back in the game for a series. At halftime he was apparently complaining that he wasn't seeing things clearly on the last drive and was given a second exam. At that point, the trainer made the decision to take him out of the game.
2. Michael Vick did a very good job of replacing Kolb and made things a bit interesting toward the end of the game. When Kolb is healthy and ready to play, will there be a quarterback controversy at all, or is this a situation where Vick did his job as a backup, but he is still a backup?
When Kolb is healthy he'll be the starting QB. Andy Reid made that very clear and why wouldn't he? They've been grooming Kolb to take over this team for three years. Michael Vick is here for one more year and a half of pretty good football isn't going to undo years of plans. Kolb has outplayed Vick over the past two seasons in practice, preseason, and their limited chances to play in real games. He threw 7 passes against Green Bay before he was hurt, he isn't going to lose his job after that.
Vick did pretty much what you want your backup to do. Step in and play well. Plus, the thing with Vick is that he's not a backup in the traditional sense. He played a lot against Green Bay even when Kolb was still in. I think he had as much as 6 snaps in the first half. He'll continue to play when Kolb comes back.
3. Kolb wasn't the only Eagle to suffer an injury against Green Bay. What other players went down and what is their status for this Sunday's game?
Starting FB Leonard Weaver and starting C Jamaal Jackson both went down and are out for the season. Starting MLB Stewart Bradley also suffered a concussion and is reportedly progressing faster than Kolb has this week. He could possibly play, but would need to pass two concussion tests which so far he has been unable to do.
4. Former Lions linebacker Ernie Sims played in his first real game with the Eagles this past Sunday. What did you think of his performance against the Packers and how did Sims look during the preseason?
I thought he played better in the first game than he did in preseason. He had a little bit of an up and down summer. He really turned some heads in training camp and was easily one of the standouts of the summer. Then in preseason, we saw a lot of what Lions fans became frustrated with. The guy is clearly talented and is very athletic, but he can tend to over-pursue. He did that in the preseason. Against Green Bay he did seem to play with more discipline. I'd like to see him for a few more weeks before I think I know what we've got.
5. What do you believe is the key matchup for the Eagles to beat the Lions on Sunday?
Well I think the key is what Michael Vick does against the Lions defense. He's the obvious wildcard in this game. If he plays like he did against the Packers I'm very confident that the Eagles will win this game. If he plays like he did in preseason, which was turnover prone and indecisive then I see us really struggling.