Saints Nation: McNabb, Garcia or Kolb?

With the well documented recent rib injury to Donovan McNabb and the recent signing of Jeff Garcia in response to the said injury, the question becomes: who will start at quarterback in week 2 against the Saints? With McNabb, he’s been talked about as DOUBTFUL and OUT. I wouldn’t rule him out because this is a big game, and the Saints offense is so potent the Eagles may feel they need McNabb to keep them within striking distance. McNabb is known as a tough quarterback, and with rib injuries the risk of making things worse is not necessarily elevated. Sure, it’s extremely painful and difficult to deal with – but nothing a cortisone shot and painkillers won’t mask for 3 hours.

IF McNabb ends up not playing, the question becomes whether the Eagles would start newly signed veteran Jeff Garcia or settle for the guy that’s been through training camp and knows the offense in Kevin Kolb. Don’t forget Michael Vick is on this roster too, and an option down the road when he becomes eligible to play in week 3. What the signing of Garcia does tell me is that the Eagles have no trust in Kevin Kolb whatsoever, and they think the development of Michael Vick is off to a slow start. That means if McNabb’s injury lasts for any length of time, Garcia would serve as the stopgap until his return. The good news for the Saints is the timing may be too short for Garcia to prepare himself to play. This could mean the Saints will either play a severely banged up McNabb or in Kevin Kolb a guy his team has no faith in. While having their opponent deal with a quarterback situation is a good situation for the Saints going into the weekend, it also makes the game planning much tougher. In all likelihood Andy Reid will take over as the Eric Mangini of the week and hold out making any announcements on his intentions until the 11th hour. We’ll see what happens, but given the history of success both Garcia and McNabb have had against the Saints over the course of their careers, matching up against Kevin Kolb would be a welcome change.

Saints Nation Poll: Thomas Davis and Mike Peterson were the picks at Outside Linebacker for the all NFC South 1st team. Please select your choice as the middle linebacker.