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Desperate Bills Sign Kolb

 

 

The Bills have done it again, sports fans.  It looks as if the new brain trust at One Bills Drive, badly in need of a quarterback, has settled on an injury-prone signal caller by the name of Kevin Kolb to direct the offense for the 2013 season, hardly an encouraging sign for the struggling franchise and the immediate future.

The Bills signed Kolb for about $13 million over two years after the 28-year-old quarterback was cut by the lowly Arizona Cardinals after two years during which he spent more time on the injured list than on the field.

An email from a Cardinals’ fan to Arizonasports.com, commenting on the signing of Kolb by the Bills, reads as follows:  “There are some teams even dumber than the Cardinals.  Did Buffalo not look at the video or films or whatever they look at&  If they looked at them were they sleeping thru (sic) it or maybe distracted during the playing of the tape?  The Texans found out the hard way to (sic) with Lienart and all and I guess the Bills will learn the same way “THE HARD WAY”. This league is amazing ain’t it?”

Plagued by injuries, Kolb was a two-year bust with the Cardinals after he was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles in July of 2011, inking a five-year contract extension worth $62.1 million.  Kolb was decent at times for the Cardinals when he was able to play, kind of like Ryan Fitzpatrick, but he couldn’t stay healthy and was cut last month by Arizona to save $7.5 million against the 2013 salary cap.

So now the Bills are armed with two shaky quarterbacks, Tarvaris Jackson, 17 -17 as a starting NFL signal caller, and the newly acquired Kolb who has managed to win only nine of his 21 NFL starts.   In a league that boasts terrific veteran quarterbacks (Peyton and Eli, Brady, Flacco) and young guns like Wilson, Luck, RG3, and Kaepernick, the Bills are at the bottom.  Hopefully they’ll try and find somebody in the draft for the future, but it looks like it will be Kolb pulling the trigger this season even if they do draft a quarterback, and that more than likely means another long year for the Bills’ faithful.

Kolb may be able to win a few games if he stays healthy but he looks like another Fitzpatrick, at best, and if he thought the Arizona offensive line was bad, wait until he gets to Buffalo, who have already lost their best offensive lineman, Andy Levitre, to the Tennessee Titans.

Well, at least there’s a new coach on the sidelines and golden ager Ralph Wilson has given way to marketing whiz Russ Brandon in the front office.  But so far, it doesn’t look like much has really changed as far as putting a winning team on the field.  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again now:  In order to be a winner in today’s NFL, or in the past, for that matter, a quarterback is required.  And not just any quarterback.  As long as the Bills are lacking in that department, there is little hope the team will win much.  Remember those young guns in last year’s playoffs?  They will only get better for the experience, and the Bills hope for a divine intervention, it seems.

The fans will hold on and give Kolb a chance, as they always do.  But this guy has been around long enough and his numbers and injury record suggest he’s not the quarterback who can lead the Bills to the playoffs.  But barring a last-minute deal, the die seems cast and it looks like another long season in the making.  Let’s hope we’re wrong because this region could sure use a winner.

 

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Apr03, 2013