NFL Betting Insider – Birds and Their Betting Backers Should Be Prepared For Mediocre Season

If there’s one thing I know about Philadelphia – and their championship-starved NFL football fans – it’s that Philadelphia Eagles lovers all over the tri-state area will turn on their team quicker than a New York minute when things aren’t going well for a team that many feel should have won at least one Super Bowl title during the recently concluded Andy Reid-Donovan McNabb era.

Now, with their former pro bowl quarterback plying his trade in the nation’s capitol, just south of Philadelphia the Birds have handed the keys to their franchise to fourth-year signal caller Kevin Kolb.

Unfortunately, for Birds backers, they had better be prepared to take a step backwards from stellar 11-5 SU and 9-7 ATS records they posted last season as first-time full-time starters almost always struggle mightily while learning how to deal with full-time pressure, both on the field and off.

And speaking of off the field pressure, I fully believe Kolb is going to bear the weight of some preposterous expectations before the Birds and their crazed fans turn on him like they did when they pelted Santa Claus with a barrage of snowballs back in the early 1990s.

Making matters worse for Kolb in particular is the fact the Philadelphia has a former all-pro quarterback on the roster in athletic backup Michael Vick, a player many Eagles fans would like to see start over Kolb immediately.

While I personally like Kolb and believe he could eventually turn out to be a longtime starting quarterback in the league, I also genuinely believe the young signal caller is going to face an overwhelming amount of backlash if the Eagles get out of the gate slowly or Kolb is the reason the Birds lose a couple of contests.

Eagles’ fans everywhere will be literally screaming for Vick to replace the young starter – and that in itself presents two more problems for Reid and the Eagles.

First and foremost, if Kolb does struggle and gets ripped by Birds fans and the area’s fanatical media, they could see the young quarterback ‘lose it’ altogether and become just another mediocre backup.

Secondly, if Michael Vick does get the starting nod at some point, there is no definitive reason he will be successful in Reid’s dink and dunk version of the west coast offense as he has never fully grasped the hang of operating an NFL team out of the pocket, generally choosing to make plays with his jaw-dropping athleticism when things break down.

A quick overview of Philadelphia’s 2010 regular season schedule, tells me the Eagles and their rabid fans are likely looking at an 8-8 SU record at best, a three-game drop-off from last season, with the undeniable reality that they could suffer more than the eight-loss total I am quickly projecting.

Either way, the Birds and their backers had better be prepared for a big step backwards in 2010.