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With just about nine minutes remaining in Sunday’s game and trailing the Seahawks 16-13, Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb replaced an injured John Skelton to a chorus of boos on his own home field. Since arriving in the desert two offseasons ago, things have been rough. The Cards traded for Kolb and gave him a handsome contract to solidify the quarterback position. Instead he’s dealt with numerous injuries, has struggled at times and even lost his starting gig this offseason. But when Skelton went down, it gave Kolb another opportunity to get back in the good graces of Cardinals fans. About four minutes later the boo birds faded away as Kolb delivered a six yard touchdown pass to Andre Roberts capping off a great drive that gave the Cardinals a 20-16 lead. Despite a strong come-from-behind effort from Seattle Arizona hung on and now thanks to the much-criticized quarterback, they are off to a 1-0 start.
Kevin Kolb joined KTAR in Phoenix with Doug and Wolf to talk about how he feels after leading the Cardinals on their game-winning drive this past weekend, how tough it was to get his mind right and prepare for the Seahawks, how excited he was that the Cardinals called a deep pass when he first came into the game, what he was telling himself prior to the game-winning drive, how it felt to see his team react the way he did to the go-ahead touchdown pass and whether he feels like in the past he has pressed too hard at times.
How he feels after leading the Cardinals on their game-winning drive this past weekend:
“I feel good obviously. I felt like it was going to come at some point, I just didn’t know that I was going to go back out there that early but like I said all week I’ve learned one thing in this league, it’s full of surprises. You have to be ready all the time and make sure there is no time to sulk, no time to feel sorry for yourself and be ready to go for your team because the last thing you want to do is let your team down.”
How tough it was for him to get his mind right and stay ready for Seattle:
“It really wasn’t that difficult to be honest with you. Once I found out, a couple of days before, I had a few days for it to soak in and get my mind right about going back to work and try to give the defense a good look all week. Obviously going against our defense in scout team is a pretty good task. I feel like I got good week in all week and I feel like I’d be ready to go if the opportunity presented itself.”
How excited he was when the deep pass was called on his first play in the game:
“He asked me as I was warming up, ‘hey do you feel comfortable with this?’ And I did because that was the last thing they were expecting and I wanted to be aggressive. Knew we would get an eight man box front probably and get a one-on-one opportunity. Unfortunately I missed him on that throw but I think it showed them we were going to be aggressive and we continued to do the same thing going down the field.”
What was going through his mind as he was coming back onto the field:
“The thing that was going through my mind was ‘you gotta believe.’ I just kept telling myself ‘believe you’re going to do this, believe you’re going to do this’ and I’ve done that one other time and that was against the Cowboys last year. I just kept repeating that to myself so we’re two for two so far. Maybe I will just keep saying that to myself.”
How it made him feel to see his teammates react the way they did to his touchdown pass:
“They couldn’t have done anything more. I just got chills because the last thing you ever want to do is let your team down and them lose confidence in you and you not show up for them. To be able to do that for our guys and for our team, it meant a lot for me and the way they reacted after the touchdown and the things they said afterwards in the locker room and to the media, it just shows the camaraderie that we have in our locker room. Not just myself, John (Skelton), (Ryan) Lindley, but whoever makes the plays, everybody is rooting for them and it meant the world to me that they reacted the way they did.”
Whether he feels he has put too much pressure on himself in the past:
“For sure. I think that’s been well documented in the past that sometimes I’ve pushed a little too hard and I just need to let the game come to me and like you said cut it loose. That’s something that I will continue to work on and it’s obviously a fine line because you have to be prepared, you want to focus on the game, you want to make sure that you’re mentally right. At the same time part of playing football at this level is cutting it loose. I will do my best to make sure that I’m walking straight down that line.”
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