At this point Kevin Kolb is owned in 33 percent of the fantasy football team at Yahoo! and it's those folks who are probably most concerned about his status to start Sunday for the Arizona Cardinals. Locally, there's a lot of confidence in backup John Skelton even if he owned in just 6% of fantasy teams. Coach Ken Whisenhunt addressed both Thursday after practice.
"(Kolb's) making progress. He's still probably a little ways away from playing but he's going to keep pushing until he can get the range of motion and be able to plant and do the things he needs to do," Whisenhunt said.
That quote there combined with the fact that he's still not practicing with the team is enough to assume with a high degree of confidence that Kolb won't play against the 49ers. It's always possible they are sandbagging to throw off the opponent but that seems unlikely.
The injury is taking longer than Kolb expected to heal but according to Whisenhunt it's one of those things that you can't put a timetable on. The combination of the bone bruise and turf toe together has probably contributed to making it take longer.
As for John Skelton, Whisenhunt said he's still a young quarterback who makes frustrating mistakes but he's also shown something special, "What you like to see out of John is some of those plays in critical situations. He's been very good in the fourth quarter in the last two games when he needed to be. That's something that's a quality in quarterbacks that's special. You get excited about that."
Whisenhunt was asked if Skelton's fourth quarter success was a factor of him dealing well with pressure situations or was a matter of him improving as the game goes on and he gets more comfortable with the opposing defense.
"That's the 64 thousand dollar question," Whisenhunt answered. "You don't know what that quality is. He's obviously comfortable in those situations and he's made plays. Our job is to get him comfortable earlier in the game, not having to wait until the fourth quarter."
Beanie Wells and Todd Heap status
Todd Heap is reportedly frustrated as he fights his way back from the hamstring injury. His status for Sunday isn't known other than a "hope" that he gets better. Rookie TE Rob Housler (groin) did practice Thursday which is a positive sign.
Beanie Wells practiced on Thursday as well after sitting out Wednesday for "maintenance" on his knee. Whisenhunt said the knee experienced swelling after the long flights to and from Philadelphia. Sitting out Wednesday allowed the knee time to recover so he can be ready for Sunday.
"I respect Beanie, because this isn't easy and he's fighting through it. You know that we're going to have to manage it just he'll be able to go on Sunday but he's doing a good job of that," Whisenhunt said.
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