Kevin Kolb Bruised, Battered And Banged Up In Cardinals' Loss To Rams

You had to feel terrible for poor Kevin Kolb, Arizona Cardinals fan or not. How the quarterback managed a 28-of-50, 289-yard passing performance against the St. Louis Rams, who sacked him nine times Thursday night, was miraculous.

it's hard to evaluate Kolb's performance given that he was running for his life so often. At one point he was crunched between three Rams and his helmet popped off on helmet-to-helmet contact. Cameras caught Kolb on the sideline opening his mouth while a trainer made sure his jaw was aligned.

Any evaluation of Kolb starts with how terrible his offensive line blocked for him. Rams defensive ends Chris Long and Robert Quinn practically lived in the offensive backfield and exposed tackles D'Anthony Batiste and Bobby Massie. It was ugly to watch and made even the hardiest of football fans cringe at the sight of Kolb getting driven into the Edward Jones Dome turf time after time.

So it's easy to see why the Cardinals lost 17-3.

Kolb made a couple of bad decisions. With the Cardinals deep in the red zone and in need of a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, Kolb couldn't get a first down and decided to throw a slant to Larry Fitzgerald on fourth-and-long. It didn't gain enough yards and the game was effectively over.

Looking at a replay, Kolb didn't seem to have anywhere else to throw the ball and he needed to try to make a play. But the play call was not a good one.

John Skelton can't come back fast enough. If Kolb is subjected to this kind of protection for another week, Skelton could be back in action again as an injury replacement.