It initially looked like a shoulder injury, given the way quarterback Kevin Kolb hit the ground. It officially was reported as a rib contusion.
After Sunday night’s Hall of Fame game, Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said that Kolb has a “bruised chest muscle,” via Mike Sando of ESPN.com.
It’s unclear how much time (if any) Kolb will miss. Chest injuries can be painful even if ribs aren’t broken.
It’s more clear that Kolb’s poor performance pre-injury won’t hurt his standing in the Cardinals’ quarterback competition.
“I think it’s a little bit unfair to Kevin because we weren’t doing as good a job up front early in the game,” Whisenhunt said of criticism regarding KOlb’s one-for-four-with-a-pick-performance. “Then we settled down and played a little bit better. But he’ll get his opportunities when we go forward. That’s why you don’t, it’s careful to make judgments on that first experience.”
That’s fine, but it’s hard to blame the line for the interception Kolb threw. The quarterback locked in on receiver Andre Roberts, not noticing that Malcolm Jenkins leaked out into the flat after lining up close to the scrum of blockers and defensive linemen.
So the mistake was on Kolb -- and if the coaching staff is going to blame plays like that on the offensive line, then Whisenhunt will soon have bigger problems that a supposed franchise quarterback who’s playing like a camp arm.