Big Day By The Bay
Posted: November 4th, 2013 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 133 Comments »Hours later, it is still hard to fathom that Nick Foles threw 7 TD passes in today’s game. That phrase seems like fan fiction, or Jimmy Bama writing one of his love letters to Nick Foles.
But it happened. It really happened.
Foles went out and put on a great show in Oakland. You can’t help but think back to Michael Vick’s phenomenal game against the Skins in 2010.
Vick … 20-28-333 … 4 TDs, no INTs … 8-80-2 as a runner … team scored 59 points
Foles … 22-28-406 … 7 TDs, no INTs … 3-14 as a runner … team scored 49 points
There is a big difference in the 2 games. Vick was “Starship 7” on that Monday night. He did magical things that had Jon Gruden ready to put him straight into the Hall of Fame.
Foles didn’t do anything today that he can’t replicate. There were no miracle passes or runs. Foles just went out and ran the offense. He made the right decisions. He made accurate throws. He moved around and used his mobility to help on those plays when he did get pressure or needed to be on the move.
No Eagles player did anything today that made your jaw hit the floor. There were no circus catches or highlight runs. Players got open. Foles got them the ball. Good things happened. This is important because it helps evaluate Foles performance.
If today’s game was all about great plays by the skill players or awful defense by the Raiders, that would make it more of a fluke. I don’t think today’s performance was a fluke.
That’s not to say Foles will have 7 TD passes in a game. I certainly agree that part of it is a fluke.
But Foles can replicate the performance in terms of making good decisions and accurate throws. The offense can move the ball and score points. Next time it will be 27 or 31 or 34. You can’t count on going 4 for 4 in the Red Zone and having no turnovers on a regular basis. When the offense executes well and you play a clean game, great things can happen.
One of the things I liked most about the game is that it was a team performance. You have to start with the OL. They controlled the line of scrimmage. They gave Foles good time on most of his passes.
The receivers ran good routes. They got open and caught the ball when it came their way. Riley’s first TD was a nice grab, but nothing spectacular. There were RAC yards from Cooper, Shady and Celek. Jeff Maehl had a big catch on 3rd/long. TEs combined for 8 catches and 2 TDs. DeSean delivered pass plays of 46 and 59 yards.
Foles had a career day not because any one player did anything special, him included, but because the offense was properly executed, which led to an efficient and explosive attack.
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One very frustrating aspect to this game is that Nick Foles could have put up big numbers and a win vs Dallas if he played half this well. The offense can work so well when the QB does his job. The plays are there to be had.
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What about the QB position moving forward? I think Foles has to be the starter this week. Chip Kelly will talk about waiting for medical reports, but I don’t see how you could bench a player after that game.
Big picture…we still need to see more of Foles. We know how good he can be. We know how bad he can be. We need an idea of what he can be on a more regular basis. Consistency is the key to being a good NFL QB.
I do think he threw the ball well today. Those passes were aggressive and confident.
Foles mobility was very impressive today. He was able to run the ball a couple of times, but more importantly…throw on the run. Kelly needs a QB with some good movement skills. He’d love someone who could flat out run, but as long as the player can do what Foles did today, that is enough to run the offense effectively.
I can’t wait for next week to hurry up and get here. I want to know which Nick Foles we’ll get to see.
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Foles movement as absolutely superb today. The O-line obviously played really well but when Nick got asked to be mobile and move around in the pocket to buy time it looked like Drew Brees out there. Real impressive.
Nick seems to always have great movement within the pocket. Definitely one of his better a attributes.
Trial by fire in Arizona I’d have to imagine.
Also, my thoughts go out to Marcus Vick hope he’s doing ok in this traumatic time.
LOL!!!!! Now THAT is some FUNNY shi..stuff!
He’s not doing ok in any time.
Foles had an absolutely fantastic day and I’m not trying to minimize it too much, but I do think it should be noted that Oakland did not play like a top ten defense, regardless of Foles performance. The DeSean td for example was a defensive mistake, and Foles did what he was supposed to in taking advantage of a blown assignment, but that was a bad defensive play.
Again, I’m not trying to minimize the performance. Foles had a few fantastic throws as well (all three TDs to Cooper were well placed balls for example), and good QBs will take advantage of mistakes like Foles did today, but the comment about the Raiders defense not being awful made me think it was important to point out (they were not necessarily awful, but they did not play like a top 10 defense).
This is where everyone can agree 7tds isn’t or needs to be replicable. The important thing to take away is that a performance like this from Foles against a top defense would result in a lot of points.
Agree with this, the beauty of this offense is that the scoring opportunities are always there. It’s on the guys executing to make sure we take enough of those chances to win; just so happens that today we saw every single one capitalised on.
Guess that goes a way to making up for all the missed ones in the Dallas game.
Guess that’s why it’s so frustrating to see the National analysts writing off the system entirely, only takes one look to see we’ve been leaving a lot of plays out on the field this season. Shout outs to Phil Simms, Warren Sapp and Mike Freeman.
The defense looked bad because of the fast pace and execution of our offense.
Not that you’re wrong, but it I think people are being a little too quick to jump on Oakland’s D. Tampa’s D looked inept too, and it’s not a bad D either. I think that defenses will look extra bad against this offense when it is run properly. The pace is not just about the time between plays, but the time plays take to develop, too. Hitting those short passes, timing patterns, etc. can really demoralize a defense and force them to “hurry up” their decision making, which is only reinforced by no huddle. And when enough players on the D are speeding up their decision making, they end up looking like a bunch of rookies.
So I think the fairest way to say it is that, yes, Oakland’s D underperformed, but part of that is what this offense is all about. Foles and the rest of the offense got them out of their comfort zone by executing the offense at a very high level.
I can’t hit the recommend button enough on this comment.
Some folks (those with a “Vick agenda”) want to discount these performances as being due to bad D.
No, these are good defenses being carved up (and turned into inept-looking fools in the process) by the Kelly system being run by someone in Nick Foles who can (and is) able to run it to perfection.
Gentlemen, we have both our system and our system QB – and I’ll take that combo over AR and Alex Smith any day (now if only we could “borrow” a few bodies from KC’s defense…).
Your last paragraph gets my nomination for quote of the week
I bet Tommy can’t wait to do the Offensive DGR. Hell, I just watched the game and I can’t wait to get home and watch the condensed version again.
Nick’s performance on the field was phenomenal, but consider how well this 24 yr old handled his press conference as well. The young man is humble and focused on his team mates. Hope the team keeps playing well, and the oline protects Foles. I think the only bad Foles we saw was an injured Nick Foles.
Tommy, how much more do you need to see? I understand that you don’t think Foles should be a starter. It was the off season or the very beginning of camp where you wrote that you didn’t think he had the skills to be any threat of a good to great QB. You just didn’t believe in him. That’s fine. You have scouted him and have your own measurements to justify why.
In his last 8 and a half games (the Giants being the half plus the Denver 80 yard TD drive), Foles has averaged over 2 TD’s a game. His offense is averaging almost 27 points a game. That is including 5 games from last years debacle. He has scored a TD in 9 of 12 games. The three games were WAS (1st Start), CAR (2nd start, Offense still scored 22 points) and the Dallas game. Foles’ stats are equal to or better than most of the top QB’s this year.
I think you are letting the team record and the funk that has surrounded this team cloud your view on what he has actually done.
I didn’t see any clouds in Tommy’s view about Foles. But maybe it’s because it’s sunny today…
I don’t recall Tommy saying Foles couldn’t be a starter. He may have said Foles isn’t the right QB for Kelly’s run and shoot offense.
I think you are forgetting how bad the defenses were that Foles played last year. Also, the TD and 80 yard drive against Denver was against their thrid string. We thought Foles beat a good defense when he faced Tampa. However, that notion has come to a screahing halt when they have been picked apart every week since. Foles still hasn’t recorded a win against a team with even a .500 record. That’s not to say yesterday wasn’t amazing. 7 TDs is 7 TDs no matter who it comes against. However, consistency is the big question. Flynn had an amazing game. Many other QBs have had amazing game, but that doesn’t mean you know what they are based on one preformance. I get what you are saying about the stats, but you aren’t really being accurate. If you Foles were to go the next 2 games without throwing a TD, I could still say he averaged over 2 TDs per game in a 3 game span. That sounds great but it really isn’t.
but that doesn’t mean you know what they are based on one preformance.
But it’s not just 1 performance. That’s Penn’s whole point. The aggregate over the last 8.5, many played under awful circumstances, is impressive.
I don’t think so. Again I don’t just look at his offensive stats. He played against really and I mean reall awful secondaries last year. He did nothing against Dallas or the Panthers last year but hand the ball off to BB. This year He beat up on two teams without wins, one of which he started to struggle but got a lot of help from the defense. (NYG). He then had one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from a QB followed by one of the best. So I disagree with Penn’s point. If you take his good stats to mask games where he was awful, what is that really telling you. In his last two performances Foles has thrown for nearly 500 yards and 7 TDs. That looks great on paper. However, looking at the games, we know better. Foles has shown his strengths. He has shown his weaknesses. We need to know if he can be consistent and if he can rise to the challenge of beating a good team. Because if Penn is claiming we “know what he is” then I’d say he’s a guy who can’t win against good teams. (I’m not saying that)
I need to see a 6 to 8 game stretch of good play to believe Nick should be a player we count on as the starter.
I want Nick to be the guy. I really do.
I just don’t want to buy in too early and then find out we made a poor decision. QB is a critical position. 2.5 good games is impressive, but not enough for me.
Bingo. Just like I thought it was nuts that people were ready to run him out of town after the Dallas game, I don’t think we should be framing his jersey for retirement either yet. Let’s just see what happens. Barring injury though, I think the job is his for the rest of the year unless he reverts to his Cowboys form for an extended period of time. No way you can sit him back down if he continues to put up points.
I practically created team FOles, and even I don’t think yesterday meant anything more then Give The kid a REAL Chance and let’s see what happens…all yesterday was for me, was a Big F U to everyone who thought you could judge a QB based off his 8th game…
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Even when I watched the worst possible game a QB could play(the Dallas game), the kid still didn’t throw any INTs, that was a really good sign for me…As we stand today, there is NO QB other than FOles who has over 10TDs and NO INTs…yes it’s a limited sample size…
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So far the kid came off the bench cold and led us to a nice win over giants
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Then he played a fantastic game against Tampa, and people said it was an ANOMOLY, and that was his ceiling…
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Then he was written off completely after the horrible Dallas game..
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Then a week removed from a concussion, he made it rain for 7TDs making his Tampa performance like amateurish…
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He has consistently NOT turned the ball over, and consistently, he has been an absolute stud in the redzone….
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Yesterday doesn’t mean he is a sure shot franchise QB of our future, but yesterday does mean that you can no longer ignore that it’s a real possibility, and you can NO longer justify keeping him on the bench, and procrastinating on finding out
Maybe Foles, like the rest of the team, can’t play at the Linc.
Amazed. Hope he plays well this week, he’ll need to.
Correction, the offense sucks at home. Defense is pretty good at the linc. I wonder if the lack of crowd noise lets the o slow it down, go nuts in the pre snap and just kill the tempo/rhythm
If someone told ME before the game that Foles would throw 7 TDs and put up 49 points against the Raiders I would have called him GEAGLE. 😉
Joking aside, that was a really impressive performance by Folesly and I am very happy that he rebounded in such a big way.
I do agree that it’s hard for Chip Kelly to pull him after such a performance, and I currently don’t see any way why he would should Vick be back at full health.
However I want to see Foles play on a constantly good basis for the rest of the year. This doesn’t mean that I expect him to throw for 7 TDs every game, but the horrible performance against the Cowboys needs to be put aside as an anomaly.
And if Foles can win at the Lambeau next Sunday, he will make a very strong case to be in the mix for our Franchise QB going forward.
I certainly wouldn’t even dreamed of 7TDs..
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I’m excited about our Oline dominating a damn good Dline, peters completely took Houston out of the game…but the most exciting part was to watch FOles abuse so much man coverage
Did Foles show signs of being better at man coverage or zone coverage before this?
Well when he shredded tampa’s zone, the haters were quick to point out that they needed to see him do it against man coverage. he then struggled against Dallas who played mostly man…but yesterday he dissected man coverage to the point that people are down playing his performance because it came against the raiders..
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The raiders defense devoured Pittsburg the week prior..Brady played the raiders, why didn’t he throw 7 TD s…prior to yesterday the raiders defense gave up 7 or 10 passing TDs ALL YEAR(can’t remember if it was 7 or 10), and FOles shredded them for 7…
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FOles threw 7Tds YESTERDAY…the jags AND Vikings haven’t thrown for 7TDs ALL YEAR!!!!
Before the game I asked my friend what he would do if Foles came out and threw 8… Really disappointed Chip thwarted fate and pulled him… After Shady’s one run for a 1st, I said, “Now it’s time to throw a TD to DJax.”… Well, the next play was the TD to DJax.
Just saying guys… you want your future told, I’m right here. $100 a pop.
You shouldn’t need to advertise, you should already know who is interested, right?
You would think so, wouldn’t you. But this is the mystery of the art. I can only see what I am given. And until I’m given money I can’t see it…
Well played by both of you.
I spontaneously combusted… This is my ghost typing..
Hopefully your ghost types Foles, and not FOles. He might be a common topic of conversation this week.
What’s there to talk about? That we wasted half a season of hiss development? Who knows where he would be right now had he played 8 games and been given half a season worth of first team reps? Yesterday just pissed me off….kid who obviously should have been given a chance needed to put up 7 friggin TDs before this city could get a clue….what a waste of half a season…
Now, now… he was given a chance over the summer, and looked good. Vick just looked better at the time. Vick regressed, Foles progressed.
Young QB progressing? Shocker…who woulda ever thunk it?
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Didn’t matter how FOles looked, Vick was always going to get the job
The statement above is what kills me. “Vick won!! Vick won!!” — people don’t get it. When Vick “won” a few — very few– of us said — “just wait” because Vick didn’t win jack(my apologies to anybody on the board named jack) it was handed to him as a stop gap for a veteran presence.
If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense lol…Vick was always playing unless he looked horrible, complete waste of 6 months, only for the inevitable to happen…it would have been easier if it didn’t play out exactly how we knew it would…I would have prefered being fooled by it all, then to go thru half a season knowing what a waste it was since the inevitable was inescapable
Bingo! Agree 100%
Wasn’t it Les who wrote the column, Doesn’t matter who starts the season, but who finishes it. something like that
You (and others) are neglecting the locker room aspect. Vick was/is well respected by key players…McCoy, Jackson, others. It would have torn the locker room apart to select Foles last summer. Now, given the injury/re-injury to Vick and Foles successes, having Foles be the starter is palatable to all and Kelly will not lose the clubhouse.
Your FOles is fitting, If he should have another 7td game, it should be FOLes
The point is that many felt that Vick should not be brought back, knowing darn well that he’d have a decent shot at winning a quarterback competition. We felt it was best for the team to just go with the young guy and find out if he can develop.
That’s the situation we’re in now. Had the Eagles gone with Nick from the start as so many pleaded for, Foles would have (assuming good health) that much more experience and development under his belt.
Bingo…Vick should never have been brought back…Nick should have an entire offseason under his belt of being groomed as the man, and a half experience of game time and first team reps under his belt…and he doesn’t…and For what? So Vick could do what millions of people knew he was going to do, not be good ENOUGH?
Another bright spot is not only was it 7 touchdowns, but those touchdowns went to 5 different players, so he wasn’t just exploiting just one particular matchup over and over. With the three starts being Tampa, Dallas, and Oakland, before it was being said he wasn’t as good as Tampa and not as bad as Dallas, well now maybe Tampa is the mean?
Very well could be…
Imagine if Nick can run.
Who wants to run, when you can surgically dissect defenses from the pocket…as long as the Oline holds up, he doesn’t need to run
Anyone listen to the game? The commented about that on the air. Here’s a test to see who was listening — What the number of running QB’s that won a SB?
lol I know I know 🙂
“I think Foles has to be the starter this week. ” — You think? Foles needs to start the rest of the season. Period.
Next topic — we waited eagerly for Foles return. He was absolutely brutal. What kind of game would Foles play since the injury? He responded VERY well. Test passed. How would Chip Kelly respond to a terrible loss? His game plan was amazing. Test passed. It does not matter now — but WTF happened to Foles in his previous game? How can someone be that brutal? Maybe only he and Chip knows — but it wasn’t the real Foles. (7 td passes is not the real Foles either). Loved the poise…the managing..the picking of the correct wr’s on passes.
The kid had a concussion a week ago…came out and threw 7 TDs, btw, he is the only player in the history of the NFL to throw 7TDs in 3 quarters…..that’s just insane.
it is insane. Couldn’t be more happier for the kid. What a way to respond to a horrible game. Props to him. I figured a nice solid game from him — but egads 7 TD!!!! Should have left him in for the record :).
Kid opened the flood gates of hell onto the black hole and Eagles nation. Now the greedy bastard in me want to go up to GB and kick some monkey ass!
LMAO!!!!
Nah – the Cowboys game was as much the real Foles as his other games. Even the greats have bad games ~ 20% of the time, and Foles is still working on completing his first 16 games; he’s going to have a few big struggles here and there. I get the feeling that it might just be that Foles can be a viable starter in this league, but that his “off” games are going to be really, really “off,” due to his physical limitations (he can’t default to athletic derring-do when things aren’t going well). So long as he minimizes the number of them (and can keep them from happening when the stakes are high), that shouldn’t be too big a deal.
I still think that the key for him will be the offseason. He needs to keep working on arm-strength, as that is really (IMO) his biggest weakness right now. Viable NFL starters are constantly working on improving – Nick’s going to need to show that he has that mindset/ability.
This game is the reason I prefer Foles over Vick. Vick is who he is and he’s never going to change. He’ll always take a hit, never slide, hold on to the ball too long…etc. Foles has upside. We don’t know his ceiling. This game shows that Nick can improve and learn from his mistakes. Is he our next franchise QB? Maybe. There are too many good QBs in the draft next year and we can’t afford to lose out on one because we’re playing QB roulette. We need to let Nick show us consistency and let him play out the rest of the year.
I’d say 7tds in 3 quarters is probably his ceiling.
That’s probably the highest ceiling any QB, even Brady, Peyton, Brees, or Rodgers, could have.
One thing people aren’t talking about was the fast pace of the game. The pace is what made the defense look so bad. Great game plan that was executed perfectly.
I’ve moved on from the Dallas game. Foles and the team presumably learned from it and moved on from that and the Giants game. Foles is still getting evaluated. The focus of the team and Foles is to build on this game not cry about woulda shoulda couldas. If you’re ‘very frustrated’ about the Dallas game because of the Oakland game move on. It’s over.
It was a test (of many) for Nick and Kelly and the team, that is how I look at it. We still need consistency and to build on it. Only the future matters now besides if they want to look at tape for the next Dallas game.
Every failure is a stepping stone to success.
Oh yeah, I remember Nov 3rd 2013 like it happened yesterday. Your mom and I watched Nick Foles’ historic 7 td pass performance on that tiny screen in the hospital. It gave me another reason to be happy 🙂
It sounds like congratulations are in order!
Thanks 🙂
Hope everyone is well.
My wife wound up having high blood pressure so my little girl had to come out 2 weeks early. It’s been a bit crazy, but they are both doing pretty well. The hard part is going to be getting my wife to slow down and rest for the next couple of weeks!
Congratulations. In my experience, even 10 minute catnaps can help, by the way…
Good advice!
A daughter?! Congrats, Dad. Hope the girls are both healthy. Take care of Momma now. Hope you get some sleep and time for the GB game.
Nick did that one for you
Congrats Mac, hope he/she’s named Nick/Nicky (you can go for Chip or Chippie as well, up to you).
Haha, no dice on Chip/Nick references.
Hey, Mac . . .
What’s her name? (Sorry if I missed it before)
Bryn Elizabeth
This week’s game plan hopefully includes “doubling” Clay Matthews unless we want to have the history of Kevin Kolb / Mike Vick being repeated…
Maybe we can swap him and Casey when no one is looking.
That made me smile, my friend.
Problem is Casey is short haired now and Clay is injured.
I am pretty sure he was talking about James Casey. 😉
Either one will be fine.
I think Matthews is still going to be out next week, right?
Tommy, I recorded & watched the game last night & am gonna watch again to be sure. But a few things I noticed were that we didn’t see a whole lot of read-option, we used a lot more 12 personnel, Celek was not in blocking nearly as much & it seemed that the O-line were in pass protect for much of the game. Again, I need to watch again but it sure looked like we ran the up-tempo “spread” (ala NE & DEN) & played to Foles & our overall team strengths & what we all thought we’d see early on before the start of the season based on the offseason acquisitions, rather than trying to force the option plays.
I’m not a fan of the read-option as I find the exchange between the QB/RB to be a disruption to the passing game, taking a second away from being able to deliver the ball quickly. I just find it to be a cover up for those that are less talented at delivering the ball quickly & accurately by trying to deceive the D. It can be useful as a “tool” but not when it’s used to the point of nausea in trying to mask a QB’s deficiencies. Last night’s offensive scheme worked flawlessly & seemed much more suited to this team’s strengths, not just Foles.
CK had a run-first offense. RO helps open up the run game since you’ll have the qb “blocking” the defender. See the way the giants + cowboys stuffed the box w/ 8 people? RO then just functions as “play action” once you decide to pass the ball. The beauty is that since CK always runs out of the same formation you don’t necessarily know if there’s RO or not.
I think with a young vick or a pryor RO works great b/c in any coverage you have a QB that can bust it w/ a QB keeper, power run, pass play to 3/4 options.
CK also helped NE in their design of their up-tempo spread attack & I think our overall offensive personnel fits that mold more than running the RO. Think about our personnel & the only players that benefit are Vick & McCoy, but more so Vick.
I know what the RO is, I’m just not a fan of it. While making the “read” after the snap the QB is eyeing the defenses reaction (did they move the safety up/back, did the LBs drop, etc) to make the determination to keep & run/throw or hand the ball off. That 1-2 extra seconds in faking the exchange & deciding to keep & throw in my eyes actually limits yourself in being able to exploit your receivers getting a step in separation for a quick strike. If you’re running it too much, you’re also missing out on some quick strikes because your QB then has to reset himself after the faked exchange. That’s my point. I get it has its +/- but it’s an offense that seems more catered to a QB that needs more time to survey the field than a QB that can get the ball out quickly & on target allowing the receivers to get YAC. It’s also more reactive than dictating. Can it work? Of course, as we saw early on. But I think that opposing D’s found a way to stop that by stacking the box & playing press on the receivers. I’m just not a fan & would prefer a rhythmic dictating offense like we saw yesterday with some playaction.
it would be really great for Foles to turn out to be the legitimate starter for this team. Besides the Dallas game, which seems like more of the exception than the rule, he’s been good enough to great depending on each individual game. He’ll probably finish out the rest of the season as the starter, so we’ll have an even better idea of what we are working with by then. Hopefully he takes control of the position so that the draft can focus on getting a good OLB or a top WR for Foles to throw to.
I recommend you take a minute over at Sheil’s Eagles 24/7 and read the article “What they’re saying about the Eagles”, which was posted before the game. Absolutely hilarious…fantastically wrong insight from Ashley, Pete and the other asstoot national writers.
Asstoot…I’m gonna shamelessly rip that off.
It’s yours. Although I hadn’t seen it before, it’s probably not original with me.
Last 4 starts last year plus this season, totally about a half a NFL year:
176 284 2285 62.0% 8.0 18-2
Now I don’t think he’s that good (that’s Peyton territory), but that’s good enough that he’s earned the job going forward.
And it’s quite fair to use the last four starts last season, his first
couple games he was coming off the bench as a rookie into a total mess
(OL in shambles, skill players missing and a defense so bad he had to
score 30+ a game to have a chance of winning). Most veterans would
struggle initially in those circumstances (see Jeff Garcia in 2006, for
example).
Point is we’re getting a large enough sample that Foles isn’t a fluke.
Agree he has it ROY but he needs one more game to seal it for me. Btw Dallas and last year i’m skeptical but yesterday + TB were pretty great. Could you imagine that we have the biggest steal of the 2012 draft. Redskins mortgaged their team for RGIII, but here comes Nickfolian Dynomite.
I thought the most encouraging part of Foles performance yesterday was the fixes he made after the Dallas game. Shurmur made a comment during the week about Nick’s mechanics. There were reports on how hard they worked on his footwork and follow through all week. His first incompletion in the game was a “Dallas” throw – way behind the receiver (Ertz,, I think) on a pretty short route. He was able to clean it up immediately. If he and the coaches know exactly what the problems were in the Dallas game, and he was able to make the corrections in such a short period of time to such dramatic positive effect – that’s extremely impressive and exciting for the young man’s future.
Foles deserves a ton of credit for adjusting that quickly, but Chip, Shurmur, and Lazor deserve a ton of credit as well for engineering the single greatest improvement in QB play from one game to the next.
Yeah i don’t know. Why does Barkely continue to look so bad?
Barkley has barely played and they haven’t given him much attention. He’s a rookie. He’s 3rd string and been a backup lately but there is limited time. Kelly has an entire system to install, He’s learning himself and the team and offense are still developing in the system. There’s only so much time.
Don’t you think if Vick was bad and Barkley looks bad and not ready and Foles coming off a terrible game, that concentrating on Foles was the right decision?
Paging Jamie Dukes and Heath Evans…
This morning Rhea Hughes asked Chip, point blank, “I get the impression that you like FOles, but that you don’t LOVE FOles?”
…
Chips tone changed from pleasant to pissed off and he responded “you couldn’t be more WRONG!!!!”
Rhea Hughes is, I’m sure, a very nice person.
Chip lunged over the lectern, swiping madly towards her neck with his Eagles-branded stylus, shouting “I’ll kill you! I’LL KILL YOU!!” before Eagles PR staff were able to restrain him and pull him from the room.
Yesterday the kid graduated from Saint Nicholas…going forward, what’s it going to be from here on out?
….
Paging Dr. FOles for surgery at Lambeau?
Or
Nick “the Rain Maker” FOles?
GEagle . . .
I think when the players start referring to him as “9”, he’s arrived.
And you . . . soon enough you’ll be “Il Profeta”. Kelly will decide when.
Maybe he’ll be “The 9 baller”
Dear “Il Profeta”, what surgical procedure will Dr. Foles do to the Packers?
Re: Foles as a Reliable Starter
Tommy Lawlor says he wants to see 5-6 more games from Foles, good games, before TL will be comfortable that Foles projects as a reliable starter.
QUESTION: Is Kelly going to give Foles, a 2nd year player, the next 7 games to show that?
Or will be it see-saw at QB . . . because Vick, a 10-year veteran, won the job in TC?
It’s Foles’ job. Even if there’s another Dallas i think he’s gotta play through. I think VIck was ready to turn it over before Dallas, i think he’s happy the team is winning — even though it’s costing him $$.
Could we have Vick as a #2 for $4m/yr? A healthy Vick spot starting is pretty great. I think MB needs another year — though hopefully he’ll have plenty of garbage time to learn.
Sounds expensive for a no. 2.
If Vick can’t get a shot at a starting job somewhere, he may comeback. But I’d guess for less than he’s making now.
4m is just a little expensive. It wouldn’t be bad at all considering Foles is making under a mil like Russell Wilson.
I think Foles will start the year out. Foles has out played Vick by far as a passer (even with the Dallas game).
Vick won it fair and square in TC/PS, but Foles has out played him now, so it should be his job now.
The 3rd of Cooper’s TD’s was my favorite. Foles waited and made an accurate throw. The defense wasn’t bad, the play call was just better.
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It’s an interesting photo in a lot of ways; it can be seen as very symbolic. Foles and Barkley are in the foreground, looking at the paper. Vick is in the background, only his face is really visible, trying to see between the other two.
Don’t think Barkley’s done enough to earn the symbolism implied, but I’d rather look at it and marvel about Vick. I’m one of his harshest critics, and I’ve never really been (before this season) convinced that Vick has really changed, but that picture speaks volumes to me about him. He’s there, losing money hand over fist, his backup is possibly sealing his fate to lose even more money over the rest of the season, and there he is staying involved and literally taking the back seat. It’s hard to say, even when you know someone personally if they’ve ever really changed, but Vick certainly looks like he has. And, if true, that’s an enormous credit to him. There’s a whole lot of people who haven’t been able to do that, even after getting the whole “incarceration smack-down.”
Can we please delete “tank” from our vocabulary.
Not sure anybody has talked about tanking.
The worst there can still happen is we get down to earth, finish with a 7-9 record but magically win the NFCE.
Is it really the worst if we end up winning the NFCE? I’ll be fine with that..
Maybe we could pull a 2011 Giants and win the SB, but most likely we get routed by the Niners or another WC team.
Problem is that if we make the plays offs, we will draft 21 or lower. Normally a 7-9 record gives you around the 12th pick.
I wouldnt mind ending 7-9 and not winning the NFCE. If we win the NFCE, I want to win it with min a 9-7 record.
Can you say with certainty that the Niners would kill us in the playoffs? In this year’s NFL, when on any given Sunday anything can happen.
The 0-7 Bucs were winning 21-0 against the mighty Seahawks, while the Ponder-led Vikings almost pulled off a big upset in Dallas yesterday.
What I am trying to say: get in the playoffs and nothing is impossible.
I still wants to at least look decent down the stretch instead of just getting in.
the key there is that “almost” describes each situation. To compound the difficulty, the eagles would need to win 4 straight games against some of the NFLs best teams. Sure Any Given Sunday applies, but does Any Given Month? Much less likely….
I want the team to have to earn it. At least 9 wins but preferably 10.
in case anyone wanted a funny, slightly NSFW gif of a fan giving cooper the finger from last nights game:
http://deadspin.com/riley-cooper-unpopular-1457772660
On top of all the yardage and TD’s, Nicks greatest accomplishment was shutting up the Vick fanboys.
I think the real Foles just stood up.
That is not a replicable performance but Oline coming together, skill player getting yac, and quick accurate throws are all possible.
I worry that defense won’t get much pressure on Rogers, he is deadly with time.
Yoink!
For a QB that we haven’t committed to growing yet, his list of accolades is sure growing:
..
1) out of the QBs to throw for 7TDs(mostly hall of famers) Nick is the only one to do it:
A) in 3 quarters
B) with a perfect QBR
C) Completing over 70%(he completed 79%)
D) both the Vikings and Jags haven’t thrown 7 TDs all season
…
2) “Going back to the start of 2012 he has the lowest INT/ATT ratio of any QB with more than 350 attempts. FOles is 0.14, the next best is Rogers with 0.15” -props to BQninja for the stat
..
3) FOles is the only QB this year with ATleast 10 TDs for no INTs, and he is only the 2nd QB with 13 or more TDs who has NO INTs 9 weeks into a season..
..
4) What’s that other crazy rookie year stat? Only the 2nd QB ever to throw for 60% and 250yards per game as a rookie?
…
This doesn’t make him a franchise QB, but it makes me want to find out and not waste another draft pick til we have invested in finding out who he will be
AND he is 24! A QB baby doing football differential equations like Einstein. No QB with these stats has accomplished this at such a young age. God, when I was 24 I was focused on wine, women and weed.
4) 240 yards. But yeah, good list.
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