Looks Like Foles

Posted: September 3rd, 2018 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Looks Like Foles

I’m starting to think Nick Foles might start on Thursday.

Pederson made the announcement today, but didn’t take any questions. We’ll have to wait for Tuesday’s PC before we get some more insight.

Based on last year’s postseason, this isn’t a big deal. Foles beat the Falcons in the Divisional Round and played brilliantly in leading the Eagles to a Super Bowl win. He completed more than 70 percent of his passes and threw 8 TDs, with only one pick, and that came on a ball that Alshon Jeffery probably should have caught (at the least, he shouldn’t have tipped it right to the DB).

Based on this year’s preseason, this is a huge deal.

In a word, yikes.

Those numbers obviously need context, but the bottom line is that Foles didn’t pass the eye test this preseason. Context or no context, he was bad. As we’ve come to find out with Foles, he is a high variance QB. At his best, he can win you the Super Bowl. At his worst, he will make the 2018 Browns look like the ’85 Bears.

I expect Foles to play well. He is at his best when he’s going through good practices, working with a specific gameplan and playing with a full complement of starters. The Eagles have been planning for the Falcons for a few weeks now. This won’t be a vanilla gameplan that focuses on player evaluation. Doug Pederson and Mike Groh will have a plan that attacks the Falcons and plays to Foles strengths.

The practices this summer were Training Camp practices. You had 90 players cycling in and out, trying to show what they could do. The practices this week involve the 53 guys on the roster and the 10 on the practice squad. The focus goes from individuals competing to whole units learning and executing the gameplan (offense, defense or STs). That makes a huge difference.

One question we still have is who will play. Reports say Alshon Jeffery is out this week and probably next. Mack Hollins didn’t practice today. That’s not a great sign with gameday being Thursday. Jay Ajay is back practicing so there will be a full set of RBs for Foles to use. If Foles is missing Jeffery and Hollins, he will still have Nelson Agholor, Mike Wallace and Shelton Gibson. We could also see DeAndre Carter make his NFL debut.

Foles will also benefit from having Jason Peters back at LT. Big V struggled this summer and Foles took a beating because of that. Having a healthy O-line will make a difference.

It would be naive to say there is no reason for concern. I said I expect Foles to play well, but there are no guarantees. We’ve seen Foles struggle even when he’s had the right circumstances. There are times when he just looks off. We could see that on Thursday.

This is going to be a huge game for the Falcons and you can bet they’ll do everything they can to win. Foles will need to play at a high level.

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Now for some financial talk.

Why do this? This is likely to give the team some flexibility during the season. If someone gets hurt and the team needs to sign a player or make a trade, they would need cap room. Don’t expect this to mean some wild move is in the works.

The Eagles will gladly throw $250k to Foles if he can win on Thursday.

*****

So the Eagles had interest in T.Y. McGill and Mario Edwards. Why?

While the team likes Bruce Hector, he is a raw rookie. Edwards has 24 career starts. McGill has never started, but has played in 28 games. Each of them has at least 5 career sacks. They can rush the passer on the inside.

I do wonder if the Eagles would have cut Hector to make room for one of these guys or if they would have cut Chance Warmack. We’ll never know.

Howie Roseman will not stop working on the roster. He’s always looking for talent.

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