Underdog Eagles, QB Nick Foles emblematic of rough and tumble 2017 NFL season
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Tom Brady is the bright, shiny face of the NFL.
Nick Foles, his counterpoint in Sunday’s Super Bowl, is its reality.
At the end of a season that saw the game’s biggest stars fall to serious injury almost weekly — quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Deshaun Watson and Andrew Luck; 2016 receiving yards champ Odell Beckham Jr.; running backs David Johnson and Dalvin Cook; all-world defenders J.J. Watt, Eric Berry, Kam Chancellor; and others — there’s no one more representative of the season than the Eagles’ backup.
The NFL, despite rule changes designed to protect players, remains a war of attrition.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles throws Thursday. (AP)
Foles took over for Carson Wentz when he tore his left ACL in Week 14. In three of the four full games he’s played since, Foles has finished with a passer rating of over 100. Including the season finale in which he was lifted early — his only loss in five starts — Foles has thrown eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
Only two summers ago, Foles considered retirement after requesting to be cut by the Rams. Just last summer, he began taking seminary classes with hopes of being a high school pastor whenever his career ends.
“I’m grateful to be up here … but, at the same time, if I would have made the other decision, my life wouldn’t have been a loss,” Foles said. “Everyone’s going to have to make decisions in their life that go one way or the other.”
This one went well. After Chiefs coach Andy Reid and future Bears head coach Matt Nagy talked him into joining Kansas City in 2016, Foles stayed in a similar system when he went to back up Wentz this year. Eagles coach Doug Pederson, then the Eagles’ quarterbacks coach under Reid, was the only person to attend Foles’ private pro day coming out of Arizona in 2012.
His success doesn’t surprise his Eagles teammates; after all, he went 8-2 and earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2013, his first stint with the team.
Receiver Mack Hollins said it was like nothing had changed when Foles replaced Wentz, the presumptive league MVP, with three games left in the regular season.
“It’s not like we’re getting some guy over at Wal-Mart and saying, ‘Hey do you want to play football?’” Hollins said. “This guy is a Pro Bowler.”
With an even better defense. While Foles has been more than competent since mid-December, the Eagles will rely on their attacking, dancing, celebrating defense, which has held teams to 10 or fewer points in each of their last four games. No NFL team has done that since the Broncos in 2009.
“It’s not only his talent and his poise and his character,” Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich said. “But Nick understands he has a great team around him.”
In that sense, this year’s Eagles bucked the NFL trend. It’s a quarterbacking league, but one of its best teams is being led by a backup — and coached by a man, Pederson, who spent most his playing career in the same role. In 10 NFL seasons, Pederson only started games in parts of two.
For the third-straight playoff game, the Eagles will be underdogs Sunday. That fits the coach, and his quarterback.
“You gotta work for everything you get in your career,” Pederson said. “Especially a backup, nothing’s ever handed to you.”
Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley
Email: pfinley@suntimes.com