Why I Don't Favor 'Exfolesiating' the Eagles
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Why I Don't Favor 'Exfolesiating' the Eagles
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
I've gotten a few emails protesting that the furor over the Eagles bringing back Michael Vick for a year is overblown, that behind a horrible offensive line in 2012, Vick really wasn't all that terrible.
True, sure, as far as it goes. There are two reasons for the widespread dismay: Vick's concussion-marred, turnover-plagued 2012 followed a very similar 2011, behind a much better offensive line (the excuse then was the lockout), so most of us figured we had seen pretty much all we needed to see of the soon-to-be-33-year-old QB, and, maybe more significant, bringing back Vick means Chip Kelly can't be all that enthused about giving Nick Foles a year to see what he can do.
It's easy to say, "well, Foles doesn't move well, so he can't run Kelly's offense," and consign Foles to the dustbin. It sure looks like that is what is happening, although offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur talked Monday about an approach flexible enough to encompass the talents of both Vick and Foles.
A few weeks ago, Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com crunched some numbers on Foles' rookie season. Roob found that Foles' 60.8 percent completion percentage is fifth in NFL history among rookie QBs, behind some pretty notable figures -- Ben Roethlisberger, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Matt Ryan. Foles' average of 243 yards passing a game ranks third all-time, behind Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, neither of whom completed 60 percent of their passes as a rookie. Thus, Foles is the only NFL rookie, ever, to average more than 240 yards while completing at least 60 percent of his passes. (You could argue that Marc Bulger did this with the Rams in 2002, but he was not technically a rookie, having been on the roster behind Kurt Warner for two years, not playing.)
Foles threw an interception once every 53 attempts. In NFL history, only one rookie QB has had a better ratio, RGIII last season, one every 78.6 atempts.
So, since last time I looked, no quarterback ever won the Super Bowl with his feet, I was kinda looking forward to seeing what Foles could do this season. Am I certain he is a franchise QB? No. That's where the "this season" part comes in. I don't think the Eagles are winning the Super Bowl this year, whether Foles, Vick, Norm Van Brocklin or Peyton Manning is the QB. If Vick somehow manages to play, say, 14 games (you know he isn't playing 16), maybe they can go 8-8, if lots of other stuff falls into place.
Big whoop. Say you go 8-8, then what? Are you positioned to draft a franchise QB in 2014? Almost certainly not. Have you built anything for the future with Vick at the helm? Absolutely not.
I don't know Kelly well, obviously, but many of the "competitions" for a starting positiion I've seen that involved a guy making at least $7.5 million a year and a guy making $500,000 have been suspiciously weighted in one direction. The Eagles aren't paying Vick a $3.5 million signing bonus this April to trade him, or even to have him watch Foles from the sideline.
But if the Eagles don't trade Foles, and don't draft a franchise QB, maybe all Foles has to do is wait for Vick to eventually get hurt to get the chance Foles should be getting, right from the get-go, to show he is the guy.
Trading Foles at this point could be a huge mistake, unless you were getting back, say, a high second-round pick. I would guess there will be teams asking; plenty of people in the NFL understand that Super Bowls tend to be won with a quarterback's arm and head, not with his feet.
Only thing i did not like about this writing.Is Vick gets too much credit.Vick should be shipped out of town.Out of sight,out of mind.All the writers in Philly and media will have to say nice things about Vick.Like he became this new guy in Philly.— bill the pill- it seems that " Time's yours " in being replaced by " His skill set ". Watch out Chip, the coach killer has you right where he wants you.— Pineapple Betafish
- I feel like I am reading a shampoo bottle (lather, rinse, repeat)... Vick does not have the smarts to be a winning QB in this league. In the past he was able to compensate with his athletic ability, but since he is getting older, that doesn't work anymore. If we trying running the read option offense with Vick, he will just tuck it an run since he cant read a defense. We need to go with Foles for the year, see what we have .— CT Flyers fan
- What NFL team wants Foles? I know Philly haters do, but who won more games in 2012, Foles or Vick? YOU PLAY THE GAME TO WIN! Foles is a great kid but is nowhere near ready to win as a pro and he didn't win in college. Get over this idea of "any white QB will do" and support all Eagle team members.— lbg
- ibg is the best he wants us to support vick but would never support foles. IBG for president!— defroe
- Foles is not the 2nd coming of Peyton, but if he wore a blindfold, he could read a defense better and more quickly than Vick, and THAT matters in Kelly's scheme— DONDEN31
- Vick will turn the ball over at least 20 times. Can you win with that? The fact is that there is a ZERO percent chance he lasts even 10 games so I take the whole thing with a grain of salt. It was a disastrous decision to bring in Kelly. Trading Foles would be even dumber since when Kelly gets fired after two seasons, he will still be young.— UncleStosh
- I guess the optimistic take on this is that the team has two controllable assets at the most important position (QB), so let's stabilize that as much as we can right now and go from there. All other options (draft, Alex Smith, other FAs) are unknowns and/or come with even bigger costs (Smith). Kelley already knows he's going to have to adapt the offense, so it looks like he's going to have to come into camp with two versions. One suited to whatever's left of Vick's mobility and one built around Foles' skills. Given those two imperfect options, we might be in for some interesting stuff in the run game -- Shady's in his prime, you like the possibilities with Bryce Brown. You start moving the ball on the ground, any quarterback gets instantly much better. This season, I'd settle for something interesting to watch and a top 5 draft pick.— wmichael
- The Eagles have a better chance of getting the first pick in the draft with Vick at QB than with Foles at QB. Vick is a stiff. He can't make quick--or good--decisions and he turns the ball over as a result. I hope they hold on to Foles but I sort of want them to play Vick so the team can sufficiently suck to get a high draft pick. Their Cleveland Browns defense should help with that too.— Bartleby
- What you wrote is precisely what I think that Chipper is planning. The STICK WITH VICK strategy will get him (Chipper) the first pick in the 2014 draft so that he can select the QB (Manzeil, Bridgewater, whoever) he wants to run his offense for the long term. — BP2
- Great article! Hopefully Vick is just here as an insurance policy & training camp competition. Foles can run the spread offense, he isn't going to run the ball but neither does Brady! Seattle went with young QB after spending lots of FA $$ on a QB....do the right thing Chip GO WITH FOLES!— ChangeISNeeded
- "Straw Man" argument Les.
I don't see any calls for trading Foles nor any inclination from the Eagles to do so. What I do read is that Kelly has stated that he was quite impressed with Foles when Kelly's Oregon team faced him.
Why stir up emotions with baseless speculation? Slow day at the computer?
— FishFryFrank - Foles should fire his agent. He's simply wasting money. With all the lobbying and cajoling the local media is doing on his behalf, who needs an agent? What a pathetic display. I have to ask, has a 1-6 record ever garnered so much support in the history of the NFL? Only in Philadelphia.— JLH
- Anyone who thinks Foles has done enough to warrant a "high" second round pick is just drinking far too much. He hasn't proven a thing.— JBinPA
- I can't agree with the people who say Vick shouldn't be retained because the Birds may win more games & thus, knock themselves out of contention for a franchise QB in '14. If a coach wants his players to do everything they can to win every day, then he must do the same.
If that's what Kelly really thinks, then he's doing the right thing. Having watched Vick for 3 years, he's shown himself to be a better man than I thought, but a worse QB. Vick has shown he is not "the guy". I don't know if Foles can be "the guy", but I don't think he's shown he CAN'T be the guy.— yobill626
