Eagles rookie quarterback Nick Foles thrown into the fire
Historians will note that the time was 5:23 pm on November 11, 2012. It was when Nick Foles took his first snap as the Eagles' quarterback.
Eagles rookie quarterback Nick Foles thrown into the fire
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Historians will note that the time was 5:23 pm on November 11, 2012. It was when Nick Foles took his first snap as the Eagles’ quarterback.
Michael Vick was forced out of the Eagles-Dallas game in the middle of the second quarter. He was hit by former Eagles linebacker Ernie Sims while throwing an incompletion, and then examined by trainers on the bench, and then walked into the locker room. The diagnosis was a concussion. The future was unknown.
Foles began warming up as Vick walked to the locker room. After several minutes of that, guard Evan Mathis -- a.k.a. The Last Lineman Standing -- went over and talked with the rookie. Even from a distance, you could tell it was a moment designed to calm down the rookie and to re-state the organization-wide hope that Foles is the future. Then the defense held and Foles entered the game.
It was 5:23 pm.
The future was now.
The Eagles lost, 38-23. Foles’ final numbers: 22-for-32 for 220 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. He also lost a fumble on a sack that was recovered for a touchdown. His passer rating was 85.4. Foles was pretty good and he was pretty lucky, except when he was pretty unlucky.
On one play in the third quarter, the protection held and he kept looking downfield until he spotted a wide-open Jeremy Maclin and hit him with a 44-yard touchdown pass. Good.
On another play, early in the fourth quarter, a short pass was intercepted by Dallas’ Anthony Spencer deep in Eagles territory, only to have the play overturned by a holding penalty called on Dallas cornerback Morris Claiborne. The hold occurred approximately a half-mile away from where Spencer made the interception. Lucky.
On a third play, later in the fourth, he threw a little slant to wide receiver DeSean Jackson. The ball was thrown a little behind Jackson, and it clattered off of his hands and was intercepted by the Cowboys’ Brandon Carr and returned 47 yards for a touchdown. Unlucky.
Good, lucky, unlucky, all of it. The Eagles held a 17-10 lead with 4:36 left in the third quarter. With 12:37 left in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys were winning by 31-17. It fell apart that quickly, and everyone had a hand: a 30-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant, a 78-yard punt return touchdown by Dwayne Harris, and the deflected pick-six by Carr. Offense, defense, special teams, all.
All of which leaves us with one question:
Was that it?
The Eagles are now 3-6. They have lost five games in a row. Their playoff chances are slim, even though the division-leading Giants lost another game Sunday. Everyone knows that the most important question hanging over the franchise right now is not so much Reid’s fate -- the record will decide that, and we know where that is headed -- but Foles’ future. If the Eagles aren’t going to the playoffs, they need to have a decent idea by the end of this season if Foles is a guy worth building around.
You want to respect the coaches and the players and the process. You want to give them every chance to succeed this season, because the truth is that the league really is ridiculously inconsistent, and the thing tends to be won not so much by the last team standing but the last team staggering.
So there is the desire, on the one hand, to play it out until it doesn’t make sense anymore. But there is the imperative, on the other hand, to find out about Foles.
Are they at the point where the imperative takes control? The doctors might be the ones who decide that. We don’t know anything about Vick at this point, and concussions are notoriously tricky bits of business.
This might be it, though.
Future, meet now.
Is Philly underwater??? You whiners are really crying now! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!— MRD- Put Edwards in. With this O line it's not worth risking serious injury to Foles. When and if Vick comes back... he's back in. The season is over. Let Vick and Edwards get the snot knocked out of them each week.
Keep Foles healthy for next year's coaching staff.— navyvet123 - Foles was brutal. Some of you hate Vick so much you are blind. How many passes is he going to float to the sideline, or just flat out miss, before you realize it. Guy was a 3rd rounder for a reason; he simply is not that good.— sbdons1982
- Look- Foles' QB rating of 85 is likely higher than Vick's so what else would you want under the circumstances. Fairy Tale Land would be a victory today with Foles at the helm but not a reasonable expectation. Get him in there. Let his practice with the starters and have a game plan tailored to him and he will excel. As far as a coach - we need Grudin - he loves Foles and I have said it before, Foles is the next Tom Brady.— jersey mark
- I wouldn't say Foles was brutal. He had like an 85 passing rating for the game. Thats above Vicks 77 for the year. However, to be honest I am not real big on the QB rating stats. But for his first game, coming off the bench, I thought he did ok until he got crunched and fumbled at the goal line. But he will learn from that.— watsonmr
- Tell you what, Reid's gone, Vick's gone. Foles is a ROOKIE w/no practice with the number ones. Why so many of you are jumping off and on the bandwagon with this guy is amazing. I think Edwards should be on horizon. Foles is green and is not going the answer right away right out of the box, so get used to it. They say the backup is always the favorite QB, well that's where we are at. I hope he does well for us, and the next coach can take advantage of it.— bbohannon
- Nick foles wasnt thrown in the fire... remember doug williams? Doug was thrown in the fire and found a golden lake with a superbowl win. nick was ready and turned to ashes. Folds is a typical great white hope in philly. Rocky Balboa was a movie character.. Philly get your 7 jerseys out because vick is gonna finish this season as the one and only starter.. period!!— blitzkrieg
- Doug Williams was a vetern QB with a Hall of fame coach. Foles is a rookie coming off the bench for a coach that don't have a clue. There is no comparison.— watsonmr
- Foles wasn't bad, Foles didn't look any thing like the Quarterback from the pre Season either. That's a wake up call for some of you who were delusional calling for the kid, and the Philly sports writers who are dreaming themselves. If the Eagles hope to be competitive Edwards should be the Quarterback. Should Reid be canceled at the end of the season, there's nothing saying the new coach will accept Foles, Edwards or Vick as his quarterback. One thing was certain, Maclin proved he doesn't have the heart to be a dependable receiver in the NFL. The Eagles are in need of a total Home Makeover. It's time to clean house from top to bottom. About the only secure position in the entire squad would belong to Fletcher Cox at Defensive Tackle, everyone else is skating on thin ice.— Dexter
- Did they change the play calling and did they get new linemen because there were no free rushers up the middle when Folds got in? I don't hear nothing but how he is a rookie yet they were claiming this guy as a world beater only to turn around and give away 14 points.
Please stop using the O-line for Folds failures, we all know Vick is going to get blamed for that, and Jackson you don't look comfortable running across the middle only your streak routes seem to please you and did you give away a TD after calling for Folds.— HeadCoachJ - I don't know who is the bigger joke this team or the fans u dummies still got hope in this team lol if u can honestly say that u saw great things from Foles then u are more delusional then are coaching staff today our team was exposed for the frauds they are D Jax is fragile contact shy and weak our offensive line is sorry as we thought they were and our coaching is dumber than I thought these fools really sent this kid in I thought they would at least protect him by running the ball lol! But that's not why im writing I'm sad that this may be the end of Vick's career Smh Vick is arguably the biggest talent to ever hit the league and he was handed the most incompetent coaches in football dang it hurt so bad!!!! I just want to say "Vick I won't forget what u were and what u coulda been" now for all u racist out there that say Vick to dumb and to short to play qb sit and watch my guy russell Wilson this is the most poised guy I ever seen I dare y'all to call him dumb! Good bye eagles u losers got your classic all American qb now deal with the real problems with this team lol— shaad
- I don't know who is the bigger joke this team or the fans u dummies still got hope in this team lol if u can honestly say that u saw great things from Foles then u are more delusional then are coaching staff today our team was exposed for the frauds they are D Jax is fragile contact shy and weak our offensive line is sorry as we thought they were and our coaching is dumber than I thought these fools really sent this kid in I thought they would at least protect him by running the ball lol! But that's not why im writing I'm sad that this may be the end of Vick's career Smh Vick is arguably the biggest talent to ever hit the league and he was handed the most incompetent coaches in football dang it hurt so bad!!!! I just want to say "Vick I won't forget what u were and what u coulda been" now for all u racist out there that say Vick to dumb and to short to play qb sit and watch my guy russell Wilson this is the most poised guy I ever seen I dare y'all to call him dumb! Good bye eagles u losers got your classic all American qb now deal with the real problems with this team lol— shaad
