Nick Foles’ legendary Super Bowl run was somehow even more impressive than we realized

[time2rock]

Nick Foles’ legendary Super Bowl run was somehow even more impressive than we realized

Try wrapping your brain around this one.

By Brandon Lee Gowton@BrandonGowton  Aug 22, 2022, 9:10am EDT  

 

Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

 

There can never be enough good things said about Nick Foles in Philadelphia.

The former Eagles quarterback turned in an absolutely legendary postseason stretch en route to becoming the first Super Bowl MVP in franchise history.

Foles completed 77 of his 106 playoff pass attempts (72.6%) for 971 yards (9.2 average), six touchdowns, one interception*, and a 115.7 passer rating.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Foles did it all while dealing with pain that caused limited arm strength.

Former Eagles offensive coordinator and current Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich recently revealed as much during a postgame press conference. Peter King highlighted as much in this week’s FMIA column:

Nick Foles, backup quarterback, led a crew of backups (plus impressive rookie wideout Alec Pierce, on a first-drive scoring drive Saturday. "We’ve wanted Nick here for some time,” Frank Reich told me. "You know what he told me? ‘Frank, my arm is so much stronger than it was back in ’17.” That’s when St. Nick led the Eagles to the Super Bowl stunner over New England and when, telling almost no one, his elbow was hurting all down the stretch. Reich says Foles’ arm in camp has been terrific

It’s a little curious that we never heard about this sooner. Then again, it’s not like Foles to seek out extra credit.

That Foles was dealing with elbow pain isn’t a shocker if you recall he missed a lot of training camp time leading up to the 2017 season. We even wrote this at the time:

Though I’m certainly no doctor and I don’t know the full nature of Foles’ injury, it’s hard to believe his elbow is going to get better if he continues to throw. It’s also hard to believe the Eagles are holding him out for precautionary reasons when he’s missed so much time.

Naturally, that much was from an article titled "The biggest Eagles concern that no one is really talking about” in reference to the team’s backup QB situation. The closing line of that article is "The Eagles better hope like heck Wentz doesn’t get hurt this year.”

Whoops!

Happy to have been wrong about that one.

Back to the main point here: it’s pretty crazy that Foles performed so well despite being hampered. One can specifically recall big downfield throws that he made, such as the flea flicker to Torrey Smith in the NFC Championship Game ... or the deep touchdown bomb to Jeffery in Minnesota. All that while being less than 100%.

Of course, Foles was hardly the only Eagle to play through injury. You’ll recall that Jeffery played through a shoulder issue that entire season. I’m sure other players had plenty of ailments that they picked up over the course of a campaign that went 23 games long if you include the preseason.

Still, it’s pretty incredible to think that Foles’ excellence was even more impressive than we originally realized.

All the best to BDN as he backs up Matt Ryan in Indy this year.

... or eventually takes over the Colts’ starting job if/when Ryan struggles or gets injured?!

---

*The one turnover was a ball that bounced off Alshon Jeffery’s hands during the Super Bowl. Though, Foles notably got away with Keanu Neal dropping a pick in the Divisional Round.)

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2022/8/22/23316225/nick-foles-legendary-super-bowl-run-eagles-somehow-even-more-impressive-realized-colts-frank-reich

[PoconoDon]

He has the most bizarre set of impressive individual records in the NFL. Nobody does that! Yeah, try telling that to Nick Foles.

[eggs]

Well, we all love Foles - the guy that will never have to buy himself another beer in Philadelphia. We also have a sour taste about Wentz and how things ended up in Philly. However, we might want to start changing how we view that historic season. It seems likely that we needed both of these guys to bring us our first super bowl. Obviously, Foles made the magic happen, but he probably wouldn’t have been in that position without an epic regular season run by Carson with an 11-2 record and a 102 passer rating. Maybe the statues should feature both men, with Foles, in front. 

[Erie]

2 hours ago, eggs said:

Well, we all love Foles - the guy that will never have to buy himself another beer in Philadelphia. We also have a sour taste about Wentz and how things ended up in Philly. However, we might want to start changing how we view that historic season. It seems likely that we needed both of these guys to bring us our first super bowl. Obviously, Foles made the magic happen, but he probably wouldn’t have been in that position without an epic regular season run by Carson with an 11-2 record and a 102 passer rating. Maybe the statues should feature both men, with Foles, in front. 

That's a balanced and reasoned position. And I have so much disdain for Wentz and his "me-first" attitude, that I'm not bothered that Philly history is slighting him.  

[eggs]

3 hours ago, Erie said:

That's a balanced and reasoned position. And I have so much disdain for Wentz and his "me-first" attitude, that I'm not bothered that Philly history is slighting him.  

I know, the me first really soured our view. My wife noticed it during his comments while he was on the podium w Foles - a barely noticed comment about keeping the trophy warm for him. Of course the next year, Wentz lost the locker room and then the fans. However, he’s been going downhill ever since and I think we should be willing to give him at least an assist in securing the trophy given how well he performed in the regular season to set Foles up for that great run, especially with this news on the injury front. 

[birdman#12]

Nick Foles career has been sidetracked with injuries and lousy teams and lousy coaches.  Every time he won a starting job, he would get hurt and be out for long periods.  Or he played for horrible teams like the eagles with chip kelly, rams under jeff fisher, jags under doug morrone and chicago under nagy.......It's hard to find a worse group of head coaches. 

But his play thru the end of the year and the super bowl run was truly magical and something I never thought I would witness in my life.  For that, I'm eternally grateful for Nick Foles and wish him all the best.

 

[birdman#12]

On 8/24/2022 at 5:03 AM, time2rock said:

Though, Foles notably got away with Keanu Neal dropping a pick in the Divisional Round.)

https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2022/8/22/23316225/nick-foles-legendary-super-bowl-run-eagles-somehow-even-more-impressive-realized-colts-frank-reich

In true philly media fashion, they have to point this out........can't have a positive article without nitpicking.......

[time2rock]

9 hours ago, eggs said:

I know, the me first really soured our view. My wife noticed it during his comments while he was on the podium w Foles - a barely noticed comment about keeping the trophy warm for him. Of course the next year, Wentz lost the locker room and then the fans. However, he’s been going downhill ever since and I think we should be willing to give him at least an assist in securing the trophy given how well he performed in the regular season to set Foles up for that great run, especially with this news on the injury front. 

I think most recognize the contributions both QBs made that year that led to our first ever Lombardi trophy.  TBH if Foles was our starting QB for the entire season I don’t think he leads this team to an 11-2 record to match what Wentz did.  And if Wentz didn’t get injured and was forced to miss the rest of the season and post season, I don’t think he plays at the same level Foles did, going toe-to-toe with the GOAT to lead us to that trophy.  Just absolutely crazy how that season turned out.  

[SkippyX]

I am sure those games are burned into all of our brains but in case you missed it: Foles was god mode those last 2 games.

The first Vikings drive was a bunch of deep to intermediate balls in the hands of his targets. Smith could not come up with the bomb and Burton did some weird jump at the sideline instead of just catching it. In the SB the deep ball to Jeffrey was close to perfect. Gilmore was holding his other arm (like Shaq Mason did to Graham on the fumble play) and Jeffrey still almost had it. Alshon bobbles the ball to Harmon for the pick, Foles had nothing to do with that.

[Guest]

Won the Super Bowl and got @RememberTheKoy banned from the old board.  Legend.

[SkippyX]

8 hours ago, birdman#12 said:

In true philly media fashion, they have to point this out........can't have a positive article without nitpicking.......

Joe Montana hit Lewis Billups in the end zone to lose a SB. (Bengals DB)

https://youtu.be/GJFOBI1cZaM

Eli - Asante

Brady threw up 3 prayers on the 28-20 drive to force OT in 2016. Any of them could have been picked. (including that Edelman catch)

Brady threw a game ending pick-6 to Darby on the play before the Hail Mary but Darby dropped it.