• March 29, 2024

Nick Foles Continues His Hot Streak Through The Weekend

This weekend Eagles backup rookie quarterback Nick Foles continued his string of good days throwing the football.  He’s getting the ball his receivers on short throws and deep throws with consistency.  It seems that he’s gaining a better feel for the offense after each and every snap, so that there could conceivably be a question about who will be the Birds backup quarterback.

Of course he shocked Eagles fans on Thursday night against the Steelers backups when he threw two-long touchdown passes in the third quarter of the Birds first preseason game.

The young signal caller from Arizona University was also on top of his game on Saturday and Sunday as he worked with the second-team in place of Mike Kafka ,who fractured his left hand in the Pittsburgh game when one of the Steelers stepped on it. Kafka is now wearing a cast on it during practice and can only participate in drills which don’t require him to take a snap from center.

You know Kafka has to be feeling the pressure from the youngster who out performed him on Thursday.  Kafka will miss the next three weeks which means who will probably miss the rest of the preseason games.  Has Kafka performed well enough to hold a lock on the number one backup spot.

Back to Foles, who hasn’t been operating in Andy Reid’s version of the west coast offense very long, but seems to have a good feel for which receiver to go to with his passes.

“The game went well, and I’ve had the day to reflect on it”, Foles said on Saturday after practice…… “If there is one thing I learned from college, it’s that when you have games like that, you always have to improve on it. I’m not satisfied, and there is a lot of stuff for me to work on and improve on. I’m really technical with myself and I try to look at what I could have done better rather than what I did well. Today was a good day of practice. I’ll go watch the film and improve on that. Like I said, I have a lot of work to do but there is some time to get it done.”

That’s true, there’s still time left for him to prove to Andy Reid and staff that he’s already prepared to get the job done as an NFL quarterback, to the point that he should be the quarterback to take over ahead of Kafka and Trent Edwards.  The former Wildcat doesn’t have a great deal of time to prove that, but the injury to Kafka will give him more opportunities within the next three weeks.

I know Foles was very highly touted out of college, but Reid and Marty Mornhinweg liked the way he was able to keep executing and refuse to panic despite the fact that he had little talent to work with during his college years.  The young man was able to stay poised and focused despite a poor offensive line working in front of him and lack of speed and talent in his receivers during college.

It’s still very early, but I did like the way he kept his eyes down field with his TD throw to Damaris Johnson.  Mardy Gilyard was really covered on the TD throw to him, but Foles made the throw where he should have to the backside shoulder.

I also like the fact that not only does Foles understand he’s got a lot more work to do, he knows what kind of work he needs to be doing.

“Just when – for example, the defense is giving us something like a run play and the defense is showing that they know it – it is my job as a quarterback to help us get out of it”, Foles said. “There are different things like that.

The marquee quarterbacks in the league can run an offense where they call the play at the line of scrimmage.  Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Peyton Manning are some of the guys on that list.  Foles seems to realize how important those seconds which tick off between the time you come to the line of scrimmage and when you snap the ball.

An NFL quarterback has to master both the physical and mental game in order to be amongst the top quarterbacks in the league. We’re seeing that Foles has some potential to develop into a quality quarterbac, which is the reason the Eagles drafted him.

 

GCOBB

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Rocko
Rocko
August 12, 2012 11:01 pm

Good stuff about Foles G. I’m looking forward to watching him become an elite Qb in the near future for us hopefully.

atra1781
August 12, 2012 11:14 pm

He seems pretty level headed. Looks like Kafka might be a third stringer now.

This draft could produce 4-5 players that are decent for us.

frankdialogue
August 12, 2012 11:32 pm

Foles has the size, arm and hopefully, the head…No Super Bowl this year, but maybe Foles is the future…He’s not Kevin Kolb.

EaglesSuck
EaglesSuck
August 13, 2012 12:39 am

In a comparison who do you compare him to at best? In college he was nothing special. I think drew bledsoe at best.

gmcliff
gmcliff
August 13, 2012 10:23 am
Reply to  EaglesSuck

EaglesSuck, he looks like a young Tom Brady to me, with his form, field vision, and arm strength.

I was not high on him going into the draft, he was Paulmans guy. I know its only one game, but I have to admit I am impressed.

Butch007
Butch007
August 13, 2012 12:51 am

He’s definitely not Kevin “Baby-Arm” Kolb. I still would like the Eagles to sign McNabb for insurance. The schedule is pretty rough and it would make sense for Foles to get an opportunity to see the better defenses and dissect them strategically from the sideline first, before getting tossed in where he would be expected to react to everything and experience the NFL all at once. It makes no sense to ruin the player. I think that was one of the issues with Trent Edwards…they threw him to the wolves immediately and he was smart, had the tools, but wasn’t already NFL ready yet.

Butch007
Butch007
August 13, 2012 12:54 am
Reply to  Butch007

I do expect Mike Vick to miss a couple of games.

Butch007
Butch007
August 13, 2012 12:53 am

Injuries are part of the game and I expect Mike Vick to miss some games.

DMAN
DMAN
August 13, 2012 3:17 am

Does anyone remember Bobby Hoying? Everyone was all excited about him and thought he was our future because of 1 good game during the regular season. Not saying i don’t like Foles, but i wanna see more of what he can do before i personally get too excited. Let’s hope he turns out to be something special. We Eagles fans freaking deserve it

haveacigar
haveacigar
August 13, 2012 8:04 am

Dman the mostopular guy on the birds team is always the back up QB. Hoying, Garcia, Kobb etc…. It’s the negative nitwits express.
I am hopeful with Foles as I like big strong qb’s but take it one step at a time

paulman
paulman
August 13, 2012 9:12 am

Most True Football fans were not overly excited about Bobby Hoying who couldn’t throw the ball more than 30 Yards back when the Eagles were stuggling Offensively with Rodney Peete and and HC Richie Kotitte.. I state back in the pre-Draft that I was impressed with FOles for he has a NFL Arm and a quick release and has good leadership/huddle characteristics.. I believe he was the best of the 2nd Tier QB’s in this Draft and that if Eagles selected him and worked with him and especially his footwork and mechanics that he kind of reminded me of Big Ben when he came out of College.. He can slide around in the Pocket pretty good for a big guy and what I like is that he can see and keep his eyes downfield where Vick, Kafka, and when Kolb was in PHilly are unable to do so consistently..I think Foles has a bright future ahead of him

gmcliff
gmcliff
August 13, 2012 10:27 am
Reply to  paulman

I remember you called it. GNCliff is impressed. He looks like Brady to me with him form, vision, and arm strength Paul……One can only hope he develops into something close to that quality of QB. Good Call. You are still the man Paul.

gmcliff
gmcliff
August 13, 2012 10:28 am
Reply to  paulman

he looks like a young Tom Brady to me, with his form, field vision, and arm strength.

I was not high on him going into the draft, he was Paulmans guy. I know its only one game, but I have to admit I am impressed.

vinnietheevictor
vinnietheevictor
August 13, 2012 9:46 am

I also think(hope) that Foles has a bright future ahead of him.

But when all the raves from camp are about a rookie QB, well, you know what you can do with the “superbowl-or-bust-we-could-be-a-dynasty” aspirations (not that I believed those anyway – but some people did)

Excited about D-line development. Looking forward to 2013-2020 if Foles pans out.

larrwd
larrwd
August 13, 2012 10:03 am

foles is obsessed with football.. he will succeed .. he can be our matt shaub .. how atlatna had shaub and went vick went down and missed a few games that worked very well for them..

bugsyhawk
bugsyhawk
August 13, 2012 11:00 am

I think that it is great that Foles had a good first game, but I don’t want to project on a guy from 1 pre-season game. He has the size, the arm and enough mobility to play the game well. Comparing him to Vick in any way is nonsense in my mind. I would rather compare him to Kafka and Richards who give you nothing. All things equal, Foles is the best back-up prospect they have, so start his development now, by making #2..

BirdoBeamen
BirdoBeamen
August 13, 2012 11:54 am

Only morons rave about a backup QB completing passes against back-ups in a preseason game.

bugsyhawk
bugsyhawk
August 13, 2012 12:15 pm

Edwards I mean, not Richards

paulman
paulman
August 13, 2012 12:59 pm

Easy Birdo, we are excited about the Rookie’s Prospects for the Future, what’s wrong with that… I think he has a great shot of being the Starter come 2014
Anyone see Colts QB A Luck versus the Rams.. He looked very impressive and appears to be the real deal right from the get-go..

Iggles
Iggles
August 14, 2012 12:57 am

I like Foles’ potential-skills and attitude. He had a terrible team around him at A.U., not to mention coaching stability. It’s amazing the guy did as well as he did. Move him to #2 and give him more reps. He’ll seriously challenge for starter next season.
And we’ll have better secondary after the draft and/or FAgency

mhenski
mhenski
August 14, 2012 11:09 am

Luck looked awesome. The one thing that stood out to me with him is he can throw receivers open (ie put the ball in tight windows/spots but in a position where only his guy could get the ball not the defender). I want an eagle qb to be able to do that someday

paulman
paulman
August 14, 2012 12:57 pm

Kuck did indeed look impressive, what I rellay liked is that when he slides up or out of the pocket is that he is keeping his head up and looking downfield and then has that quick trigger to get the ball out while on the moive.. We saw a little of this from FOles last game but to be honest, have never realyl seen Vick be able to do this with any consistent success, once VIck puts the ball down, he is striclty looking to run and takes his eyes off the recievers.. (If you watch enough football, some of the biggest pass plays occur when this happens) Steelers Big Ben, Jay Cutler and even studs like AaronRodgers and Tom Brady and even McNabb in his hey day have made a career of doing this) This is not something VIck does well at all and when you watch him scrmable, many times he has Recievers wide open down the field that he just plain never sees, so even though Vick scrambles for 10-15 Yards, He could have made a 20-30-40 yard play if he kept his head up and stayed with the receivers longer…