It has been confirmed that Nick Foles will be the starting quarterback this weekend against the Oakland
Raiders, after clearing the league’s concussion protocols this week. Foles has played in five games, two of which were starts for the Eagles and has posted 52 for 90, passing for 622 yards, six touchdowns and no turnovers. But at the same time he has yet to string together an impressive performance against a quality team. Foles best performance of the season was against the winless Bucs. After the horrific effort two weeks ago, he must find a way to redeem himself and take command of this Eagles offense. Why some have said the biggest game of his young career was two weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys,
I would say that this could be the biggest game of his career. The Eagles are 3-5 only behind the 4-4 Cowboys. With the NFC East still up for grabs a win this weekend against the Raiders could place the eagles right back in contention. This is Foles time to shine, and is getting something very rare in the NFL a second chance to fully win the starting job. If he has any fight left, he must show it this weekend and, engineer a win on Sunday to right the ship and get the roster believing again.
Reasonable logic tells us that Foles is neither extremely capable as he was against the Buccaneers nor as completely horrible in his performance versus the Cowboys. It’s probably somewhere, in between, but where? Who is the real Nick Foles? Yet again, Foles has the chance to get on the field and do everything he can to convince the Eagles he’s a viable starting quarterback. But on the other side of the situation, a bad performance from Foles only means he’s running out of chances to impress and obtain a starting job may it be with the Eagles or elsewhere. It’s up to the young QB to leave no doubt in his coach Kelly’s mind.
The Eagles offense has nowhere but up to go after not scoring an offensive touchdown in the previous two games. But the Raiders defense will be no push over, as the Raiders defense is among the top ranked in league stopping the run. As talented as McCoy is there is no hiding that his performance has slipped in recent weeks when Michael Vick has been sidelined, so this could be another week where the run game is not as great as it has been in the first few weeks of the season.
On the other side of the ball Billy Davies defense has been getting better but will they keep it up?
They have not had to deal with a mobile quarterback of the skill level of Terrell Pryor. All three Eagles wins have been on the road this season, but Oakland is not an easy place to play as it is a hostile environment of the black hole with their crazy fans in costume and hyped brought on by their young quarterback with the prospect of a winnable game.
It’s a really tough game to make a prediction on. There isn’t a good feel for this game. Perhaps the Eagles are easily as horrible as they have been in the past two weeks, but then again maybe this is the week they rebound and begin to take command of the NFC East. Either way, it’s largely up to the Eagles’ quarterback. Time to see the real Nick Foles step up.
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I don’t like this weeks match-up at all versus the improved Defense for a couple of Reasons
1) Foles playing in his game back after concussion and will be a little fun shy..
In a very holos tile and tough place to play
2) Raiders play man-press Coverage and I see the Eagłes Receivers
Having a difficult time getting open
3) RB L McCoy must have a huge game for Eagles to have a chance
4) Raiders will pound tge Roxkvwoth McFadden,Pryor,Reece,
and scat back Jones.. Eagles have not reall faced a strong Running attack since the Chiefs and will struggle getting off the field defensively
5) Special Teams/Kicking Game favors the Raiders
I expect the Sagles to struggle Offensively as the Raiders put 8 in the box to stop Or limit McCoy and Man-up on the outside versu the Eagłes Receivers and if Foles is gun why, has happy feet, they and he are in for a long afternoon
Raiders 26 -Eagłes 13
This one could get ugly if the O-line doesn’t show up, have to use the screen game well this week to slow the Raiders pass rush. The D is playing well so the key this week is to put up 24 points. I still like our chances 24-16.
Raiders have a good DF, & if our D-line doesn’t get pressure, Pryor will gash us on the ground. He can’t throw worth a $#!t, right now, but he’s getting better.
Pryor can throw deep. he cant’ throw short. You gonna wanna force him to throw to outside, slants, short/intermediate throws…he can be baited into an interception or two.
If Foles just has an OK game (assuming we can get the run game going) we should win. Right now I’m leaning 60/40 us.
Raiders have a very good Screen game with McFadden/Jobes,
They also utilize FB Reece on wheel routes and have a nice big WR in
Denarius Moore, and young up and coming receivers in Jacoby Ford , and Juron Criner and a good looking TE named Rivera
Eagles only chance is to win thr Turnover Battle by+2 and RB McCoy needs a 120 Yards + to have a chance ..
I don’t like this Match-Up at all versus the seaside ed who really should have beat the Cokts opening week and have been in every Game in whi h they played so far.. They are the more complete and better Team right now..
The run game is key. I think if we can get that going and out defense plays as it has the last couple weeks, even without generating turnovers, I think we have a shot.
I’m not completely down on this matchup, but I don’t think it will be a walk in the park either.
I don’t believe may h up well across the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball versus the Raiders regardless of who is playing QB
For the Eagłes.. Raiders win easily if Pryor doesn’t turn the ball over
Foles has to step up to the plate and prove that the Dallas game was just a bad day at the office for him. All of the Vick haters have been clamoring and begging for Foles…well this is the time for him to throw receivers open, get the ball deep to DJax, make accurate timely throws under pressure to receivers who will not get much separation from the Raiders corners.
The Raiders are not going to allow Shady to beat them…they are going to make Foles do it…lets see what he’s got!
Pryor, like most running qbs, started off well, but has been fading as the year progresses.
Running QBs always catch teams off guard – for a little while.
Over the past 2 weeks he’s been in the low 50%s with only 1 td and 5 ints. Of course, these were only his 5th and 6th starts, so struggles should be expected.
Eagles are up against a young QB with limited experience. And are rolling in to a game with a young QB with limited NFL experience. So, its going to come down to which defense forces the other ‘rook’ into the most mistakes.
I think the Birds have the advantage here. If they keep Pryor from running around, then they should be able to force him into mistakes. They’ve spent the year practicing against a mobile QB, so they shouldn’t be gashed like Pitt did last week on the Pryor keeper.
Keep Pryor in the pocket, and its a Birds win.
Another area that isn’t being discussed here very much. Exactly what Kelly’s offence is doing, detrimentally, to the careers of Foles and Barkley.
Often it was argued on here about how Reid was trying to fit a square peg nto a round hole forcing a scrambler like Vick into a traditional pocket passing offense.
What favours is Kelly doing for the development of Foles and Barkley forcing them into a read-option attack that they are clearly not suited for at all. Every rep in practice where they hold the ball and run is one less rep where they should be dropping back and working on their reads, passing, and timing.
RO sucks.
Except Kelly said he doesn’t need a mobile QB to run his offense.
And clearly you don’t understand Kelly’s offense. When he doesn’t have a “running” QB the option packages run don’t include a QB keeper, so that’s not an issue.
The issue is however is it is still a zone read system and some of the plays look like the QB can keep the ball…but since no on is scared of Foles/Barkley taking off they still crash down on McCoy, effectively taking him out of the game.
I agree which is why Coach Kelky and Game Pkan need to run more 2 Back Sets, Double & Triple TE sets to allow for more blocking at the point of attack.. He needs till have Receivers move in motion on ore-snap formations, use bunch formations, slants, Bubbke screens etc to negate the Raiders man-press coverages they will see.
If Kelly doesn’t do these things formation wise, the Eagłes have little to no chance moving forward withbFoles/Barkley playing QB
This game like last weeks game is about Chip Jelky’s Game Okanning and Coachibg in my opinion more than while is actually Playing QB though obviously every swinging Team needs to have good QB Play
But Coach Kelly needs to out them in favorable positions & calls to make Plays who h is the difference of Colkege and The NFL
Every week you have to Adjust, what the read-option did in weeks 1& 2 mean absolutely nothing now..
But let me be clear…there are still yards for Shady to get, but they are hard fought yards. 3-4 yards a go..which is fine, BUT McCoy is used to breaking off massive runs and often doesn’t just put his head down and take the tough yards that are there. The holes are MUCH smaller (though still there) when you don’t have a mobile QB in this scheme. The scheme doesn’t need to change, but how Shady attacks does.
It’s actually why I like Polk for those kinda yards. He puts his head down and grinds it out. He’ll get you those 3/4 yards. And Brown, with more experience, can be that dude too I think.
I like Polk and prefer him much more than Brown who is a one-holit wonder in my opinion but unless Coach Kelky changes his scheme a bit as I indicated above, this Eagłes Offense will struggle
The Raiders have a very aggressive and active LB Corp
In L Houston, K Burnett,N Roach and GM Cliffs pick
Sio Moore and are one of the Better LB’s Group in the NFL that no one on the East Coast knows about..
McCoy needs to take the tough 3-4-5 Yard Carries and not dance around in the backfield and without a lead blocker whether it’s Polk or a TE, the Eagłes Rushing attack will struggle all game long making the Eagkes one dimensional and QB Foles/Barkley under more Pressure..
ergo…its a stupid system when you have 2 qbs (one of which you drafted) who cannot play said system. Because they are not a threat to run.
The RO is a great little thing to have in the back pocket if you can roll out a very young Kap like guy for maybe 8 plays a game tops.
It cannot be used in the NFL the way Kelly is attempting it (over 40% of the plays) Especially when you do not have a QB who can run it.
That, by definition, is square peg round hole.
Kelly SAID he would adapt his offense to whomever is in there…he has not.
And the problem, I think, for the development of the young QBs is you have them practicing and playing in a system that in no way suits them.
That’s stupid.
That’s especially stupid if one of the QBs was drafted by the guy!
You sound like the clueless announcers who think every RO play is designed with one of the options being the qb keeping it. When Foles or Barkley are in, they rarely have the option to keep it. It’s handoff to Shady, with 2 or 3 pass options built in.
Why don’t you read Sheil Kapadia’s All-22 posts, or Derek Sarley at Iggles Blog, or the website Chip Wagon and get a clue?
What I don’t like about the Read-Option when Passing off of it is that it takes any QB that extra second or two to fake the hand-off than drop back and set up to look for his targets and this OL is not good enough as it is and allows those pass-rushers that extra step or two into the QB’s Face.. It’s to slow developing whether Vick, Foles, Barkley or Speedy Gonzales is QB .. If it’s a Pass-Play give your QB the most amount of Time to drop back and get set to see his targets and coverages and get rid of the ball
All Defenses in today’s Pass-Happy NFL have pass rushers who care very little about stopping the run and their main focus is to get to the QB so why give thilese pass rushers an extra second or two to get back to the pocket.. Most DC’s are willing to take a chance of goving up a 4-5 -6-8 yard run as opposed to a big pass play down the field and now wirt either Foles/Barkkey QB the rest of the Season, Coach Kelly needs to adjust his scheme, what’s so dificult to understand this???
Because the qb is going to have a strong idea of where to go based on presnap reads. First they count the numbers in the box, then they look at the receivers to see if the defense is giving up leverage by not lining up over every receiver. They check single high or two deep safety.
If the defense covers all the receivers, then the qb makes his read off a key defender in the box, who could be keying run, or dropping out into pass coverage. If he drops out, the qb hands off. If the defender plays run, the qb passes to the receiver that defender would have been responsible for. It takes less than 2 secs, because if it takes longer, the lineman will get too far downfield and be penalized. Or receivers who are blocking for a screen or smoke route will get called for offensive PI. When they run these plays, the decision is made quickly.
As I said, there are a ton of Eagles sites detailing how these plays are run. Chris Brown of smartfootball.com has written about Chip Kelly plenty of times, including after the first pre-season game. Tons of info for those looking to learn and understand.
I appreciate the info Skayne, but your missing my point..
As an avid follower of Football for 40 years both College and Pro’s,
I do not see the “Read-Option” as a sustainable system to run in the NFL with any consistent success.. It put’s a QB in a very precarious position of getting hit too of wren by large, physical NFL players .. It’s a has it’s moments and spots where it can be effective with the right QB, but not as the “Core/Base Offensive Scheme”
In response to the title of this article, I would say the “real Nick Foles” is proverbially “standing” at this point.
I also liked Herremans on the bench for Barbarie, graham got a lot of PT over Cole, Curry had a lot of snaps, Wolff continues to incrementally improve, and the young DL looked hungry and physical. I still wish they’d run out of more traditional formations or two back sets, but its tough to complain after this complete domination of the Raiders and their previously stout defense.