J.Ross: Give Foles A Chance
Feb 6, 2018, 12:00 AM | Updated: Jan 4, 2019, 11:23 am
(Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
I have completely changed my tune on Nick Foles. The day the Carson Wentz got hurt I thought the top rated Eagles were done. I felt they would follow an all too familiar path. Lose your star quarterback and lose your chances of doing anything. Last year Derek Carr was having an MVP type season and got hurt late in the year. The Raiders turned their team over to Matt McGloin and Connor Cook. The Raiders didn’t have the balanced team that Philadelphia has but those two signal callers did nothing to keep the ship going in the right direction. The ship in fact crashed and the Raiders were done. This happens a lot. So when Wentz got hurt I thought the Eagles wings were clipped.
What Philadelphia did have going for them though was a well balanced attack with a lot of strong talent in their 21 other starters. It took Nick Foles a few weeks to get fully comfortable and then came the playoffs. Foles not only looked comfortable he was brilliant. He played like a Pro Bowler, he played like an MVP, he was the Super Bowl MVP. He was strong against Atlanta as an underdog, he was great as another underdog against Minnesota and saved his best for last against Brady and Belichick in the Super Bowl.
So now the thought is that the Eagles will just turn the team right back over to Carson Wentz. I don’t think the idea is bad at all but I do think there really should be some evaluation here. Shouldn’t there at least be a quarterback competition? Wentz is coming off an injury and the Eagles may not know until summer time if he will be healthy enough for the start of the season. Free agency will be over by then. I say keep Foles and let the battle begin. The Eagles have never won a Super Bowl and Nick Foles was a major reason why they just did. Instead of just assuming this is Wentz’s team could this actually be a situation similar to what New England had years ago? The Patriots were happy with Drew Bledsoe and he got hurt. Insert Tom Brady and the Patriots never looked back. The scenario may not play out the same way but it could. I think the Eagles have a great luxury here. So many teams are looking for one good quarterback and Philadelphia now has two. Plenty of teams in the NFL will want Nick Foles but I personally think that Philadelphia should be one of them. I apologize to you Nick Foles for being late to your party but I have now arrived and I am not leaving.