Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles (9) throws a pass against the New York Giants in the second half at MetLife Stadium. Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
by Ira Miller, Sports Xchange
When Carson Wentz suffered a torn ACL two games ago, fans in Philadelphia and south Jersey went into mourning. The Eagles are one of only five teams that have been in business in the same city since the Super Bowl era began without winning one, and before Wentz got hurt, they were counting on getting off that list.
Not so fast.
Philly still has a chance and, not only was it unexpected, part of the surprise is that the Eagles might do it with a quarterback they discarded not so long ago.
Nick Foles came off the bench to rally the Eagles from behind to win the game in which Wentz was injured, then Foles played well again last Sunday, throwing four touchdown passes to four different receivers in a come-from-behind victory over the Giants.
History is against him, but the Eagles are just one victory away from clinching home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs, the first step on the road to Super Bowl LII. A Philly victory there would leave Minnesota, Buffalo, Detroit and Atlanta as the only teams in continuous operation in the same city since Super Bowl I who have not won the championship.
Working against the Eagles: In the 51 previous seasons of the Super Bowl era, only one team — the 1990 New York Giants — changed quarterbacks late in the season and went on to win the championship.
Jeff Hostetler replaced an injured Phil Simms, started the final two regular-season games and all three post-season games, and led the Giants to an upset over Buffalo in the Super Bowl. Perhaps “led” is the wrong word. That was a Giants team led by Lawrence Taylor’s defense and Ottis Anderson’s running on offense, and Hostetler was pretty much just a caretaker.
Since then, we have moved into a time when throwing the ball is more important than ever and it is extremely unlikely a quarterback could guide a team to a championship as a caretaker; the last to do that was Baltimore’s Trent Dilfer in 2000 and, even in that Super Bowl, he got the scoring started with a touchdown pass.
Nonetheless, Foles is an intriguing case study because he was a more-than-competent No. 1 in the NFL as recently as four years ago, when, in his first go-round with the Eagles, he led the league in passer rating (119.2) and had a remarkable 27-to-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
A broken collarbone followed in 2014 after Foles led the Eagles to a 6-2 start, then he shuffled off to the Rams and Chiefs for a year each before resurfacing in Philly this year as Wentz’ backup.
What’s intriguing is why the Eagles gave up on Foles in the first place and the answer, in two words: Chip Kelly. Kelly was a disaster as an NFL head coach and, even after Foles’ record as a Philly starter — 14-4 in his last 18 games — decided he was not the right fit for the offense Kelly wanted to run.
We know how that turned out for Kelly, fired by the Eagles and then by the 49ers after one dreadful year with San Francisco.
Foles, meanwhile, went to St. Louis as part of the deal to bring Sam Bradford to Philly, another move with no staying power, and, when Foles struggled with the Rams, they moved on to draft Jared Goff. Foles caught on with the Chiefs, whose head coach Andy Reid had brought him to Philadelphia in the first place but, even after a 105.9 passer rating in limited work for the Chiefs, Foles again was expendable.
Earlier this year, Foles admitted that he considered retiring a year ago, but now he’s glad — and the Eagles are glad — that he did not follow through.
Philadelphia is one victory, or one Minnesota defeat, from clinching home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. That is always a big deal, but could be even a bigger than usual deal this year because the Eagles would have a big weather acclimation advantage over the rest of the playoff field. The other NFC contenders are all likely to be warm-weather or dome teams: Minnesota, Carolina, New Orleans, Atlanta and the Los Angeles Rams.
The Eagles’ situation, of course, points to the folly by teams that do not invest in a competent backup quarterback, which is yet one more way that New England shows the NFL how it’s done. The Patriots managed to trade away not one, but two backups this year and still protected themselves by bringing back Brian Hoyer, who began his NFL career with New England in 2009.
Nonetheless, the bottom line in the NFL is that the best teams are the ones lucky enough to remain healthy. Before Hostetler took over for Simms, the last late-season quarterback change resulting in a championship came after Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne suffered a broken ankle in Detroit’s next-to-last regular-season game in 1957. Tobin Rote, who replaced Layne, led a comeback in the conference playoff game and a rout in the NFL title game. That, by the way, was Detroit’s last championship.
The only other late-season change resulting in a title came in the famed Sneakers Game of 1934, when rookie Ed Danowski, who had replaced injured Harry Newman three weeks earlier, led the Giants to four, fourth-quarter touchdowns on a frozen field to beat the Bears.
There have been quarterbacks who moved into the lineup earlier, either due to injury (the Raiders’ Jim Plunkett six games into the season in 1980, the Rams’ Kurt Warner prior to the final preseason game in 1999) or ineffectiveness of a previous starter (Dilfer midway through the season in 2000), but taking over in December and succeeding is extremely rare.
The Raiders learned that last year when they finally became relevant again, starting the season with a 12-3 record, but then they were doomed by an injury to starting quarterback Derek Carr, lost their final game and were one-and-done in the playoffs.
So clearly, Foles has a chance to enter some heady territory in the next few weeks. And perhaps remind teams of the importance of that No. 2 QB spot.
Ira Miller is an award-winning sportswriter who has covered the National Football League for more than five decades and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He is a national columnist for The Sports Xchange.