Foles Rebounds in Historic Fashion

After going two weeks without scoring an offensive touchdown—mainly because of poor quarterback play—the Eagles found their tonic in the Oakland Raiders, blasting the West Coasters 49-20.

Nick Foles vanquished the demons from his horror show against Dallas in a big way, tying an NFL record with seven touchdown passes. In only 28 attempts, Foles threw for better than 400 yards, completing 79 percent of his passes, and going four for four in the Red Zone.

Even factoring in the terrible game he had last time out, Foles has clearly outplayed Michael Vick. This should end all controversy about who the starting quarterback should be going forward. Vick is older and ineffective while Foles is better right now and, at 24 years old, could be the quarterback of the future.

To put it in perspective, it took Foles 40 minutes Sunday to throw more touchdown passes than Vick has thrown all season. After another turnover-free game, Foles is now the second quarterback in history to go nine games into a season without an interception while throwing 13 touchdown passes—and he has only played three-and-a-half games.

It was very important that Foles play well Sunday and prove that his disastrous last start was an aberration, and he rose to the occasion.

Foles did a good job of getting the tight ends involved, completing nine passes, including a touchdown apiece, to Brent Celek and Zach Ertz.

Riley Cooper, often a non-entity with other Eagles quarterbacks, went well over the century mark for the second time in Foles’ three starts. He also scored three touchdowns to complement Desean Jackson’s 150 yards and a touchdown.

Fans can’t complain much when their team scores 49 points. The only negative was that Lesean McCoy too often was met by a wall of defenders in his own backfield.

However, McCoy was clearly focused on being more decisive and taking what was there. He only carried the ball 12 times, which was fine because limiting his touches when the team is scoring without him will keep him fresher. He also added a touchdown reception.

Bryce Brown finally seemed to grasp that he should go North rather than sprinting towards the sideline, complementing McCoy to the tune of 54 yards on 7 carries.

A lot of credit has to be given to Chip Kelly. His reputation as an offensive innovator took a beating after two straight games without an offensive touchdown. To be fair, he had been forced to roll with Matt Barkley for most of those two games.

Regardless, the onus was on Kelly to elicit some production from his offense Sunday, and he was able to do so in a big way. Against a top-ten-ranked defense, it was an impressive step forward in Kelly’s acclimation to the NFL game.

A coach earns his stripes in the NFL when the chips are down, and Kelly showed a lot of mettle in keeping the team together—at least enough to beat the Raiders—after two embarrassing outings against divisional opponents, which had to have shaken the team’s confidence.

The Eagle defense held an opponent to 21 points or fewer for the fifth straight week. That is quite an accomplishment in today’s NFL, particularly for this defense, which started out the season giving up more than 30 points a game through the first quarter of the year.

The most significant and welcome improvement in the defense is its sound tackling. That is a product of effort and execution, something sorely lacking the last two seasons.

The Raiders amassed a ton of yards, but most of that was in garbage time when the Eagles were not attacking andwere playing second-stringers. Terrelle Pryor accounted for nearly 400 yards on his own, but it didn’t translate into points. He also threw two interceptions.

Although the defensive backs have played much better, recognition of linebacker Demeco Ryans’ play is overdue. With 11 more tackles Sunday, he now has 76 on the year to go with two sacks and an interception. He was the most professional defender the Eagles had the last two seasons, continuing to bust it while many others laid down; he has had an excellent 2013 campaign thus far.

The Eagles now face two tests: to reach a level of sustainable consistency, and to win at home. A team is not a serious contender when it does not win in its own house; likewise, a team cannot be successful with wild swings in production—7 points one game, 49 the next.

Hopefully, Foles can provide stability at the quarterback position to solidify the offense. The Eagles will face a very stiff test in Green Bay next week.

In the NFL, the next game always holds the most immediate importance. For the Eagles of 2013, the most important game in long run is the next home game. Once Foles wins one at home, the Eagles are on to the next step in their evolution.

With Kelly at the helm, a possible quarterback of the future in Foles, and time, perhaps the team will eventually evolve into the one Eagles fans have so long been awaiting.