Andy Reid is Playing with Foles Gold

With the 88th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles selected Nick Foles, quarterback Arizona. When the draft pick happened, it was somewhat of a shock in Philadelphia. The third round is pretty high in the NFL draft and the selection didn’t look like a glaring need for the Eagles at the time. Especially with the Philadelphia Eagles having just recently signed Michael Vick to a six year, $100 million dollar contract.

Coming into this season with such high hopes for a Super Bowl run, no one could have ever predicted the Eagles falling to 4-9 this season.  After starting the season 3-1, the Philadelphia Eagles season would drastically change completely after playing the Detroit Lions. With the Eagles winning by ten points with less then six minutes to go in the game, the wheels started to fall off. The Eagles would lose in overtime 26-23 to Detroit. The team completely lost confidence and would go on to lose eight games in a row. As head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, that has never happened to Andy Reid. Not only were the Eagles losing games, they lost their starting quarterback Michael Vick to a concussion in week ten against their rival, the Dallas Cowboys. To replace Vick due to injury, the second most popular athlete in Philadelphia stepped in to play quarterback, Nick Foles.

Since Foles has started for the Philadelphia Eagles, he has a record of 1-3. His lone victory came with two seconds left in the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As he rolled to the right of the pocket, he delivered a great pass to wide receiver Jeremy Maclin for the game winning touchdown. Not only did Foles break the losing streak, he brought back his team from an 11 point deficit to steal the game away against Tampa Bay. To finish the day, Nick Foles was 32 of 51, passed for 381 yards and picked up two touchdowns.  He didn’t just play great on the last two drives, he was very impressive throughout the entire game. The Eagles team relied heavily on Foles because the Eagles running game did not exist. The Buccaneers have the best run defense in the league and held rookie sensation Bryce Brown to 12 carries for only six yards. With that said, Nick Foles was pretty impressive, let alone a rookie.

Every sports fan who follows the Eagles knows about Jeffrey Lurie saying 8-8 wasn’t good enough for Andy Reid. With the Eagles being 4-9 this season, it is unlikely Reid will be back next year. Even though he probably won’t be back, I was happy for Andy Reid and the rest of the team for their exciting victory on Sunday.  Even though this season has been terrible, I was excited for him, myself, the Eagles fans, and Nick Foles. Two months without a win anywhere is a long time, especially in Philadelphia. Who knows what the future holds for Foles; he might be great, or he might turn out like former Eagles quarterback Bobby Hoying. At least for now and the next couple weeks, Andy will still coach and nurture his new quarterback. Only time will tell but maybe with the 88^th pick in the 2012 NFL draft, Andy hit gold with Foles.