Nick Foles demonstrating poor ball security and pocket awareness.
ONE -EIGHTH of the season is in the books and we’re 2-0. However what’s funny is that many fans aren’t praising Nick Foles; they’re actually sort of blaming him for our 2-0 team’s offensive woes.
This last offseason a war raged between the Foles cheering section, and those who were skeptical of him. In the middle were people like me, who didn’t think we knew enough or had seen enough, and that we’d take all 16 games to make up our minds about him.
That’s where I still am. These first 2 games are not 16 games. I wouldn’t be crowning him king if he’d thrown for 800 yards, 10 TD’s and no picks; and I won’t condemn him for how he’s played thus far.
BUT…..
To tell the truth, Foles’ play has so far justified EVERY ounce of skepticism that he’s gotten in 2014. At times he’s looked downright awful, but for the most part he’s been rather pedestrian, and has looked very much like the 3rd round project that Andy Reid drafted him as.
When I say that, I don’t just mean his 58.5% completion rate (which personally I don’t think is a problem, but fans on both sides of the debate made 60% their minimum for acceptability, so I’ll use their benchmark). I also don’t mean his 3:2 touchdown to interception ratio.
You can look at his numbers and not see anything alarming in them. What those numbers don’t tell you, is that he’s holding the ball too long. They don’t tell you, that when flustered his ball security becomes suspect. They don’t tell you, that out of 48 completions only 14 belong to his starting WR’s. They don’t tell you, just how badly his ball placement has deteriorated. They don’t tell you, that he’s stunk bad enough to peel paint in the first half of games so far; or that while he’s been better in 2nd halves, he’s hardly been stellar.
Over these last 2 weeks I’ve seen many of people say they had supported him, but then call for him to be benched. Foles was told “Just be ready for the boos” by former EAGLES QB Donovan McNabb. While lots of fans dismissed what McNabb said as sour grapes, many of those same people did boo Foles or call for his back-up in Week One. WEEK ONE.
If his supporters will bail on him that fast, you have to wonder how soon a verdict of “Fluke”, “One Year Wonder”, or “Flash In the Pan” will be entered against Foles.
Me? I still need to see 14 more games.
EAGLEMANIACAL.com 
The wide receivers aren’t exactly doing their jobs either. The first half of the Colts game he did everything he could to lead this team. In the red zone the play calling took the ball out of his hands except for one pass play that didn’t go into the end zone. Cooper has been dropping balls left and right when the ball is placed in his hands and Maclin has looked like a number two or three. If it wasn’t for Sproles and the tight ends this team wouldn’t have much of a passing game. No one is going to be perfect. The line isn’t as good, understandably. But he has done everything this team has needed. Aside from the first half in Jax where he didn’t look good, he has come on strong. If you blame him for Indy’s first half go back and watch it again. For every bad throw he had, he had five or more good throws. Easy to point to the QB as why this team has started slow but why we have to feel bad about winning seems to be a philly thing. Not everything is perfect but having to blame someone as why is moot. Mcnabb had everything and a good defense and always seemed to come up small in big situations and that’s why he never won it all.
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No doubt about play of the WR’s. When you say that Maclin has looked like a 2nd or 3rd WR, I’m right with you on that. Last year’s offense worked the way it did because last year because last year we had a #1 WR. I covered that in https://eaglemaniacal.com/2014/04/08/kellys-magic-trick/
A lot of fans want to bad mouth DJax for doing nothing more than not retiring when the EAGLES cut him. Look up an down this site and you’ll see I haven’t been one of them. Jackson is a bit of a one trick pony, but he’s catalytic to any system you stick him in. I think Kelly may be realizing that now.
There’s no doubt that the O-line hasn’t been as good as last year’s. Even from opening bell we had Barbre in for Johnson at RT. Throw in some injuries and viola! Now we have worse than downgraded out there.
I ended the article with I need 14 more games before I form an opinion. I think it’s silly to “blame” anyone when you’re 2-0. To me it makes more sense to go back to the lab, and work out the bugs. It’s a young season. For all we know he could catch fire next week and stay that way.
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Saying the WR’s have been bad is disingenuous at best. Maclin would already have over 300 yards receiving with 4 or 5 tds if Foles could hit throws beyond 15 yards consistently. Matthews has had some drops but Foles has missed plenty of times as well. Only Cooper has been awful, but anybody with sense knew he was a mediocre receiver, just like Foles is a mediocre qb. He was leaving a ton of plays on the field LAST year and nothing has changed. And before we talk about coming up small in order to denigrate the best Eagles qb ever, how about Foles win a playoff game? Foles was doing the same things in that game he’s been doing this year-ignoring wide open receivers downfield to check it down for minimal gains underneath.
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He’s still young, and fairly new…. This season will be his tell all….
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I think so too. After 2014 supporters and detractors are going to have a defined picture of Foles. Like with Tony Romo, there’ll always be those more on one side or the other, but the argument for both sides will be closer to the middle and less polarized.
Being an EAGLES fan since before Lurie bought the team and seeing how the organization has always run under him, I know it tends toward self-fulfilling prophecy. They often put themselves in the position to create the situation and narrative they need to say to fans “Well it went this way so we gotta do this now.”
The conspiracy nut in me feels like Foles has been put in a dubious situation, and I’ve said as much during the offseason. I also think he didn’t do himself any favors by not hosting private workouts for his team. Granted he lives in a condo (not far from ME actually 🙂 ) but he could have rented a spot or something.
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Two weeks into this season isn’t enough to draw a conclusion that Foles isn’t the guy considering a 10 games last year weren’t enough to convince people he was. Despite everything the offense is still scoring points when they need to Foles is 2nd in the league in yards passing, and his YPC is still high. I think there’s a legit issue with the receivers and here’s why. There’s a lot of factors as to why the receivers aren’t catching more balls. The first is they’re missing Jackson. I know people want to paint him as a guy who did nothing, but he’s a guy who didn’t drop a lot of balls and did command coverages over the top. His presence opened up the field a lot more and gave Foles bigger passing windows than he has this season. People don’t want to admit it, but Riley Cooper can be taken out of a game with single coverage. On top of that he can have spells where he just drops the football. Maclin and Cooper have spent a lot of time on the shelf this preseason so Foles doesn’t have good chemistry with his starters yet. He’s not feeling comfortable with what he’s seeing them do yet. The tight windows and the unsurity of what he’s going to get from his receivers (they’re all dropping a lot of balls too) is leading Foles to hesitate a little too much in the release. He’s getting sacked and making some errand throws because of it. Jordan Mathews is still too young. He’s still thinking about what he has to do and it’s causing him to lose concentration when the ball arrives. His drops have caused Foles not to go his way even when he’s open. I know Jackson is a jerk, but they’re missing him right now. A trio of Maclin, Jackson, and Cooper to go with Sproles, McCoy, Ertz, and Celek would be tremendous right now. It would also give Mathews time to develop more. Now this doesn’t mean things can’t change. I think Foles is going to have to start trusting his receivers, but that means they’re going to have to actually catch the ball when he throws it to them. It’s not time to push the panic button, but ther receivers are going to have to step up. They can survive getting the ball to Ertz, Sproles, and McCoy until the receivers catch up. Once Mathews figures out how to be an NFL receiver I think he’s going to be a great one. The bottom line is Foles and the receivers need to more time to jell.
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Yeah I think the time has officially come for me to say this. “You were right about Cooper.” LOL
I also think Foles would be better off now if he’d held a week of workouts somewhere like McNabb used to do. It helped him get a lot of mileage out of lackluster WR’s and I think Foles would be benefiting now.
And there is no doubt they’re missing Jackson. I think Kelly will too after this next game.
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Riley Cooper just doesn’t know how to use his body well enough to make him better and his hands are average at best. He has good speed and great size, but he’s like Baby Huey out there. He has no idea how to use the gifts that he has. People love to give him the Jordy Nelson comparison, but size and the color of their skin is all they have in common. Maclin must step up and be the #1 he was drafted to be. It might not be fair to ask him to be that after that injury, but Jackson’s gone. He’s going to have to step up and do more if he wants to be paid like Jackson. It’s still only week two so there’s time for everyone to get better. In the meantime Sproles is carrying the whole darn offense.
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I think it’s entirely fair to ask Maclin to play like a #1. If he had signed that deal the EAGLES offered then I’d say what you said. Instead he signed a 1-year deal to prove he was worth more.
I got nothing against a man betting on himself, but that means that now he has to step it up.
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I think Fole showed a ton of heart today. He took a beating and just kept coming back. People need to stop doubting Foles. All he’s doing is winning.
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