Nick Foles has been put in a familiar situation by the Philadelphia Eagles for the second season in a row. Although, this time around expectations are much lower as the Eagles are in a dogfight for the last wildcard spot. Last season, the Eagles didn’t need much from Foles to lock up the number one seed in the NFC and it’ll be a much different scenario this time.
The Eagles decided to hang onto Nick Foles for exactly this reason, even though they received trade offers for him in the offseason. A quality backup is hard to find and Foles proved in the playoffs last year that he can lead the Eagles as their quarterback.
This time around, he won’t have one of the best defences in the NFL or an established running game that was also near the tops of the league. He’ll inherit a defence with almost half of their starters injured and an undrafted free agent running back in Josh Adams.
Eagles path to the playoffs
The Eagles sit at 6-7 after squandering two games in overtime coupled with their 4th quarter collapse against the Panthers. Although no one expects the Eagles and Nick Foles to limp into LA and beat the Rams, they can still make the playoffs by winning the last two games of the season. With a lot of help of course.
This isn’t the ideal scenario, as every team would like to control their own destiny. Philadelphia will have to beat out the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers to grab that last wildcard spot. The Eagles season will boil down to their ability to beat the Texans at home and the Redskins on the road to finish the season at 8-8.
They’ll also need the Vikings to lose two of their remaining three games. Minnesota plays the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. While they’ll need the Carolina Panthers to also drop two of their remaining three games. Luckily for the Eagles, two of those games are against the New Orleans Saints and one against the Falcons.
The Eagles will also have to worry about four other teams who could run the table and also finish at 8-8.
Can Nick Foles regain his Super Bowl MVP form?
If the Eagles stand any chance of salvaging this season Foles will have to regain his playoff form. He was a little shaky to start this season throwing for only 451 yards and one touchdown in his two starts against the Falcons and Buccaneers and his pedestrian 78.9 quarterback rating in those games doesn’t help out his cause either.
Foles was kept on the roster for exactly this reason. He has an opportunity to not only save the Eagles season but reaffirm himself as a starting quarterback in the eyes of NFL teams.
Expectations are low against the Rams, but Foles has the chance to keep the season alive against the high flying Texans in Philadelphia on December 23rd.
Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
