Friday, December 15, 2017

Eagles' Title Hopes Now Rest on Foles' Shoulders

Anyone who follows my EaglesLincs blog even on a casual basis already knows that I am one of the biggest homers among the Bleeding Green knuckleheads that consider themselves die-hard Eagles' fans. I was truly stunned and saddened when Carson Wentz went down with a torn ACL in a season where he was on tract to be named the NFL's 'Most Valuable Player' in just his second year in the league.

My main concern for our franchise quarterback is the full recovery of that knee in what has the potential to be a Hall of Fame career given what we have seen from Wentz this season. I may be getting way ahead of myself with that one and I am about to get way ahead of myself with the bold prediction that Philadelphia returns to its first Super Bowl since 2004 under the guidance of backup quarterback Nick Foles. The path to Minnesota for Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 is rather manageable even without Wentz under center in light of all the other teams the Eagles might have to get past to make their third Super Bowl appearance in team history.

Given that my father was a season-ticket holder from 1961 until the last year at Veterans Stadium in 2002, my entire family grew up big Eagles fans. This undying devotion to the home team has been extended to the next generation with many of my relatives still residing in the Philadelphia area.

Below is an example of that passion in an email that was sent out to my entire family by my nephew (and godson) Kevin in response to Wentz going down and Foles stepping up.

Hi All,

There's no denying it's been a bittersweet 24 hours in Eagles' Country. We won the division but lost our field marshal . . .

Alas, all hope is not lost - a familiar face from the not so distant past is aiming to finish what Wentz started.

I will be the first to admit I am not crazy about Foles and not so much for who he is but for who he was not. He had moments of brilliance with us leading some to believe he was our next franchise quarterback.

Instead his star faded and after a season-ending injury in 2014, he was traded to St. Louis for Sam Bradford (another false pre-season savior). One year with the Rams, which involved a benching in favor of a current NFC foe (Case Keenum), was all there would be to that story. During the 2016 off-season, Foles requested a release when the Rams drafted their QB of the future, Jared Goff.

Foles went on to spend 1 year with Big Red in Kansas City before quietly returning to Philadelphia to play essentially the same supporting role he turned down with the Rams - backup for his old franchise's new franchise QB, Carson Wentz.

Now, reunited with his rookie year QBs coach (Doug Pederson) and paired with the QB responsible for the largest playoff comeback in NFL history (Frank Reich) - Foles is out to make a comeback for himself. He will likely need to slay some dragons from his past (a la Case Keenum and/or Jared Goff again) but if this team is anything, it's resilient - so don't count them out.

This may not be how we imagined the end playing out after our storybook beginning but that's life - seldom picture-perfect and often unexpected. Over the next few weeks, though, I want you to keep these three thoughts in mind:

Be thankful for the amazing and fun season we have had so far

Seek not for our load to be lighter but for our backs to be stronger

"You gotta have a positive atty-tude and a good sense a humor to make it in life" - Gramps


K.O. Kelly


The following is a copy of my response to his email. I decided to share it will all the Philly Phaithful as the journey continues to the Super Bowl glory that has eluded this team since my Dad was sitting in the bleachers at Franklin Field.


Hey Kev,

Great job at summing up the collective thoughts of the Eagles faithful in light of such a bittersweet victory in a must-win game. The bottom line in my book is that the Eagles are good enough to win the NFC with Foles at the helm with the lack of another truly dominant team to get past in the playoffs. Can they win Super Bowl with Foles?....that remains to be seen, but the tape of how Miami made New England look pretty average on Monday night along with the tapes from three very shaky Pittsburgh wins in the past three weeks could be enough of a blueprint to get the job done.

A solid running game and a shutdown defense wins games this time of the year and the Eagles have both of these weapons in their arsenal. Add in the motivation of winning one for the Gipper, or in this case the Wentz could be a very powerful factor in this postseason run. One of the main reasons why Philly is 11-2 right now is every player's understanding that there is no I in team. In the infamous words of Bill Belichick..."Know Your Role, Do Your Job"

I personally am expecting a fun ride all the way to Super Bowl LII with you and your Dad the Deacon high-fiving each other at the Linc on Jan. 21 in the NFC Championship win against Minnesota (or maybe New Orleans). I am going to stop just short of predicting a win in Super Bowl LII until I have a better chance to evaluate the actual matchup.

Nick Foles might just end up front and center on the lead float in the Eagle's parade down Broad Street in early February, but this is still Carson Wentz's team now and hopefully for many years to come.






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