{"id":58089,"date":"2018-02-05T09:20:46","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T09:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=58089"},"modified":"2018-02-05T09:20:46","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T09:20:46","slug":"nick-foles-defies-doubters-odds-by-delivering-eagles-first-super-bowl-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/nick-foles-defies-doubters-odds-by-delivering-eagles-first-super-bowl-title.html","title":{"rendered":"Nick Foles defies doubters, odds by delivering Eagles first Super Bowl title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Foles defies doubters, odds by delivering Eagles first Super Bowl title<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The quarterback nobody thought would ever be here sat in a staging area late Sunday night, his wife Tori next to him, his infant daughter Lily in his arms. Nick Foles held her so he could see her eyes, seemingly shutting out everything else in the chaos of a Philadelphia Eagles postgame celebration bellowing through the halls of U.S. Bank Stadium after a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say Foles himself could barely have imagined what it would be like, not just to be a Super Bowl champion but also the game\u2019s most valuable player at age 29, a couple years removed from nearly giving up pro football and only six contests into his stint as a starter.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the path of greatness doesn\u2019t always follow a straight or predictable line. And on a night that demanded he match Tom Brady throw for throw, Foles undoubtedly played the game of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u201cYou never really know what it\u2019s going to be like when you go into a Super Bowl,\u201d Foles said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been here before. So there are normal nerves \u2014 you\u2019ve got butterflies. It\u2019s a big game. It doesn\u2019t get any bigger than this. But I felt good, felt calm. I think the big thing that helped me was knowing I didn\u2019t have to be Superman.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Under these circumstances, though, Foles was close enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every time the Eagles needed him to make a big throw or lead a drive, he delivered. He fit balls into impossibly tight windows. He avoided mistakes and sacks. He converted 10 of 16 third downs and a huge fourth down with 5:39 to go, eventually leading to his 11-yard touchdown throw to Zach Ertz that put the Eagles ahead 38-33 after they\u2019d fallen behind for the first time all game. He even caught a touchdown on a trick play at the end of the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

For one night, anyway, Foles was more like a superstar than a journeyman backup, finishing with 373 passing yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-43 passing, becoming the first quarterback in franchise history to call himself a Super Bowl champion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy for Nick,\u201d Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. \u201cA lot of people counted him out, didn\u2019t think he\u2019d get it done. I believed in him, the staff believed in him, the players believed in him. We needed time. We needed time together to work out some things, and this postseason Nick has shown exactly who he is and what he can do and what he\u2019s capable of doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Foles, to be fair, has not exactly been some scrub in the NFL. He made a Pro Bowl in 2013 during his first stint with the Eagles, tying the single-game record for touchdown passes with seven, and was considered good enough to earn a two-year, $24.5 million contract from the Rams in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it would also be underselling the magnitude of what he accomplished for the Eagles to say this last month has been anything short of stunning. When starter Carson Wentz suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 10 in the middle of what many considered an MVP-caliber season, the Eagles\u2019 hopes of contending for a championship were supposed to be finished.<\/span><\/p>\n

Foles had signed to be a backup and had only played a handful of snaps in Pederson\u2019s system before suddenly having to start in Week 14 for a team that could have easily used Wentz\u2019s injury as an excuse to move onto next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

It says a lot about the Eagles\u2019 locker room that the team didn\u2019t give up on this season, even as they were underdogs in Las Vegas in both home playoff games against the Falcons and Vikings. But it says even more about Foles that he played so spectacularly across all three playoff games, completing 72.6% of his passes and throwing just one interception, which came on an unlucky carom off Alshon Jeffery early in the Super Bowl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe stage was never too big for him all year,\u201d Ertz said. \u201cTo get in a shootout with that guy on the other team is probably not ideal for anyone ever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Foles never even came close to crumbling, even as Brady and the force of Patriots history applied more pressure with every drive.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t worried about the scoreboard,\u201d he said. \u201cI was just playing ball, and sometimes you start worrying about that so much it starts creeping in your brain. I just kept playing, whatever play Doug called, I was going to go out there and rip it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He did a lot of ripping on Sunday, starting with a 34-yard heave to Jeffery on the Eagles\u2019 second possession that showed how sharp he was, and ending when he ripped a sixth title away from Brady and Bill Belichick.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remarkably, though, the cold reality of the NFL offers no guarantees about the future. This was a moment in time that belonged to Foles, and the city of Philadelphia will never forget it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this team belongs to Wentz. And as soon as the prized passer is healthy enough to play again, Foles will either be on the bench or on somebody else\u2019s roster, as he enters the final year of his contract in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who is throwing the ball (next season),\u201d Jeffery said. \u201cCarson, of course.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But that’s a story for another day. Today should be all about Foles, who rescued his career from self-doubt, and about a team that didn\u2019t let an injury to its most important player derail something special.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is a lot of people doubted Nick when he had a couple bad games,\u201d defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. \u201cWe knew the the type of guy Nick was and we knew he was going to come out and be the best Nick he can be, and he showed the world that today.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cbest Nick he can be\u201d was good enough to beat Brady and the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, good enough to earn him a place among the all-time greats in this game and good enough to earn him a smile from his daughter he’ll never forget. No matter what happens from here, that can’t be taken away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/columnist\/2018\/02\/05\/nick-foles-super-bowl-2018-mvp-philadelphia-eagles\/306160002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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