As the Eagles began practice Wednesday afternoon, several players called for Nick Foles to break the huddle. Zach Ertz said they wanted to show Foles that they have faith in him.
And they should. After all, this is the guy who won the Super Bowl MVP, out-dueling the best quarterback in NFL history less than a year ago. That was good Nick Foles. But we've seen bad Foles too.
That's why these next three games are so interesting.
And I'm not sure how much stock the rest of the league will put into them when making a decision about Foles this offseason.
The stretch run here might be a proving ground for Foles, an opportunity for him to go out and help earn himself a lucrative contract and, in turn, get the Eagles back a better compensatory pick once they inevitably make him a free agent.
Now, Wentz hasn't even been ruled out for Sunday's game yet, but there's a report his 2018 season could be over. If that happens, it's obviously Foles' job.
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If Foles plays well, he could boost his stock. If he plays poorly, he could lose some money and opportunities and hurt the Eagles' return.
It's not like these last three games are all other teams will have to go by, of course, but there's obviously some recency bias in the NFL. And Foles is just a unique case. He has been in the league for seven years, but he's had such a crazy career. Foles has been a starter, he's been traded, he's been benched, he's contemplated retirement, he became the Super Bowl MVP. He's capable of playing at a high level, but he's capable of playing at a low level too.
Including the playoffs, Foles has had 45 starts as an NFL quarterback:
• In 18 of 45, he's had a passer rating over 100.
• In 17 of 45, he's had a passer rating under 80.
• That means just 10 of his career starts have been in that average 80-100 span.
In the two games he started this season, Foles wasn't great. He went 1-1 with one touchdown and one interception and had a passer rating of 78.9.
Throughout his career, it seems like we've seen either Good Nick Foles or Bad Nick Foles and not much in between. Now, Foles is obviously a hero in Philadelphia because Good Nick Foles showed up in last year's playoffs. After two dreadful performances heading into the playoffs, Foles and the Eagles went on a magical three-game stretch ending with confetti raining down on them in Minnesota.
It would be really hard to do based on their remaining schedule, but if the Eagles go on a three-game run here to end the 2018 season, they could still sneak their way into the playoffs. Not likely, but still possible.
If they somehow pull that off, it'll be because Good Foles shows up. That's obviously the best-case scenario, not just for this season, but for the offseason too.
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