CLEVELAND - You keep telling yourself, "It's only a preseason game, it's only a preseason game," and then he throws a terrible interception.
You tell yourself, "This is the Super Bowl MVP, everything's going to be OK," and then he holds onto the ball too long and fumbles.
You remind yourself that Nick Foles authored one of the greatest postseasons in NFL history six months ago, and then he lets himself get sacked in the end zone for a safety.
Foles' preseason thudded to a close Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium with another disastrous performance.
"It's not fun playing the way I did," Foles said. "I really hurt us tonight."
What does it mean? That's anybody's guess. Foles has a history of really, really awful performances, generally followed by games of sheer brilliance.
Sports
In partnership with NBC Sports Philadelphia
His career is already following a unique path. This ugly preseason, directly following such a brilliant 2017, only adds to the mystique around Foles.
Who exactly is this guy and how can someone who is talented enough to tear apart a Bill Belichick defense in a Super Bowl look so hapless in a preseason game against a team that's won four of its last 53 games?
"Obviously, I haven't been myself and I expect a lot of myself," Foles said after the Eagles' 5-0 loss to the Browns. "I have to keep learning. I've played this game a long time, I know how to address this and keep moving forward while keeping that positive outlook."
Doug Pederson said Foles won't play in the preseason finale Thursday night at the Linc against the Jets, so depending what happens with Carson Wentz, we've either seen the last of Foles for a long time or he'll make his first opening-day start since 2014 in two weeks against the Falcons.
Against the Browns, Foles threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. When he wasn't getting intercepted, he completed 13 of 15 passes.
But his final total for 14 drives in the preseason was zero points. Or more accurately, minus-nine points, if you factor in the safety and a fumble against the Patriots that was returned for a touchdown and Thursday's safety.
"I'm just making mistakes," Foles said. "It's on me. I made too many mistakes during critical times that hurt us as a team, so if I clean that up, we win this game.
"There's time when I feel good and times when I'm making mistakes. It's as simple as that. I just have to keep being critical of myself, keep watching the film and understanding what's going on. I have to keep playing, keep going through it."
Pederson insisted his halftime comments to FOX that appeared to be directed at Foles were actually directed at the entire offense.
But he was clearly not happy with the performance Foles put out there.
He paused for a moment when asked how a quarterback who put on a historic display in a Super Bowl can look so lost in a preseason game.
"It can be a lot of factors," he said. "It's hard to pinpoint one. I think sometimes you just put a little bit too much pressure on yourself or you press to make a play - whatever it might be. I don't know.
"It's tough. Having been in those situations before, sometimes you feel like you need to make a play yourself when you're struggling offensively, and then it doesn't come. We can't do that. We have to stick within our plan and stick within our means and continue to execute."
To his credit, Foles refused to use the vanilla offense or the absence of Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Mack Hollins, Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles, Corey Clement and Jason Peters as an excuse.
"Obviously you want those guys to be healthy and be out there, but there's no reason we couldn't put points on the board tonight," he said.
"We can't expect to win with that many turnovers. We have to play a lot cleaner."
