After two weeks of fiery press conferences between head coach Doug Pederson and the media about the status of quarterback Carson Wentz and who will be under center for the Eagles to begin the season. The team officially announced Monday that defending Super Bowl MVP quarterback Nick Foles will be the starter against the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night.
The decision to formally announce Foles as the team’s starting quarterback has been the worst kept secret in the NFL this summer. On Saturday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that Foles would be the Eagles’ starting quarterback heading into Week 1.
Everybody across the league knows that Wentz is still rehabbing from the knee injury he suffered last season and has not been cleared for contact yet.
This meant that Foles would not only start in both preseason games, but ultimately be the guy leading the Eagles on to the field to begin their Super Bowl defense.
Speaking of the preseason, the veteran quarterback did not play well at all with the first-team offense.
In the two games against the New England Patriots and Cleveland Brows, Foles only completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 171 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions.
He looked more like the quarterback, who struggled against the Oakland Raiders and Dallas Cowboys to end the regular season, rather than the quarterback who had an amazing run in the postseason.
However, if there is one silver lining from Foles’ performances is that its only preseason, meaning he can easily flip the switch. The Eagles did not run any RPO plays in the preseason, which was Foles’ bread and butter last season.
Also, he did not have wide receiver Nelson Agholor and was without running backs Jay Ajayi, Corey Clement, and Darren Sproles in the dress rehearsal game against the Browns.
It should be interesting to see how Foles fares on Thursday night against a Falcons’ defense, who he had some success against in the playoffs last season. Foles had a shaky first half versus Atlanta, but rebounded in the second half, completing 76.7 of his passes for 246 yards.
Hopefully, Foles can play well on Thursday night as it will give fans hope that he can hold the fort down until Wentz is ready to go.
