With a Lombardi Trophy within reach a dozen years ago, Bill Belichick picked Tom Brady over a healthy Drew Bledsoe. It meant Bledsoe, blasted into orbit one fateful night in Foxborough by Jets linebacker Mo Lewis, had lost his starting job to a relative novice because of injury. Brady became the face of the three-ring franchise.
Now it is Michael Vick who is on the Wally Pipp clock. Now it is Chip Kelly who will be faced with, at the very least, a season-changing decision. Now it is Nick Foles who gets to state his case for the job of quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles.
Foles mostly has taken the moment and run with it since Vick felt trouble in his hamstring after running out of bounds against the Giants. If he outduels Tony Romo on Sunday in the first-place showdown few expected, in the first-place shootout everyone expects, he will deserve to remain as starter.
Foles, whose foot speed has been the butt of jokes, clearly does not offer the nuclear option Vick’s legs gives Kelly’s 5-hour Energy offense, but he threatens the entire field with a bigger, more accurate arm. It is easy to make the argument Foles provides Kelly with a more favorable complement to LeSean McCoy.
Vick absolutely has his supporters in the locker room, but any risk of a division within the ranks would be mitigated by the strong friendship he and Foles have forged, not to mention the likelihood of blind obedience to the new sheriff in town.
But clearly, Foles has demonstrated the game is by no means too big for him, and if Kelly reaches the conclusion that Foles has closed the gap on Vick, then he could further be compelled to find out as much as he can about whether he can be both the Quarterback of the Present and Future.
The handwriting may have been on the wall over the summer, when Kelly refused to entertain the notion of trading Foles, a 2012 third-round draft choice of Andy Reid, even after drafting Matt Barkley in the fourth round of his first NFL Draft. Of course, when Kelly was at Oregon, Foles strafed the Ducks for 1,160 yards and 10 touchdowns in three games as Arizona quarterback. Kelly was so smitten with Foles after a 56-31 victory in 2011 that he said: “I’ll tell you what, I’m glad Nick Foles is graduating. I catch myself watching him in awe sometimes. … Nick is a hell of a football player. That kid’s a warrior. He’s as good as anyone in the country.”
Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg was the Eagles offensive coordinator when Foles was drafted 13 slots behind Russell Wilson.
“He got killed back there,” Mornhinweg said, “but that answered questions about his toughness. He’s a tough kid, and you could see it.”
It wasn’t long before Mornhinweg could see plenty more.
“I coached a great rookie one time in Jeff Garcia, who had great command,” Mornhinweg said. “I had him there in San Francisco. I will say this — Nick Foles has excellent command. It appears that he is an excellent leader. I would say that would be true.”
As recently as Friday, here is what center Jason Kelce said on Philadelphia radio: “[Foles] really has a great huddle feel, if that’s the word. He goes in right away, as soon as he is put into a situation and he asserts himself. He’s not nervous, he’s not soft spoken. He really does have that kind of quarterback leadership that you want.”
Foles loves playing quarterback and cares more winning than personal statistics. He broke Drew Brees’ passing records at Austin’s Westlake High in Texas.
“I’ve never worried about breaking records, ever,” Foles said at his introductory Eagles press conference. He threw for three TDs and ran for another in the Eagles’ 31-20 victory over the Buccaneers last week. That makes him 38-for-56 with five TD passes and two rushing TDs since Vick was sidelined.
In a 2010 interview with the Oklahoman, he told how his mother gave him inspiration:
“She gave me this picture. I still have it in my bathroom. It’s Steve Nash … and it says, ‘It’s not what you do when everybody’s watching. It’s what you do when no one is watching.’ It’s him shooting baskets in the dark.”
He is a 6-foot-6, 243-pound gunslinger who plays fast and fearlessly, an unflappable gym rat loaded with poise and intangibles, and now everybody, Vick included, will be watching him in broad daylight against Romo and the Cowboys, shooting for the moon.