Usually, Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles takes a fairly long nap at the team hotel before road night games. It’s a good way to kill time and be fresh so he can help the starter, Carson Wentz, on the sidelines during games.
But Sunday, even in the comfy Omni Los Angeles Hotel, with hours to kill before the 1:50 p.m. team bus to the Coliseum, Foles was buzzing. He read the Bible, which he does every morning; on the road he uses a Bible app on his phone. He read devotionals. “I knew there’d be adversity today, so I read what I thought would help me,” Foles said. He journaled on his iPad, a hobby that helps him feel connected to his family when he’s away. He Facetimed with wife Tori and baby daughter Lily. “And Henry,” Foles added. That’s the family golden doodle, who reportedly is a good boy.
“Today I couldn’t nap,” Foles said from the Eagles’ locker room in Los Angeles late Sunday night. “I tried, but I had too much on my mind. Too many butterflies.”
That would give Foles a lot in common with the city of Philadelphia. Earlier in the week, Wentz, the Eagles’ franchise quarterback, got struck down for the second year in a row. Last year, it was a knee injury in the Coliseum against the Rams—exactly 53 weeks removed from this game—that kayoed Wentz. This year, reports say Wentz has a fractured vertebrae in his back; it’s more likely than not Wentz will be out for the season. Coming off a Super Bowl run last year, nothing has come easy for the Eagles, including a well-played and fluky tipped ball that handed the Cowboys a heartbreaking overtime win over Philadelphia a week ago. That left the Eagles 6-7 and, particularly with the news of the Wentz injury, dead for 2018.
Right?
But here came Foles, and for much of the evening, it felt like last January again. First eight Philadelphia drives of the night: field goal, field goal, failed fourth-down conversion, touchdown, punt, touchdown, field goal, touchdown. After those eight drives, behind the steady hand of Foles and the unsteady hands and feet of the Rams, the Eagles led 30-13. When it was over, the Eagles, 13-point dogs (and I don’t mean Henry) had a 30-23 victory over the stumbling Rams, losers of two straight for the first time in the 31-game Sean McVay Era of good fun.
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Just as everything Doug Pederson touched turned to touchdowns last year, everything this franchise has touched has turned to BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO by its infamous fandom this year. Foles took over in this same stadium last year and got the save in the NFC East-clinching victory while Wentz was in the locker room with two torn knee ligaments. This year, it was Wentz, wearing an earpiece to hear the playcalls and offer advice, on the sideline helping Foles.
“The huddle’s my sanctuary,” Foles said. “Today you’ve got phones, Instagram, Twitter. It’s hard to just be in the moment. But I like to be in the moment, be present. Today I was able to block everything about the significance of this—being back in the same place it started last year, playing on a big Sunday night game, playing for our playoffs [hopes]—and just focusing on one moment. One play. Then the next play. I called on my experience on playing in high-pressure games last year and succeeding. I think it helped.”
The Eagles’ playoff hopes still hang by a thread. For Philly to win the division, Dallas must lose to the Bucs and Giants, and the Eagles must beat Houston and Washington. Um, not likely. But to make the playoffs, the Eagles need to go 2-0 while Washington, Minnesota and Carolina all lose at least one game. Possible. Not likely, but Nick Foles has been in this situation before in what is becoming a downright weird career. The book he wrote last year after the Super Bowl was called “Believe It.” But if Foles has another run in him, and there’s a sequel to his first book, I’m going to push for this title: “Even I Can’t Believe It.”
