Nick Foles’ passer rating of 112.2 ranked third in the NFL preseason through Friday night’s games. Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Here are the stats: Nick Foles has completed 36 of 57 passes for 507 yards, with six touchdowns and two interceptions, in three preseason games with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Not bad.
The former Arizona Wildcats quarterback played to more positive reviews Friday night as he started in place of the injured Michael Vick. Foles, a third-round rookie, was 12 of 19 for 146 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception.
“I’m having a blast,” Foles told reporters in the locker room.
(You can see the interview and highlights at PhiladelphiaEagles.com)
Foles played the first half, leading the Eagles to a 17-3 lead. Philadelphia ended up beating the Cleveland Browns 27-10.
The teams meet in the first week of the regular season, so neither was going to show any exotic schemes, but it was another step forward for Foles, making his claim to be Vick’s primary backup when the season begins.
Eagles coach Andy Reid said Foles did show good awareness of the blitz when faced with that Friday night.
“You take what you can see and you evaluate that,” Reid said in his postgame press conference, responding to a question of tempering expectations because it’s just the preseason. “For what’s been thrown at him, he’s handled it well.”
Foles’ interception came on the first drive when he put a deep ball for DeSean Jackson into double coverage
“I underthrew him a little bit, which is no-no in that situation,” Foles said. “Good play, bad play, it’s on to the next play.”
Foles moved on to have a productive game.
“He managed the game well,” Reid said.
“He had a couple of nice throws. There were a couple I think he’d like to have back. Those were young guy mistakes. He worked through it, he came back and he kept firing. You’re looking at that as a coach — does he get gun shy or does he continue to fire? And he did it. He stayed aggressive and did a pretty nice job, I thought.”
Mike Kafka (who has missed the past two exhibition games because of fractured non-throwing hand) or Trent Edwards will be the odd-man out when the Eagles get down to three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster.
“Nick’s well on his way,” left tackle King Dunlap was quoted as saying by the Philadelphia Daily News.
“He’s just one of those guys who’s got that gunslinger mentality; if he sees somebody going deep, he’ll let it go, and he’s got the confidence in himself to make every throw on the field, so that’s always fun.”