Nick Foles entered the game with six touchdown passes this season. Photo by Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Arizona’s history is such that it went 39 years — to the day — without having a quarterback alum throw a pass in an NFL game.
Nick Foles ended that unfortunate piece of history last season as a rookie.
As a second-year pro, he made history.
Foles tied an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes Sunday in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 49-20 win at the Oakland Raiders. He is the seventh player to reach that mark (see list below), only the third to do it without an interception.
He joins Peyton Manning and Y.A. Tittle in that regard.
“It was a team win,” Foles said right at the beginning of his postgame press conference, never failing to dish out credit. “The receivers did a great job downfield making plays. And I had time to throw. With all that together, it was a great team win.”
Foles, making his third start of the season in place of Michael Vick (hamstring), completed 22 of 28 passes for a career-high 406 yards. His final touchdown pass came with 4:28 left in the third quarter to put the Eagles up 49-13.
He directed two more drives after that to try to set the record, but Philadelphia went three-and-out both times. Rookie Matt Barkley then came in for Foles with 9:23 to go.
“I know what the record is, but this isn’t about records,” coach Chip Kelly said.
“This is about going out and getting a win. If I put Nick out there trying to get a record and he gets hurt, that’s being silly. I also think records are meant to be broken when they’re meant to be broken.”
Nick Foles gets up to celebrate a second-quarter TD connection with Riley Cooper. Photo by Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Here are Foles’ touchdown passes:
– 2 yards to Brent Celek
– 17 yards to Riley Cooper
– 63 yards to Riley Cooper
– 15 yards to Zach Ertz
– 25 yards to LeSean McCoy
– 46 yards to DeSean Jackson
– 5 yards to Riley Cooper
Foles was coming off a miserable performance in his most recent outing, going 11 of 29 for 80 yards in a loss to Dallas two weeks ago, when he suffered a concussion late in the game. He was not active last week but an ailing Vick opened the door for Foles to take control of Kelly’s up-tempo offense.
“I think what happened in the Dallas game was the exception, not the rule for him,” Kelly said.
“He’s a guy who really spends a lot of time preparing, and it shows. Today was a prime example. He really had a good week of prep. He was just dialed in to what we wanted to do. He was outstanding in terms of his performance today.”
There’s a good chance Foles will win his second NFC Offensive Player of the Week award in the past month. He won it for his performance at Tampa Bay on Oct. 13, when he went 22 of 31 for 296 yards with three touchdowns and one rushing score.
Asked if he had ever thrown seven touchdown passes in a game before (he maxed out at six during his Arizona career), Foles replied, “Only in a video game.”
He added: “I slowed everything down. I really just understood what we were trying to do. I wasn’t trying to make too big of plays. Obviously, there are going to be times when big plays need to be made, but I was trying to do what I did all week in practice.”
Talking about the record he said, “The greatest thing about it is the guys you do it with. It’s something that is special for the Philadelphia Eagles organization.”
Here are the quarterbacks who have thrown for seven touchdown passes in an NFL game (source, NFL.com):
| Player | Team | TD passes | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nick Foles | Philadelphia Eagles | 7 | Nov. 3, 2013 |
| Peyton Manning | Denver Broncos | 7 | Sept. 5, 2013 |
| Joe Kapp | Minnesota Vikings | 7 | Sept. 28, 1969 |
| Y.A. Tittle | New York Giants | 7 | Oct. 28, 1962 |
| George Blanda | Houston Oilers | 7 | Nov. 19, 1961 |
| Adrian Burk | Philadelphia Eagles | 7 | Oct. 17, 1954 |
| Sid Luckman | Chicago Bears | 7 | Nov. 14, 1943 |
Related: Nick Foles at No. 24 in our countdown of top Arizona football players