The Philadelphia Eagles are 1-0.
Nick Foles, finished his season debut with 19 completions on 34 attempts for 117 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
To put that in perspective, no quarterback in any game during the 2017 season threw more than 30 passes and finished with fewer yards than Foles’ 117 total from Thursday.
His 50.7 passer rating was almost enough to give the Eagles an 0-1 record to start the year. But running backs Corey Clement and Jay Ajayi came to the rescue with 35 combined rushing yards on the team’s last three offensive plays, and a defensive stand in the final seconds preserved the win.
It might take efforts like that to keep the Eagles on track until Carson Wentz is ready to return.
The Nick Foles experience is a roller coaster
This wasn’t a new or shocking performance for Foles. For years, he’s been a player capable of three interceptions one week and seven touchdowns the next.
It’s entirely possible that he’ll light up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — owners of a much less formidable defense than the Falcons — for 400 yards in Week 2.
In his storybook 2017, Foles took the reins as a starter in Week 15 after Wentz went down with an ACL tear. He passed the test with flying colors with four touchdowns and no interceptions in a 34-29 win over the Giants.
Then he followed the performance with 202 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions on 49 passing attempts in the last two games of the year. The Eagles converted one of 17 third downs with Foles under center in Weeks 16 and 17.
He also struggled through this preseason, throwing for 171 yards, zero touchdowns, and two interceptions.
So the Eagles getting the bad version of Foles on Thursday shouldn’t be a surprise. It happens … apparently at random.
The Eagles can win, regardless
Fortunately for Philadelphia, its defense is going to cause problems for everyone.
A defensive line that already had Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, and Chris Long added Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata in the offseason. It held the Falcons to 74 rushing yards and harassed Matt Ryan all night, sacking the quarterback three times in the final seven minutes.
