The improbable hero of the Eagles’ run to Super Bowl glory last season, Foles was much-maligned early in the campaign as he struggled to replicate his playoff heroics in the opening weeks.
Philadelphia endured an up-and-down season when usual starting quarterback Carson Wentz returned to the fray, and the Eagles’ hopes looked to be hanging by a thread this month after a 29-23 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on December 9.
However, a back injury to Wentz put Foles back into the mix and he earned a third successive win on Sunday as the Eagles’ 24-0 shutout of the Washington Redskins - coupled with the Minnesota Vikings’ loss to the Chicago Bears - secured a Wild Card berth for Philadelphia.
With Wentz unlikely to return, Foles now has a shot to repeat his achievements of the previous postseason, starting when the Eagles visit the Bears on Sunday, and he and his team-mates are relishing the opportunity.
“It’s been a crazy year. It was really special as we were waiting for the other game to finish, as we were taking care of business on the field,” Foles said.
“It’s super exciting. It hasn’t been an easy ride and you know, we got some help. It’s really special. We get to keep on playing, we get to wear the Eagles jersey one more time, and you know, I’m really excited, the locker room is super excited, it will be hard to sleep tonight.
“I think the big thing I’ve talked about is, you know, there was never a quitting attitude. Though we might not have been winning all the games we wanted to, the guys never gave up. Never wavered. We just kept working, kept believing, kept communicating with one another. And sometimes it just takes time.
“We talk about going through adversity and it just shows that if you stick together, you lean on one another, you can do great things. So, we’ve got to keep doing that.”
Head coach Doug Pederson added: “It’s exciting. It’s a lot of hard work that just paid off, and you know, it’s what we set out to do, obviously. Obviously in this journey we didn’t meet a lot of our goals but one of them was to get into the postseason and we were able to do that so we’re excited for that.
“It was a lot of excitement, a lot of jubilation in the locker room and just told the guys congratulations, we’re in the postseason, and I told them exactly - you know, what I mentioned earlier - we set out to get yourselves into the tournament, they’ve done that and we’ve got another opportunity next week.”
0 votes
