Birds hope QB Foles keeps their roll going

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. » Dick Vermeil led the Eagles to a Super Bowl in 1980, but he needed Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner to win one in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams.

While Nick Foles is no Carson Wentz, the latter out with a torn ACL, Vermeil thinks the Eagles have a shot to win it all because of the coaching job done by Doug Pederson and his staff.

No NFL head coach has overcome more adversity this season, one win from locking up at least the No. 2 seed and a playoff bye when the Eagles oppose the freefalling Giants Sunday at MetLife Stadium (1 p.m., FOX29, WIP 94.1-FM).

If the Eagles muscle their way into those top seeds, it’s going to be tough for dome teams to beat them.

“I look at all the defined coachable situations in the game,” Vermeil said recently. “Third-down conversions, outstanding job. Red zone, glaringly. To me those are all real solid examples of real fine coaching by him and his staff. They’re giving them great definition. In fact, you sort of wish you could play third down more often. You sort of wish you could get in the red zone more often. Their percentage of success down

there is tremendous. And they will continue to have that success. Why? Because the same guys are coaching them.

“Now, it won’t be Carson doing it. I believe, and I could be wrong, and I’m high on Carson, but I believe that Nick can throw some balls more accurately than Carson can. Nick has a nice touch on the 35-yard, 40-yard pass.”

The Eagles are third in the NFL in third-down offense, converting at a 45.3 percent clip. They’ve scored 31 touchdowns on 46 redzone drives for a leagueleading 67.4 percent efficiency.

Wentz obviously was a huge part of the Eagles scoring 30 or more points in eight games, tied with the Rams for most in the league. He extended plays most quarterbacks cannot.

The 28-year-old Foles will be under the spotlight this weekend. Is he the young man who threw 27 TD passes and just two interceptions on the way to the Pro Bowl in 2013? Or is he the journeyman benched with just seven TDs, 10 interceptions and a 4-7 record in 2015, his last extended duty?

More than anything, Foles is a survivor, and that plays well on a team forced to move on from personnel losses.

The only real question for the Eagles is how much Foles has left. In some ways, that 2013 season in Chip Kelly’s hurry-up offense was an anomaly. The Eagles played so fast that they caught teams with the wrong personnel on the field.

“We kind of caught the league off-guard, for sure, the style of offense that we were running,” center Jason Kelce recalled. “And Nick was just having a great year. He made some unbelievable throws. We had some great skills players. You look back at that roster and we had some players that could make plays. And this year I think we have players that can make plays . ...

“Nick’s proven that he can play if the pieces are around him and if everything is set up to put him in a successful situation. I think we have some good pieces on the offense. I think we have some really good players. And I think he’s in a good situation.”

The following year, Foles guided an Eagles team that had moved on from defense-stretcher DeSean Jackson to a 6-2 mark before sustaining a seasonending broken collarbone.

Foles was hurt when this season began, his throwing elbow keeping him out of the preseason. How long the elbow lasts is anybody’s guess.

Foles has the benefit of proven receivers in Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor. Tight end Zach Ertz, the team’s leading receiver, returns after missing a game due to a concussion. Additionally, the complementary skills of running backs Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement have enabled the coaching staff to attack defenses creatively.

The Eagles (11-2) kept winning despite several key injuries. The list of casualties, among others: Left tackle Jason Peters, running back Darren Sproles, middle linebacker Jordan Hicks, special teams captain Chris Maragos and kicker Caleb Sturgis.

Though the front office did a solid job of adding talent, the next-man-up motto is a lot easier said than done when a talent like Wentz is sidelined. The offensive line is a good example, particularly over the last two games. Wentz’s scrambling ability made up for the unit’s shortcomings, at least until his left ACL popped.

Foles, on the other hand, is about as good a Plan B as a team can hope to have at this stage of a season. His calm demeanor and grasp of the big picture earned him respect in the locker room from the day he joined the Eagles, although he respectfully disagrees.

Foles credits Pederson for keeping everyone comfortable.

“That chemistry is key,” Foles said. “Even the game (in Los Angeles), he knows my personality, he knows he can call whatever play he wants and I’ll be ready to run it. My job right now is to step in that huddle and keep this thing rolling. And that’s what I intend to do.”

For the doubters, Foles leads the Eagles in career passer rating at 94.1, per STATS, LLC.

Sunday he opposes Eli Manning, who has a 1016 record against the Eagles. This could be the last time Manning plays the Eagles as a member of Big Blue. The Giants (2-11) axed their general manager and head coach, leaving interim Steve Spagnuolo to wear the headset as they jockey for draft position.

The Eagles can clinch the No. 1 seed throughout the playoffs if they beat the Giants and the Minnesota Vikings (10-3) lose at home to the Cincinnati Bengals (5-8). Stranger things have happened.

Without Wentz, the Eagles would sure seem to need the home-field advantage throughout the playoffs more than ever. They’ve won eight straight games at Lincoln Financial Field, which should be, oh, about 28 degrees on a warm, wintry playoff day.

“Nobody will beat them in Philadelphia,” Vermeil said. “I don’t think so. You go to Minnesota, play them on the road, it will be tough. You go to New Orleans, play on the road, it will be tough. All those domes, closed with the crowd noise? It really hurts the young offensive linemen more than anybody else. If you play those same teams in Philadelphia I don’t think we can be beat — as long as we don’t lose any other players right now.”