Fewer reasons for Birds to be dogged by QB concerns

PHILADELPHIA » The Eagles were 13-3, seeded No. 1 in the NFC tournament, and betting underdogs Saturday against the Atlanta Falcons. So all week they would pretend to not know why.

They would tout their defense. And ignore that other thing.

They would welcome the boost they would receive from their home crowd. And ignore that other thing.

They would vow to work hard and prepare, and that was evident enough in a 1510 victory that sent them to within a game of the Super Bowl. And they would ignore, well, the obvious. They would ignore that quarterback deal.

They would play the game with their backup, the decent if unspectacular Nick Foles. And the Falcons would play with a guy with a legendary nickname and at least some career achievements to match.

It would be Matty Ice, Matt Ryan, the last NFC quarterback in a Super Bowl, a Hall of Fame candidate with more than 41,000 career passing yards. And he would play against somebody other than Carson Wentz.

The Eagles could spend the week running from that. But eventually, they would have to prove it didn’t matter. That, they did. Not that a game with 25 total points would instantly squeeze into the list of all-time meaningful pro-football quarterback rumbles, but a fourth-

quarter span of 13:01, in which each team had the ball once, would provide a tidy mini-duel. And when it was over, and when Foles, not Ryan, was in the NFC final, and when 69,596 in the Linc could let out a frosty, fatigued exhale, the Eagles didn’t have to pretend any more. They had a quarterback capable of concocting a victory on a day when so many didn’t believe it possible.

“No one has given us a chance,” Doug Pederson said. “And I understand. Carson is a great player. But every week, our guys are hearing the same thing: That now all of a sudden we are not good enough.”

Neither of the telling, 11th-hour drives will ever be celebrated in a 30-for30 special. But for the purposes of deciding whether Foles was destined only to be a punch line, they would do. The first was the Eagles’ 14-play, 80yard hike that would reach the Atlanta three. With the Birds ahead, 12-10, it

would include three successful third-down conversions. Two would require lengthy Foles pass plays, including a toss to Jay Ajayi good for 32 yards and an 11-yard connection with Zach Ertz. “He didn’t rattle,” Ajayi said.

When a third-down pass to Corey Clement left the Eagles three yards short of a touchdown, Pederson considered the blatant arithmetic and fought off any urge to allow Foles to complete the touchdown drive. Instead, Jake Elliott would kick a 21yard field goal, meaning Ryan would need to direct a touchdown drive for the victory. That, Ryan was unable to do when, on fourth-and-goal at the two, he rolled to his right and lofted a balloon toward Julio Jones who was smothered by Jalen Mills.

“That’s the life that you kind of live as a competitor when you get in those situations,” Ryan said. “You want the ball in your hand.”

Even if the contrasting drives essentially ended the same way, with both Foles and Ryan facing fourth-and-goal from in tight, it was the Eagles who had answered the one

question that mattered: Could they win a playoff game with a quarterback who’d spent each of his last three seasons with a different team?

“You guys doubted him,” said Alshon Jeffery, conveniently dropping reporters and bookmakers onto the same pile. “We never doubted him. We never said that. We believe in anybody lining up back there at quarterback. We believe that we still have 21 other guys out there.”

The Eagles did say all the right things, not just last week but for three weeks before that. They would be confident in Foles. The expected sound bites? They would provide them all. But their utter shock that the defending NFC champions would be favored in a game against a team with Quarterback No. 2 was a strategic defense technique. They didn’t reach that point in their profession without understanding that Foles would have to win a playoff game before too many believed it likely.

Cornered last week about what he would consider a successful game, Foles had the quick and proper response: “A win,”

he said. “It doesn’t matter how. Just win.” So Saturday, he helped the Eagles win, completing 23 of 30 passes for 246 yards, being sacked once and not turning the ball over.

“I am very humbled to win this game and to be a part of this team,” he said. “That’s what it’s always been about. I know there were a lot of people against us this week, just answering the questions and hearing about it. But in our locker room, we believe in one another.”

After the game, Lane Johnson and Chris Long ran into the locker room wearing rubber dog masks. It was fair fun at the expense of those who declared a 13-3 team to be a home underdog.

But with Nick Foles having taken them to within a victory of a Super Bowl, they were the only false faces the Eagles would have to wear for a while.

There is no more urgent quarterback issue for them to pretend to ignore.