Last time Foles faced Raiders, he made NFL history
PHILADELPHIA » The game that put Nick Foles on the NFL map began with a scramble and ended with an incomplete pass.
Between the extremes on that November day in 2013, Foles tied the single-game NFL record with seven touchdown passes to lead the Eagles to a 49-20 laugher over the Oakland Raiders that shook the Bay Area.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, requisitioned Foles’ No. 9 jersey and the size 16 cleats he wore on Nov. 3, 2013. What separates Foles from the other legends who throw seven scoring passes in a game — Peyton Manning, Joe Kapp, Y.A. Tittle, George Blanda, Adrian Burk (Eagles) and Sid Luckman — is that he’s the only member to complete the job with a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Foles made no mention of the little-known distinction Wednesday, preferring to focus on the 2017 Raiders, the Eagles’ opponent Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field. It was impossible, of course, to avoid questions about his piece of history.
“Our team was just trying to really figure out our identity at that point,” Foles said. “We had had ups and downs and we were just trying to put it all together. I look back at
that day as that was the day we put everything together. Sort of that ah-hah moment. Like, ‘we can do this.’ Like ‘we know who we are. We know we can be explosive.’ And we just sort of took off at that point.”
That proved to be the marquee game of the 2013 season for the Eagles. Foles threw 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions to lead the Eagles to a 10-6 mark and the NFC East crown. The Eagles hosted a wild card game and Foles got them a late lead, but the New Orleans Saints prevailed, Drew Brees draining every last tick off the clock. Foles broke a collarbone the next season after leading the Eagles to a 6-2 record, and has since been a football nomad.
The Raider defense Foles beat up for three touchdown catches to Riley Cooper, and one each to Brent Celek, Zach Ertz, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson, scattered to the ends of the earth.
Ertz, who caught his first TD pass on that record day, spent a lot of time looking at the scoreboard. And it’s safe to say the Stanford soul had never been part of anything so epic.
“Once you get over four, you kind of just lose track,” Ertz said. “It felt like no matter what the defense called, what we called as an offense was going to work. It was crazy. Nick was taking shots. DJack and Riley were running all over the place. It was a crazy day. We still had time left in the fourth. He could have had a lot more. We pulled him and put (Matt) Barkley in. It was a crazy day, for sure.”
Then Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, with a 33-point lead, replaced Foles with a little less than 12 minutes left in the final frame. The moment was just too big for Kelly. When Foles sat down, it was the end of his, and the Eagles’ shot at immortality.
“He would have ended up setting the NFL record if we had let him stay in,” center Jason Kelce said. “We were doing some things that the Raiders, quite frankly, didn’t have an answer for. And the way he was throwing and the way the receivers were running the routes and everything, it was almost like you were unstoppable in that game.”
Fast forward to this season and it sure looks like Foles is picking up where he left off. Last Sunday he helped the Eagles to a 3429 win over the New York Giants with four TD passes, the most he’s thrown since that epic November day four seasons ago.
On Christmas night, Foles makes his first start at the Linc since Oct. 12, 2014, when he threw a couple of touchdown passes to lead the Eagles to a 27-0 rout of the New York Giants, elevating his team to a 5-1 record.
The Eagles (12-2) are one win from clinching the No. 1 seed in the NFC. They will be the top seed if the Green Bay Packers, without Aaron Rodgers, somehow upset the Minnesota Vikings (113) Saturday night.
From a sentimental standpoint, it would mean a lot if Foles got that mission accomplished.
“Any time you wear an Eagles uniform it’s really special,” Foles said. “To step back out there at the Linc, I’m really excited for that opportunity. Knowing Philadelphia. It will be rocking. I can’t wait to see the fans and see the excitement and the energy in the stadium. I’m really excited for it.”