IT’S FAMILY FIRST FOR NICK FOLES.
Eagles QB talks glowingly of wife, daughter
After his Super Bowl MVP news conference early Monday morning, Nick Foles and his family flew off to Disney World.
After that, how much you want to bet the Philadelphia Eagles’ super humble, super grounded hero of Super Bowl LII guests on a few daytime talk shows?
Because talent chasers for those programs must know by now the quarterback would melt the hearts of millions of women by the way he talks so glowingly about his loving wife, Tori, and their infant daughter, Lily.
Foles, if you didn’t know, was a ballcap-wearing backup all season for the Eagles, until starting passer and MVP candidate Carson Wentz tore his left ACL in mid December and was lost for the season.
Enter Foles, who looked more than a little shaky in starting Philly’s last three regular-season games.
But in the team’s bye week before playing host to Atlanta in an NFC divisional playoff game on Jan. 14, Foles and head coach Doug Pederson tweaked the offensive playbook to try and emphasize Foles’ skill- set. After that, the sixth-year pro played like a superstar in piloting the Eagles to three impressive wins and, on Sunday night at Minnesota’s U.S. Bank Stadium, their first Super Bowl victory, to the delight of Philadelphians.
Asked Monday to share what went through his mind when he first saw his wife and baby on the field in that green- and- white confetti hurricane immediately after the game, Foles immediately turned to mush.
“Ah, these questions always get me emotional,” the 29-year-old said.
“Just looking in ( the baby’s) eyes, the whole world slowed down. And just seeing her look at the confetti, and looking into my wife’s eyes and embracing her, and just knowing that I get to spend the rest of my life with her.
“That’s what ( this) is all about. It’s about that moment where you just enjoy the love.”
Asked what he did after deboarding the team bus back at the team hotel, Foles said, sure, he j oined his teammates at a big celebratory party. Not that he stayed long. Why? You got it. He missed his family.
“I went to for a little bit, but my family wasn’t there,” Foles said. “They were pretty tired. My daughter had to go to sleep, so shortly after that I wanted to go see them. I had 20-plus people here.”
Right. Other family and friends. Foles said he just kicked back, reflected and merely “hung out” with them, in quiet.
“That’s it. Simple,” he said. “Just staying in the moment, enjoying the moment.” That wasn’t all. Foles, who practically quit pro football a couple years ago in frustration to become a preacher, gave a peptalkfor-the-ages about never giving up, a mere hours after one of the Super Bowl’s unlikely performances- for- theages.
“I think the big thing is don’t be afraid to fail,” Foles said. “In our society today, you know, with Instagram and Twitter, there’s a lot of ( criticized) failure. But failure is a part of life. It’s a part of building character and growing. Without failure, who would we be? I wouldn’t be up here if I hadn’t fallen t housands of t i mes and made mistakes.
“We all are human, we all have weaknesses. And just being able to share that and be transparent. I know when I listen to people speak and they share their weaknesses, I’m listening. Because I can resonate.
“So, I’m not perfect. I’m not super man. I might be in the NFL and we might have just won the Super Bowl, but we still have daily struggles. I still have daily struggles. But that’s where my faith comes in, that’s where my family comes in. When you look at a struggle in life, that’s just an opportunity for your character to grow.”
So, after he’s done parading down Main Street U. S.A. i n Disney World’s Magic Kingdom on Monday, and doing interviews in front of Cinderella’s castle (you can’t make this up, people), Foles might well further spread his worthy messages on the awwwws- and- tearjerking circuit.
It’s a small world, after all.