From backup QB to Super MVP, wild ride is complete
USA TODAY
TWO years ago, Nick Foles contemplated retirement. On Sunday, he was Super Bowl MVP.
It’s been quite the road for the 29-year-old journeyman, who joins former Giants and Washington quarterbacks Jeff Hostetler and Doug Williams to play in three or fewer regular season games and win the Super Bowl.
Like Williams, Foles earned MVP honors.
“Unbelievable,” he said as he accepted the Lombardi Trophy. “All the glory to God.”
Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning score when he found Zach Ertz to give the Eagles a 39-33 lead with 2:21 remaining, which would ultimately prove to be the difference to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and bring Philadelphia its first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
“I felt good, I felt calm, the big thing that helped me is I knew I didn’t have to be Superman,” Foles said at his postgame press conference. “I have amazing teammates, amazing coaches around me. All I had to do was play as hard as I could, play for one another, look at those guys, not look at the scoreboard, not look at the time and just go out there and play, don’t worry about it and we got the victory.”
Foles did not just do it with his arm, either. He caught a touchdown pass on a trick play to end the first half.
Tight end Trey Burton threw a pass to an open Foles, mimicking a play the Patriots ran earlier in the game but failed to convert, to give the Eagles a 22-12 lead at the half.
Foles made another gutsy play in the fourth quarter, too, when he kept the game-winning drive alive by connecting with Ertz on a fourthand-1 from their own 45yard line.
It’s a far cry from just two months ago when Foles was Carson Wentz’s backup, watching the 25-year-old lead the team to an 11-2 record before he tore his ACL in Week 14, ending his season.
“We’ve had a crazy year, a lot of guys injured. We’re not here without Carson Wentz,” Foles said on ESPN’s NFL PrimeTime. “The year he had, I thought he was the MVP of this season and I still say that.”
But Foles, like the rest of the Eagles, embraced the underdog mentality and credits his teammates for the Super Bowl victory.
“We have such a great locker room of guys,” Foles added. “Healthy, younger guys and Carson has been there every step of the way for me and that’s what a team is about. In this moment, you look in your teammates eyes and you love each other and fought for each other and that’s what is special about this moment.”