FOND MEMORIES OF NICK FOLES STIRRED UP WITH EAGLES’ VISIT TO JACKSONVILLE
Foles now a Jaguar, but Philly will always have warm spot for him
He was their savior when all hope seemed lost and forever will be remembered as such.
It doesn’t matter that Nick Foles will be on the opposite sideline when the Eagles visit the Jacksonville Jaguars for a preseason game Thursday night.
A part of the new Jaguars starting quarterback will always be an Eagle, and there will always be a place in Eagles lore for him.
Philadelphia holds such a special place in Foles’ heart that he chose to change his jersey number from 9 to 7 upon arriving in Jacksonville.
“No. 9 stays in Philadelphia,” Foles told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Derrick Gunn. “That number means a lot to me. It pertains to that city.”
The words sure beat something like: “No. 9 will always love you.”
Foles, who will not play in Thursday’s game, is the most beloved Eagle to depart in free agency since Reggie White, maybe even more so since all the latest generation of Eagles fans have to remember White by is videotape and what their parents told them.
Every Eagles fan alive today has memories of the “Philly Special” and assorted other Foles highlights from the four playoff victories he helped deliver over the previous two seasons in Philadelphia.
Guard Brandon Brooks’ fondest one was the moment in the huddle when Foles called for a flea-flicker that would go to Torrey Smith for a 41-yard touchdown in the 2017 NFC championship game against the Minnesota Vikings.
“He was like, all right, give me time because this will be a touchdown,” Brooks said. “And sure enough, it was. That’s one thing that stuck with me.
“And then the second thing is no matter how big a moment was or how low a moment was, he was always just like,L`et’s focus in here. We’re good.’ He would really stay in the moment. He’d never get too high or too low.”
But Foles would get chemically stimulated and he helped Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz discover the joys of doing the same.
“I always credit Nick for getting me into liking coffee,” Wentz said. “Nick was always making coffee every morning.
I was never a big coffee guy, and then I’d try the stuff he’d
make. So I credit Nick for getting me into coffee.”
Like Brooks, when Wentz talks to Foles these days, football sometimes doesn’t even get mentioned. They will talk about wives and families and maybe even how Foles’ dog is doing.
But football? That subject might not get discussed.
“You’d be surprised by how much we don’t talk about over
here,” Brooks said.
So appreciative was Brooks for the job Foles did in finishing the job Wentz started in 2017 that he volunteered to restructure his contract so the Eagles could give Foles a pay raise in 2018 without upsetting their salary-cap structure.
Not to be outdone, former defensive end Chris Long last year erected a shrine honoring Foles in the locker room.
This was their backup quarterback, folks. Foles was the best in the NFL at the time, but still he was a backup.
No matter. The respect for Foles ran deep and still does.
Wentz’s close relationship with Foles has been well-documented.
During his down time, Wentz was in every meeting and on the sideline for every game, providing both moral and technical support for Foles. Of course, he was just reciprocating what Foles did for Wentz while Wentz was playing.
“I’m excited to see him,” Wentz said. “He’s a great friend.
“I wish him the best down there.”
Like Foles, Wentz is unlikely to take a snap Thursday night. Their reps will all be mental, but they’ve shared enough of those to last a lifetime.
Foles shared a lot with Pederson too and helped him become a better coach.
“I just had to go back to my days when I was a quarterback coach with him here [in 2012],” Pederson said. “Going back and how I evaluated Nick as a player coming out of college and sort of that relationship that we had only for a short period of time. Then I think kind of watching his career from afar a little bit, it made me go back and just study him as a player.
“Again … some of it was play design, play-call, what he liked. But I think that’s the communication that you have with playcaller and quarterback — the same that Carson and I have, and that just makes me better as a play-caller.
“It makes me aware of his strengths, which are different than Carson’s strengths or Cody [Kessler]’s strengths or Clayton [Thorson]’s strengths. All that makes me not only a better coach but a better play-caller.” Not to mention a winner. Aside from his rookie season on Andy Reid’s sinking ship, Foles started 32 games for the Eagles, including playoffs, and won 24. He went 10-3 with Pederson as his coach and Wentz as his teammate.
That’s just part of the immense legacy Foles leaves behind.
And it’s why the memories and respect will never fade.
Morning Call reporter Nick Fierro can be reached at 610-7782243 or nfierro@mcall.com.