"Nick Foles is the greatest thing since sliced bread"
"He is just a product of Chip Kelly"
"Foles is just lucky"
All three of the aforementioned have been said, and are the views of a lot of different people. The truth is, Foles is the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, who only has 16 career starts. It is not fair to assert his ceiling, floor, or how good or bad he is. He has started just 16 games, and has not entered an offseason as the starting quar
Now, Foles had one of the best seasons we have ever seen from a quarterback last year with 27 touchdowns and only two interceptions, a league-leading 9.1 yards per attempt, and a league-best 119.2 passer rating. Foles is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, he is not just a product of Kelly, and he is not just lucky. He made a lot of very good throws, and some questionable throws. But regardless of what we think about him, he is a statistical dream for the forseeable future. Why is that? Take a look at the following numbers.
Foles in 2013: 2891 yards, 27 touchdowns, two interceptions.
Foles' 2013 pace: 16 starts, 4625 yards, 43 touchdowns, 3 interceptions.
Eagles in 2013: 4110 yards, 32 touchdowns, nine interceptions.
As we all know, Foles had an incredible year. It was not Peyton Manning or Drew Brees incredible, but still a very successful season. Looking ahead, what can we expect from Foles?
No one can expect Foles to put up a ratio of 27-2 again, can we? At times last year, opposing teams should have picked a few passes off, but the ball was able to slip through the cracks. In that way, Foles was lucky. This being one of them:
In addition, the Eagles will face the NFC West this season, which means Foles will have to deal with the Seahawks, 49ers, and Cardinals defense. That will not lead to a seven touchdown performance again like Foles did to the Raiders.
So what can we expect? Statistical models have varied on Foles, simply because there is not a large sample size to choose from, and Chip Kelly has only coached for one season. But taking a look at what he was able to do last season, then adding a year under his belt. Foles could still have an excellent season.
Expect the Eagles to rely heavily on the run once again, but averaging more than a big play a game will still happen, especially with Jeremy Maclin returning, Zach Ertz having a year of experience, the additions of Darren Sproles and Jordan Matthews. Despite losing DeSean Jackson, Foles will have plenty of weapons at his disposal, and the key element of Kelly's offense is still one of Foles' strengths: getting the ball to his playmakers on the fly.
Expect Foles to throw for 4000 yards and over 25 touchdowns. But do not expect just two inteceptions again.
Projection: 4200 yards 30 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.