PHILADELPHIA -- With the Philadelphia Eagles' running game on the way to a full recovery, the No. 1 order of business when Chip Kelly’s training sessions resume Tuesday is getting Nick Foles back on track.
The timing is pretty good. Although the Eagles face some teams with big-name defensive players over the next month, they do not face a truly elite defense. J.J. Watt and Clay Matthews may turn up on the highlight shows, but their teams are not ranked in the top 15 defensively.
The Eagles’ next opponent, Arizona, has the 18th-ranked defense as measured by overall yardage allowed. Houston has Watt but is ranked 29th in the NFL defensively. After that, Carolina is 26th and Green Bay is 19th.
More to the point when talking about Foles, Arizona is 31st among 32 teams in passing yards allowed. Houston is 28th and Carolina 22nd. Only Green Bay, which is ranked sixth in the league in passing yards allowed per game, has a respectable pass defense.
Of course, the New York Giants have the 25th-ranked passing defense and Foles managed to throw two woeful interceptions against them before the bye week. Foles has thrown seven interceptions through six games, and it’s pretty hard to find a simple solution.
The first one against the Giants was especially mystifying. Foles had Darren Sproles as a check-down receiver to his right. Knowing that, Foles looked downfield, mostly to his left, for several seconds. When he decided to swing the ball over to Sproles, he neglected the highly recommended step of first looking to make sure a defender wasn’t standing right there.
One was. But the really disturbing aspect of the play was just how terrible Foles’ mechanics looked on the throw. Maybe he saw the defender at the last moment and that threw him off. But Foles turned, failed to shift his weight and sort of pushed the ball to his right. Antrel Rolle made the interception.
On the second pick, Foles simply took off as the pocket collapsed in front of him. It was the perfect time to throw the ball away, which Kelly suggested was Foles’ intent. But Foles appeared to be throwing to Jeremy Maclin, except cornerback Zack Bowman was standing in front of Maclin. On both interceptions, it seems as if Foles was incapable of seeing the defensive players in front of him.
As Kelly said after that game, turnovers are a major no-no for teams that have opportunities to win their division and advance in the playoffs. Foles did a remarkable job of avoiding them last season. The Eagles need him to become that quarterback again now that the bye week is behind them.