02-05-2018, 11:02 PM
(02-05-2018, 03:25 PM)sandwedge Wrote: I notice a couple of Brady's ball "wobbling" and floating like Peyton's last year in the league. Not saying he's ready for retirement but definitely saw some rather un-Tommy like throws.
Exactly who I was thinking of as I watched some of his throws. He just doesn't have much mustard on anything anymore.
(02-05-2018, 03:28 PM)Au165 Wrote: -I mean Brady threw for 500 yards under duress with no ints where as Foles threw for 370 and did have an int. I would say Brady did have the better night, again contrary to the narrative. If I told you one guy threw for 25% more yards and had no INTS compared to 1 INT without any other context you are probably saying the first one was better.
-Not sure what season was one of the "best all-time", he has never thrown over 3,000 yards in a season. He had a season of 27 TDs and 2 INTs in a spread attack, but outside of that one anomaly he has been a 1:1 int to TD guy most his career.
- There is a difference between being a system QB and gimmick QB, so I apologize in that yea basic passing concepts in systems will highlight guys strengths and it has for many. Foles is a gimmick QB that is relying on a rarely used college gimmick to give him easy reads. The whole RPO thing will get exposed like most gimmicks do in the NFL. After the Raiders game this year when he got exposed they went all in on the RPO setup. Now he made some great throws last night, but if you think that's the guy your getting someone is going to have to explain why his only other good year was using the same gimmick with Kelly.
Again, if someone wants to build their team around Foles and RPO they can. The issue will be defenses will catch up and if he can't win dropping back in a pocket and scanning defenses without the gimmick he will fail...like he did in St. Louis.
1. I know it's cliche, but you can't just look at the stats. Brady added on 82 yards on pretty meaningless drives at the end of the 1st half and end of the game. He also had a crucial fumble (understatement), dropped his TD pass (Foles caught his) and had a turnover on downs (2 straight incompletions). Not that Brady was bad by any stretch. He was great...but Foles was just as good, if not better, taking all into consideration.
2. Foles' 119.2 rating in 2013 is the 3rd best rating in NFL history. That makes it one of the best passing seasons in history. He actually did throw for 3086 yards (29 TDs) that season (counting the playoff game) in only 11 starts. He was well above a 3000 yard pace in 2012, 2013, 2014 and threw for 1508 yards in 6 starts this season (4000 yard pace). He just hasn't started enough games. In 2012 and 2013, Michael Vick was still around and held in high regard. In 2014, Foles broke his collarbone after 8 games/starts.
Then there was the season with Jeff Fisher's Rams, which ruined Foles' reputation. After that, he had 2 great games for KC, before making his triumphant return to Philly.
IMO, the anomaly was the season with Fisher (69.0 rating, 4-7 record). Outside of that, Foles has a 21-11 record (counting playoffs) and has averaged around 4000 yards and 28 TDs per 16 games, with a 95.1 rating. There's plenty of evidence that he can be "the guy" for someone. He's shown a lot of promise for everyone outside of Jeff Fisher, turning in great performances for Kelly, Reid and Pederson.
3. Wentz ran a lot of RPO this year, too...and I don't see anyone doubting him (he wasn't nearly as good as a rookie). Tbh, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. The RPO stuff probably brings out the best in Foles, but he's also probably way better than what he showed in 2015 with Fisher the QB killer. I don't think Foles was running RPO with Andy Reid, when he turned in a promising rookie season, then had 2 very good games in KC for Reid as well.
It's also fair to note that Foles was injured up til Wentz got hurt, and had virtually no practice time in the offense...which may explain the fade down the stretch and the more heavy reliance on RPO in the playoffs.
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TL/DR: If we throw out this year and his time with Chip - attributing all of Foles' success to RPO - it's only fair to also throw out his year with Jeff Fisher, who sucks with QB's. That leaves out most of Foles' career, leaving only his time with Andy Reid (the guy that drafted him). He showed plenty of promise in that time, but that only entails 9 games in 2 seasons.
If you look at all this, it's tough to properly gauge Foles either way. I feel good about the guy, but I understand not being fully sold.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
