The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

It's much too early in the guy's career to label Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles the next great NFL QB. However, for as unbelievable as the second-year player's stats have been to this point in the season, they could be even better. For the year, Foles has completed 124 of 196 pass attempts for 1,791 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 125.1 Keep in mind that a perfect quarterback rating is 158.3. Many seem to forget that Foles had one awful start against the Dallas Cowboys a few weeks back, where he completed just 11 of 29 pass attempts for a mere 80 yards and no interceptions. If we were to exclude that seeming aberration in an otherwise great string of games, Foles' numbers would look like this: 113 completions in 167 pass attempts for 1,711 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions, for a quarterback rating of 139.0. While Michael Vick's 86.5 rating this year is very respectable, as he'd find himself right arou...

In light of Nick Foles leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a pair of 4th quarter touchdowns in their 36-21 win over the New York Giants on Sunday, it was inevitable that the ever so fickle sports media would jump on that like a rabbit on pretty much anything. While Vick was spectacular in the team's first two games, he's been rather average in the team's past three. However, at 2-3 and tied atop the NFC East, I still think he gives the team the best chance of making the playoffs this year. Foles is a very capable back-up, but until he develops better intermediate- to long-range passing skills, I have a hard time seeing him as a full-time starter in the league. Also, Chip Kelly's offense revolves around speed. Vick gives him much more flexibility with the offensive play-calling due to this. The threat of Vick's running opens things up for LeSean McCoy in the backfield - much more so than when Foles is behind center. The problem with Philadelphia's offense th...

Following the Philadelphia Eagles' 31-24 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars last night in the team's third preseason game, many Philly sports-writers were quick to label starting quarterback Michael Vick as "shaky," all the while praising the play of backup quarterback Nick Foles. While Foles was very efficient in the second half of last night's game and has been for most of the preseason, I'm still slightly perplexed on the myriad of such articles which were published by Philadelphia writers either last night or this morning. Vick wasn't as sharp in last night's game as he had been in the team's first two preseason games. He completed 15 of 23 pass attempts (65.2%) for 184 yards (8.0 ypa and 12.3 ypc), with 1 touchdown pass and 1 interception. In his defense, the interception was on a pass Vick was trying to throw away while getting hit. However, he held onto the ball too long and would have avoided the pick if he had tossed the ball out-of-...

I read another fairly pointless sports article the other day, courtesy of ESPN.com. This one was written by one Dan Graziano. The article was entitled, "Can Matt Barkley get into Eagles' QB race?" Here's how the article begins: "The Philadelphia Eagles announced that fourth-round pick Matt Barkley has signed his contract, which is not really news, since everybody knows all the draft picks will eventually sign and it's not as though they can sign anywhere else..." That's the perfect way to start an article - "X happened, which isn't really news, since it was inevitable it would happen anyway..." Graziano should have stopped there, but he didn't do that, unfortunately. He continued his "piece" by saying this: "...But it gives us a reason to bring up Barkley and discuss the extent to which he will or could factor into the Eagles' quarterback picture for 2013." Hadn't this already been discussed? ...

I read an article today which likely resulted as being a potential finalist for the least-sexy-facial-expression of the year. It was written by one Eliot Shorr-Parks of NJ.com and entitled, "Should the Eagles release Michael Vick?" My short answer to that is no. If someone had asked me before the Eagles re-signed the veteran quarterback, I probably wouldn't have provided a definite answer. However, after re-signing Vick to a 1-year, $7 million+ contract, how in the world would it make sense to release him? Mr. Shorr-Parks, what's your take on this? "It wasn't exactly a 'play me or else' proclamation, but listening to Michael Vick talk after Eagles practice on Thursday, it wasn't hard to see where this could be going." Oh, so a guy who was signed for another year and up to $10 million if everything goes well should be released because of what Mr. Shorr-Parks sees happening in the future through his crystal ball? That's a good enoug...

While I love statistics about as much as anyone this side of Nate Silver, there are some stats at which I have to roll my eyes, like this next one. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted USC quarterback Matt Barkley in the 4th round of the NFL Draft. Barkley will join the likes of Michael Vick, Nick Foles, and Dennis Dixon at the quarterback position. Thanks to "ESPN Stats and Information," the following stat was just released: "NFL - Vick and Foles Fumble, Barkley Doesn't Only 2 quarterbacks in the NFL had more fumbles than games played in 2012: Michael Vick (11 fum, 10 games) and Nick Foles (8 fum, 7 games). Matt Barkley had 10 fumbles in 47 games at USC -- that's the fewest fumbles by any FBS QB who played 47+ games from 2009-12." First off, both Vick and Foles played behind a battered offensive line all year, which didn't help their cause. Also, while Vick has been pretty notorious for fumbling the football throughout his NFL career, Foles was just a ...

ESPN just reported that quarterback Michael Vick will be restructuring his contract to stay a Philadelphia Eagle for another year. The contract will be good for one year and while new head coach Chip Kelly said there will be competition for the starting quarterback job, it seems to be all but a given that Vick will be the starter. Is this a good or bad move by the Eagles? That's highly debatable. While I feel that Vick is a much more suitable option in Chip Kelly's offense than Nick Foles, I personally think San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith would have been the best of the three quarterbacks. Smith has decent size and isn't as prone to getting banged up following multiple hits in the backfield than Vick. He's not as quick as Vick, but has better speed than Foles. He's also less turnover prone than either of those two quarterbacks, with a higher completion percentage than either as well. While Smith isn't as dynamic as Vick at times, he's more prov...

- Is it just me or is Indianapolis Colts rookie starting quarterback Andrew Luck receiving much more credit than he deserves? Granted, the Colts were the worst team in the NFL last year and are in the thick of the playoff reason this season under Luck's lead. However, as Joe Theismann once put it, "When things are going bad, the quarterback gets blamed more than he should and when things are going well, he gets more credit than he should." I'm not saying Andrew Luck won't be a fine quarterback someday. To be perfectly honest, I think in the long haul, he's going to be somewhat reminiscent of Peyton Manning. However, that's all speculation at this point. In the here and now, Andrew Luck is not the main reason the Colts are doing so well and the media needs to cut it out with that narrative. Let's look at the numbers. Luck is tied for first in all the league for most interceptions thrown with 16 (tied with Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints). In compar...

It was another game and another loss for the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, which dropped them to 3-8 on the season. One could just look at the final score and say, "Well, at least it was close." But then I'd have to point out their opponent. It's not like the Eagles lost 30-22 to the 10-1 Houston Texans or the 10-1 Atlanta Falcons. No, they fell by that very score to the 2-8 (now 3-8) Carolina Panthers. The Eagles did what they've been doing all year - turned the ball over three times, didn't force any turnovers, and developed a case of Alzheimer's when playing defense. To the offensive coaches' credit, I thought they came in with a solid gameplan on that side of the ball. They found ways to ease the pressure off the beaten up offensive line, open some holes for Bryce Brown and the running game, as well as limit the hits rookie quarterback Nick Foles took. They did all they could to limit pressure on the rookie Foles. In a statistic that is ...

Following the Philadelphia Eagles' very disappointing 27-6 loss to unbeaten Arizona last week, head coach Andy Reid was asked about his quarterback situation. For the record, Pro Bowler Michael Vick is the starting quarterback for the 2-1 and co-NFC East leading Eagles. The backup is rookie Nick Foles - a 3rd round draft choice out of Arizona by the Eagles this past year, who has never started an NFL game. Reid said he was sticking with Vick for now. Perhaps he could have worded things a bit differently to not generate any news story with his comment, but after discovering what he had just done via the media's obsession with it over the next 24 hours, he clarified his statement by saying Vick is the starting quarterback and that there was no controversy. Yet even after making that statement, there has still been some talk amongst ESPN pundits about this Eagles quarterback controversy. Granted, Vick has not been the most efficient quarterback in the Eagles' first three gam...