Top 5 in 2014: Biggest ‘What Ifs?’ in Philadelphia Sports

1.) What If Nick Foles Stayed Healthy All Season? 

Nov 2, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles (9) lays injured during the first half against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Just as a precursor to this piece, Nick Foles was not having his best season in 2014. He was turning the ball over, missing open receivers, and taking more hits than he had during his storybook 2013 campaign. That being said the Eagles were 6-2 with Foles under center and were a possession away from victory in their two losses. To his credit, Foles demonstrated resiliency throughout the 2014 season in the weeks leading up to his injury against the Texans that somewhat softened the fact that he didn’t always look great doing so. He had led the Eagles on a last-minute drive against the 49ers down to the goal line before falling short in defeat and had given his team the lead against the Cardinals before a gut-shot touchdown by Arizona’s John Brown put Birds down for good. It wasn’t always pretty, but Foles was playing winning football in 2014.

In a visit to Houston, a game that also saw the Eagles lose the services of DeMeco Ryans, Foles had already thrown a touchdown and a pick-six while facing a furious Texans pass rush early in the game. In the final play of the first quarter, Foles was drilled to the NRG Stadium turf by Whitney Mercilus on a nine-yard sack. Foles would remain down on the play in obvious pain before being escorted off the field by the Eagles trainers. Sure enough, the third year quarterback would head into the tunnel after what ended up being his final play of the 2014 season.

Mark Sanchez would enter for Foles and lead the Eagles to a 31-21 victory. He would back up the performance the following week with a strong showing in a primetime win over the Carolina Panthers after which he notoriously attended Pat’s and Geno’s stakes, cementing himself as the heroic savior to the Eagles season. How quickly the fates can turn on a quarterback in the NFL. Sanchez was a mixed bag for the remainder of the season. He looked great in the team’s final win of the season, a 33-10 drubbing of the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Sanchez’s chronic turnover issues that plagued his entire career would ultimately bring a quick end to the honeymoon between the beleaguered quarterback and the Eagles fanbase. His interception in the waning moments of a week 16 loss to the Redskins all but sealed his fate as a legitimate starter in the NFL as the Eagles playoff hopes vanished into the Landover, Maryland air.

Though Foles was far from perfect prior to his injury, he performed at his best in big moments. He led the Eagles to an emotional victory over the Redskins after Chris Baker leveled him on a peel-back block after an interception that was eventually overturned. He outdueled Andrew Luck in Indianapolis and led the Eagles to a last-second victory over the Colts on the road in what ended up being their best win of the season. At the very least, the Eagles were in a position to win every game that Foles started and came up just shy in the two instances where they did not come away with a victory.

It would be unfair to say that Sanchez was truly a disappointment given the fact that he was a backup quarterback. That being said, one can easily say that his turnover issues prevented them from putting forth the type of effort necessary to win December football games. Against both the Cowboys and Redskins, Sanchez threw back-breaking interceptions that swung momentum out of the Eagles favor. His lack of arm talent and inability to pressure the opposing defense in the Eagles loss to the Seahawks was as apparent as ever. The vertical element to the Eagles offense seemingly went down with Nick Foles and, when the opposition realized that, it handicapped Chip Kelly’s scheme quite a bit.

Admittedly, I’m not ga-ga over Foles as a franchise option at quarterback. That said, I can say with a great deal of confidence that the Eagles had a much better shot making the postseason with him under center than Sanchez. It seemed as if he was starting to turn a corner during the Houston game before he went down and he had been playing behind an injury-riddled offensive line all season. Sanchez was the only one to play behind the line when it was at full strength. After the season ended, it seemed as if several players on the roster prefer Foles to remain as the starting quarterback going forward. That says a lot about the intangibles that we don’t get to see out of Nick Foles and should bode well for him holding down the position heading into 2015.

One could say that Jeremy Maclin’s career year would have been even more impressive with a healthy Foles all season. There seemed to be a lid on the Eagles offense after teams realized how little Sanchez could do down the field and, at the very least, Foles brought a vertical element that opponents had to respect. Mostly due to the fact that the team has several other areas to address heading into next season, I don’t expect the Eagles to allocate significant resources to the quarterback position. Foles is a confident enough young man to move forward without a ringing endorsement from his coach or owner. 2014 will go down as a forgotten season for the Eagles after it looked as if they were taking a step forward. A healthy Foles with an offseason under his belt and a few new pieces to the offense could re-right the ship as far as him being a long-term option for an Eagles franchise that has been without one since Donovan McNabb. Unfortunately, do to his injury, we’ll never know if he would have been able to do that a year sooner. For all we know, the Eagles could have been gearing up for a home playoff game this weekend with Foles as the starter.