Philadelphia Eagles: Eric Rowe picks off Nick Foles in Miami
In the wildest blast from Philadelphia Eagles’ past, Eric Rowe picked off Nick Foles in the Miami Dolphins’ 22-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
While the Philadelphia Eagles did, in fact, play a game Thursday night, the most Eaglesy thing that happened on the evening may have gone down 1,201 miles down the East Coast in Miami, Florida.
On the very first play of the second quarter, the Jacksonville Jaguars needed a spark on third-and-10 at their own 38-yard line. After breaking the huddle, and receiving the snap, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Nick Foles inched up in the pocket with no clear target to throw the ball to. He broke left as yellow flags littered the field and shotgunned a throw on the run to 2017 fourth-round pick Dede Westbrook – at least, the pass was supposed to go to Dede Westbrook?
As Westbrook broke back on his comeback route, Miami Dolphins cornerback Eric Rowe wedged himself between the receiver and the ball and snatched his first interception of the preseason out of thin air.
But who cares, right?
Well, if you’ve been a Philadelphia Eagles fan for longer than two years, you probably should at least a little bit because both players were drafted by Howie Roseman and began their NFL careers in the City of Brotherly Love.
A pair of Day 2 picks in 2012 and 2015 respectively, Foles and Rowe were never actually teammates, as the former’s tenure was split between 2012-14 and 2017-18, and the later spent a lone season (and an additional summer) with the Eagles in 2015.
The most significant connection between the two players may actually be as opponents, as Rowe almost picked off Foles in Super Bowl 52 – a play that could have sealed the Eagles’ fate and handed Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and company with their fourth Super Bowl in five years.
But don’t feel too bad for Rowe, as Thursday nights interception could very well have sealed his fate across from Xavien Howard as the Dolphins’ second starting outside cornerback, so don’t feel too bad for him.
So yeah, in a weird twist of fate, while the actual Philadelphia Eagles played an albeit rather bland game of lightning-shortened football against the Baltimore Ravens, the best Eagles-adjacent play of the night may have happened in Florida, where a pair of former draftees showcased their starting pedigree 1,000 miles away.