My favorite Sports Illustrated cover came in 2013, back when I was still a print subscriber to the hallowed magazine. Featuring a whirlwind picture from the iconic Snow Bowl against the Lions, the text on the cover read, “A dreadful start, no home wins before November, another winter of discontent looming in Philly… and then Nick Foles happened.”
Little did they know it would happen again. And again after that…There has never been an athlete like Nick Foles. There never will be. Foles, who was a savior for the Eagles in 2013, cast away two years later and then almost burned out of the NFL before leading Philadelphia to eternal glory, is a unicorn. I’ve seen people try to come up with cross-sport comparisons for Foles before. It defies logic. It’s impossible. What if a guy was Stephen Curry 25 percent of the time and Lavoy Allen the other 75 percent? And that 25 percent happened to come during the biggest games in the history of America’s most sports-crazed city? What if Ben Revere morphed into David Ortiz when things mattered most?Foles will officially retire as an Eagle during halftime of the team’s Monday Night Football game with the Falcons. It will be a well deserved homecoming for a man who has a statue outside of Lincoln Financial Field. Six years removed from that legendary 2017 Eagles Super Bowl run, I can still remember how destitute the energy was after Carson Wentz’s career-altering injury against the Rams in Los Angeles. The Eagles won the division that day. I had flown out to LA that morning and was seated in the Coliseum for it all. I walked out of the stadium convinced nothing would ever be the same again. I was technically right, but for the wrong reasons. It’s part of the lore now. It’s what made that eventual triumph that much sweeter. The Eagles were the NFL’s best team with the MVP favorite for the next decade and then it was ripped away from everyone. It was the most Philadelphia turn of events possible. Then Nick Foles happened.Foles absolutely sucked in the team’s first-round bye-clinching Week 16 game against the Raiders. It was the coldest game I had ever attended in my pre-media days. Sitting in the Linc, freezing my ass off on Christmas Day, I knew beyond a single doubt that it was all over. It all fell apart. We know what happens next. Foles has an uneven performance against the Falcons in the Divisional Round until this random-as-anything play flipped his fortunes at the end of the first half:
Foles made me think that luck was not simply a roll of a dice, but somehow a skill that could be wielded on the biggest of stages. Foles went supernova against the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game, putting up the greatest performance ever in the city of Philadelphia, annihilating the franchise in turn. The underdog masks were out! Loser Vikings fans made the trip to South Philly to take over the stadium! The Philadelphia faithful took Minnesota’s classic “SKOL!” chant, turned into a “FOLES!” chant. On that night at Lincoln Financial Field, anything felt possible, from flea flicker touchdowns to miraculous pick-6s. What did that victory earn the Eagles? A matchup against the greatest coach, quarterback and dynasty in the history of sports. Easy stuff!Tom Brady, the best NFL player of all time, played his best statistical game ever in Super Bowl LII. Foles still out-played him. Bill Belichick is the greatest defensive mind to ever stand on an NFL sideline. He had no answers to Foles slinging it around the field. The guy almost retired the year prior and he was architecting, without hyperbole, a life-changing performance for millions of people across the Delaware Valley. This is the greatest throw I’ve ever seen. The sheer stones to make it. He was in a zone, a higher plane of existence that mortals could never fathom reaching:
Again, he was terrible for a few seasons and then strung together a two-game performance that stacks up against anyone’s best in the two most important games in franchise history. I was wrong in December 2017. The season ending because of Wentz’s injury wasn’t the most Philadelphia thing possible. The most Philly thing ever was everyone writing the Eagles off, doubting them at every turn and then shoving it in their faces as Foles’ fearless run proved doubters, including myself, utterly wrong.Pouring out on Broad Street the night the Eagles won it all was like the series finale of a long-running sitcom. People were screaming, crying, drinking, partying with family and old friends. There was something in the air. Everyone had received a new lease on life. It was because of the guy who asked Doug Pederson if he wanted Philly Philly and dialed up clutch play after clutch play to stand as a legendary figure in Philly.Think about all the players who’ve suited up for the Eagles. There is only one of them who’s won Super Bowl MVP. He accomplished the main player goal of the modern era, to lead the franchise to the Lombardi Trophy. To me, he’s the greatest Eagle ever. I get anyone who counters with a player who’s in Canton, but he won Super Bowl MVP! Only one person’s done that! It’s like Jason Segal arguing in “Bad Teacher.””That’s your only argument!””It’s the only argument I need!”Nick Foles, the living embodiment of the cocky-distraught meter, the personification of “the urge to say we’re back 20 minutes after saying it’s over,” an assuming hero throughout the Delaware Valley. In a story that’s been told an umpteen amount of times, I met my fiancé at the Eagles Super Bowl parade. We’re getting married in April. That’s a hell of a turn of events! Where would I be without Foles? Down in some ditch somewhere? The Eagles’ run reignited my sportswriting career after my college journalism days. What would be doing instead of waxing poetic about Foles if not for the man himself? I don’t know. At least I’m not writing about desk chairs for Urban Outfitters’ website anymore. Nick Foles changed my life. If you’re reading this, he probably changed yours, too. MORE: Why the Eagles should retire Nick Foles’ No. 9
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