Even after Nick Foles threw an NFL record tying seven touchdown passes Sunday, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly refused to name a starting quarterback for the rest of the season.
One would think that after tossing an NFL record tying seven touchdown passes Sunday against the Oakland Raiders, 24-year old Nick Foles would have some job security in the coming weeks.
Not so much, according to Chip Kelly.
"Nick will take [first-team practice reps] tomorrow," Kelly told the assembled media at the Novacare Complex Monday during his day after press conference. "Because I don't think Mike will be ready to go.
"[The doctors] told me Mike's leg was still sore, so he won't be going tomorrow."
So, at least for one more day Foles remains the starting quarterback of this team but beyond that it remains up in the air who will take the reigns of Kelly's suddenly-hot-again offense.
Outside of the Dallas game where Foles put forth one of the poorest games in the history of the league, the University of Arizona product has been nothing short of spectacular.
Foles has now thrown 186 passes this year without throwing an interception, but tossing 13 touchdowns in the process and remains the only quarterback standing without an interception and at least ten touchdown passes.
His 158.3 quarterback rating is the highest possible against the Raiders and just three weeks ago posted a 133.3 passer rating against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, both of those defenses entering the contest with top ten rankings.
Foles joined Randall Cunningham, Sonny Jurgensen, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick and Vince Young as the sixth quarterback in Eagles history with 400-plus passing yards in a game. Cunningham and Jurgensen did it three times each and Vick and McNabb twice each.
Only one other quarterback in NFL history had ever completed at least 75 percent of his passes while throwing for 400 yards and five touchdowns. That was one-time Eagle Kelly Holcomb, who was 30 for 39 (77 percent) for 413 yards and five TDs (with two interceptions) for the Browns in a game against the Bengals in 2004. Foles is the only one to post those numbers with more than five touchdowns.
Foles is now also the only QB in NFL history to throw for 400 yards in a game and have more TDs (seven) than incompletions (six).
"I think his performance confirmed what we've seen in practice, I've seen him get better and better," Kelly said. "But it's a whole different deal with him being able to step out on the field and go do it. I don't think what happened in the Dallas game is what we expected out of Nick or what Nick expects out of himself. I'm just really happy for him.
"He just needs to continue to play just like anyone else on this team."
With those numbers in mind, it's hard to envision the head coach not going with Foles the rest of the way, especially so this week against the Green Bay Packers given Foles' ability to bounce back from his dreadful 80-yard passing performance against the Cowboys.
"I think you [the media] are more concerned about that than he is," Kelly answered when asked how he could look Foles in the eye and tell him he's not the starting quarterback moving forward after playing so well.
It will be interesting to see how Kelly and the Eagles handle this week of practice and the quarterback situation in general moving forward but at least for a day, the first-year head coach isn't making any commitments at the position even after Foles' historic performance Sunday.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
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