With Michael Vick sidelined with a hamstring injury Nick Foles gets the nod at quarterback for the Eagles Sunday against the Oakland raiders. Photo Courtesy: CNNSI.com
Trying to provide any semblance of stability at the quarterback position, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly on Wednesday named Nick Foles the starting quarterback Sunday in Oakland against the Raiders.
Foles was cleared to return to practice Tuesday following a concussion suffered on October 20th against the Dallas Cowboys and with Michael Vick out Sunday he gets the nod for the 3-5 Eagles.
"Nick did really well in practice yesterday," Kelly said Wednesday. "Nick will be our starting quarterback this week and he'll take the reps with the first team and we'll get ready as a team to take on Oakland."
Against Dallas Foles was abysmal throwing for just 80 yards and completing 11 of 29 passing before departing at the end of the third quarter. For the season though Foles has posted a 57.8 percent completion percentage while throwing for 622 yards, six touchdowns and zero interceptions.
“I’ve got to keep pushing," Foles expressed Tuesday. "I can’t let that game get me down. It was tough, but I’m going to use it was motivation: ‘Hey, this is what I need to work on,’ I’m going to work on it and get better.”
Kelly made it clear that Foles will get all of the first-team reps that are usually distributed to the starting quarterback and cited Wednesday's practice as an example that Foles will take 48 of the available 60 snaps with rookie Matt Barkley taking the remaining 12.
While Foles now has the opportunity to get his confidence back in order, that isn't an issue for his offensive teammates.
“I definitely believe in Nick,” receiver Jason Avant said. “One game doesn’t define him. Whether you blow it up and it’s 400 yards and five touchdowns, that’s not going to define you."
The Eagles quarterback position has been in a state of flux ever since Vick first injured his hamstring on October 6th and Kelly hopes that Foles can provide some sort of stability at that position moving forward.
"I sure hope so," Kelly lauded Wednesday. "I didn't pull Nick from the Cowboys game, Nick got hurt. I didn't pull him, I looked over and all of a sudden he's laying on the ground."
Kelly was evasive when asked if Foles has the opportunity to win the starting quarterback job over Vick moving forward, but one thing is clear at least for this week the coach hopes to quell any sort of instability at the most important position on a football team.
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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