By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Well, I didn't expect to be here.
At my previous writing stop, I did a weekly piece called "Notes on Nick," which evaluated the performance of Nick Foles during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. If you had told me at this time a year ago that I would be (briefly) reviving it, I would have laughed at you. But here we are.
With Carson Wentz out for the season after a torn ACL, the fate of the Eagles season is now in the hands of Foles, who once graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Here are my in-game notes on Foles' performance against the New York Giants:
First Quarter
Drive One
- After the Giants scored a touchdown (but had the extra point blocked) on their opening drive, Foles and the Eagles opened their first drive on their own 25.
- To open the game, Foles elected to throw the ball to Alshon Jeffery on a run/pass option. He connected with Jeffery on a slant that went for 12 yards. It wasn't a good throw however, as it was high.
- Speaking of poor throws, Foles struggled to get the ball to Zach Ertz on the sideline on the next play. By the time the ball got to him, he was met by a defender and taken down for a two-yard loss.
- After a penalty on the Giants, Foles rolled to the right, and connected with Nelson Agholor. A hit jarred the ball loose briefly, but he hauled the ball back in for another first down.
- Foles, in a Wentz-esque way, ducked under Jason Pierre-Paul on the next play, and took a shot deep to Torrey Smith. Smith was tackled by the defender before the ball got to him, preventing what may have been a touchdown. Pass interference was called, and pushing the ball inside the Giants five.
- With a ton of time to work, Foles found Jeffery in the back of the endzone for a touchdown. Alshon did a great job of adjusting his route and making sure not to step out of the back of the endzone. After two poor throws to start the drive, Foles had a pretty nice finish to his first drive of the game:
17 with the fancy footwork. #Eagles take the lead.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/raTzsanfoF
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 17, 2017
Drive Two
- Following another Giants touchdown, the Eagles again started on their own 25. Foles fired to Agholor, who ran for nine yards to open the drive.
- After runs from Corey Clement and Kenjon Barner, Olivier Vernon embarrassed Halapoulivaati Vaitai, and hit an unaware Foles on the blindside, knocking the ball loose. Luckily for the Eagles, it was recovered by Barner, ending the first quarter.
Second Quarter
Drive Two (continued)
- On third-and-11, Foles targeted Alshon Jeffery, who was double covered. The throw, as you can imagine, was incomplete. Ross Cockrell broke on the ball, and had it not been for Jeffery's gigantic frame, he may have been able to get inside Jeffery and pick the ball off. Had he done that, he had a ton of space in front of him to run.
Drive Three
- After a third touchdown from the Giants, Foles and the Eagles took the field on their own 27, down 13 points.
- The Eagles ran the ball on the first two plays of the drive, putting themselves in a third-and-six. On third-down, Foles made a poor throw to Ertz, though it's one that Ertz probably could have hauled in anyway, which would have allowed him to run for a first down. Instead, he dropped it, forcing the Eagles to punt.
Drive Four
- The Eagles fourth offensive possession of the game began on their own 20-yard line.
- On the first throw of the drive, Wentz had Agholor streaking into open space. He did a good job to step up into the pocket, but led Agholor too far. Wentz makes that throw.
- Following a powerful run by Clement, Foles kept the ball on a run/pass option. As Chris Spielman pointed out on the telecast, Foles had Agholor over the middle of the field for what would have been a first down. Instead, he held onto the ball and threw to Smith near the sideline. The throw took time to get there, and Smith was unable to catch it in bounds. Pederson, for whatever reason, challenged the play. Not sure why, because he lost the challenge.
- On second-and-10, Foles faked the ball to Ajayi and sold the fake well. The pocket did begin to cave in, but not before he found a wide-open Ertz across the middle of the field for another first down.
- After two runs, the Eagles faced third-and-two, a situation that was nearly automatic with Wentz playing quarterback. Foles stared down Clement, who he threw the ball to coming out of the backfield. Clement was hit before he got to the first down marker by Eli Apple.
- Pederson elected to have the Eagles go for it on fourth-and-1. It was a long one, but it didn't matter, because LaGarrette Blount didn't even get back to the line of scrimmage. Even down 13, with Foles at quarterback, Pederson probably should have punted.
Drive Five
- After Ronald Darby picked off Eli Manning and returned the ball all the way to the Giants, 20, the Eagles began their fifth drive in the red zone.
- Foles hesitated on the first play, nearly having the ball intercepted when he finally did target Jeffery in the endzone.
- On third-and-eight, Foles connected with Ajayi, who got to the first down marker. Foles did a good job using his eyes to push the defense towards the middle of the field, before pivoting and hitting Ajayi.
- After nearly being sacked on first-down, Foles fired to Ertz for a touchdown on second-and-goal. After an extra point from Jake Elliott, the Eagles cut the Giants lead to just six.
Back in the lineup, back in the end zone.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/PSWJRw78AU
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 17, 2017
Drive Six
- The Eagles got great field position again to start their sixth drive, after Kamu Grugier-Hill blocked a punt. Foles and the Eagles took over on the Giants 18.
- Foles threw the first pass well over the head of Jeffery. This time it was on purpose, as Jeffery simply wasn't open.
- On third-and-five, Foles found a wide open Burton in the endzone for a touchdown. Burton is going to get paid in free-agency this offseason, as he's scored five touchdowns in limited playing time:
Stay warm, friends.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ZkDUm5OFIi
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 17, 2017
🎶 Let's gather 'round the campfire
and sing our campfire song 🎶 pic.twitter.com/jZD4agXV9U— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 17, 2017
Third Quarter
Drive Seven
- Foles hit Ertz for a short gain after starting the second-half on their own 26.
- Smith caught the ball on a run-pass option for a seven-yard gain. Had he spun the other way, he would have fallen forward for a first down. Luckily for him, Blount ran for a first down on the following play.
- On the following play, Jeffery reached out and made a tremendous catch for a first-down. On the first look, it looked like he made up for Foles' throw that led him a bit to far. The replay, however, showed, that Foles put it in the perfect spot, one where only Jeffery had a chance to make the reception.
- Foles rolled out on the following play, connecting with Ertz for a first down. He may have had his nicest throws of the day on back-to-back plays.
- After throwing the ball away on first down, Foles connected with Jeffery on a screen pass that went for another first down. The throw was high, but Jeffery made up for it and then got a great block from Jason Kelce.
- Following a short gain from Burton on first down and a a similar gain from Blount on second down, Foles threw a fade, or what was intended to be a fade, in the direction of Jeffery. Burton and Ertz were used as decoys on the other side of the field, which may have worked if a useful play was drawn up for Jeffery. As Thom Brennaman pointed out, these type of straight jump-ball fade passes almost never work. There was one occasion during the 2014 season when Foles connected with Riley Cooper on one against the Rams, but he had gained leverage. Jeffery didn't on this play, so he had no real chance to make a play.
Drive Eight
- Stop me if you've heard this before: the Eagles got the ball in great field position (their own 41) after the Giants made a bad punt.
- Foles took a shot deep for Mack Hollins to open the drive. He put it between three defenders, but perhaps just a bit too far for Hollins to catch up to. It wasn't a horrendous throw, however.
- Following a long Jay Ajayi run, Foles found Ajayi with an escort down inside the five on a screen pass.
- After a false start penalty on first-and-goal, Foles rolled to the right and hit Agholor for a one-yard gain. This felt like a Chip Kelly play.
- The two atoned on the following play, as Foles connected with Agholor in the endzone. Agholor, as the kids say, Moss'd Darryl Morris to catch Foles' fourth touchdown pass of the game:
Whoa, Nelly#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/5H4CCm9gL0
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 17, 2017
Drive Nine
- The Eagles opened their ninth drive, which started on their own 31, with Foles handing off to Ajayi for a short gain.
- On second-and-seven, Foles threw the ball towards the sideline – he didn't seem to be on the same page as Alshon. Jeffery seemed to adjust his route based off of what he saw defensively, and Foles did realize that until after the ball was out of his hands.
- On third-and-seven, Foles hesitated when throwing the ball to Ertz, and ended up throwing it high and behind him for an incompletion.
Fourth Quarter
Drive 10
- Following another blocked field-goal attempted, the Eagles started their first drive of the fourth quarter on their own 38.
- After a running play on first down, Foles made a beautiful pass to Agholor, who dropped the ball. Perfect pass, though.
- Foles connected with Agholor for a first down on the following play. It was a nice throw in a small into a small window.
- On third-and-nine, Foles didn't have much time, but got the ball out of his hands to Ertz, who broke a tackle, did a good job to stay on his feet and got past the first down marker.
- On third-and-one, after an effective run for Ajayi, Foles kept the ball on a quarterback sneak, and by the nose of the football, was able to convert for a first down.
- Foles connected with Agholor for a first down on the following play. He took a pretty big hit on the play, but bounced back up after making a first down throw.
- After Ajayi lost yardage on first-and-goal, Agholor did the same on second-and-goal, as the Giants burst through the line of scrimmage and tackled Agholor for a loss.
- Foles did connect with Smith on third-and-goal, but short of the endzone. Only up by two, Pederson made the correct decision to send Elliott out for a field-goal. He tacked on three more points. This proved to be crucial, as it forced the Giants to have to score a touchdown, which they came up just short of doing.
Week 15 Takeaways
- In the first-half, Foles went 10-17 for 85 yards, but three touchdowns. Thanks to the Darby interception and the Grugier-Hill blocked punt, the Eagles got to within two points at halftime. In the playoffs, you probably won't be able to count on blocking a punt and an extra point in one half.
- Foles didn't have a great first half, but had a better second half, which makes sense considering how little he has played over the last couple seasons. In total, he went 24/38 with four touchdowns and zero interceptions Sunday. He also threw for 237 yards. He had a few plays that reminded you why he's a backup, but you'll definitely take what he gave you today.
- The Eagles won't get the breaks they did today each game in terms of field position. It's great that the Eagles blocked a punt, an extra point and a field goal today, which allowed them to set up deep inside Giants position
- Part of this was because they were down for a majority of the first half, but with Foles in at quarterback, the Eagles will need to make a larger commitment to the running game. Their running backs combined for 25 carries and 108 yards today. That's fine if you have Wentz in, but they aren't going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the New Orleans Saints and some of the more dynamic offenses without running the ball more. Not only is running the ball probably going to be the most effective way to score in the postseason, but it will keep the ball out of the hands of teams like the Saints, who can run up the score in a hurry.
- The Eagles have 12 wins and are going to have a bye in the first round. Nick Foles, God willing, will start a divisional playoff game. What a world.
