Nick Foles isn't exactly soaring into the playoffs.
The Eagles' former backup and now starting quarterback played well as soon as Carson Wentz's ACL snapped in Los Angeles. Foles did enough in that early December game to help the Eagles escape from the West Coast with a win and then led the troops north on the turnpike for another victory against the Giants. And he threw four touchdown passes in that one.
Foles played well enough against the Giants to get hopes up around the Delaware Valley. He then promptly squashed them over the next five quarters, when he completed 46 percent of his passes for 202 yards, a touchdown, two interceptions and a paltry passer rating of 48.2 against the Raiders and Cowboys.
While confidence in Foles, at least outside of the building, has plummeted, Foles' confidence in himself is somehow still intact.
On Monday, offensive coordinator Frank Reich offered his theory.
"I think there's two reasons why his confidence wasn't wavered," Reich said. "First, because of the length and breadth of his career. There's enough substance behind his career that merits having confidence and knowing — I've seen the best quarterbacks in the world, the best quarterbacks in the world have a bad game or two in a row. I mean, the best. It happens. So all the reason to have confidence.
"But I think secondly, and equally as important, is the confidence that he has in the other guys surrounding him, mainly the guys up front, his receivers, the defense that is on the other side of the ball, special teams. This is a team. Coach [Pederson] said at the beginning of the year, we were going to set out to do something special and that's what we believe. That's what we believe we're in the process of doing."
The idea of "team" is something the Eagles have been pushing hard the last two weeks. Sure, Foles needs to play better, but it's not all on him. But it also doesn't matter much if he doesn't play better.
Pederson last week said he was looking back at game tape from Foles' career, including his magical 2013 season, to find things to blend into the Eagles' offensive game plan (see story). On Monday, Reich said that they'll really just be reinforcing what they already do.
So what does Reich want to see out of Foles this Saturday against the Falcons?
"Just play his style, play his game," Reich said. "We talk [about the fact that] this is a team game. This is we, we, we. We're going to do this. We do it together. It's not any one man. It never was any one man. This game is never — there's been some great players in this league and that's the great thing about this sport. That's what I love about this sport so much. So if we're going to go where we're going to go, it's all of us."
When pressed about what it means for Foles to be himself, Reich said it's important for Foles to not force anything but also remain aggressive. Reich said Foles' aggressive mindset is what really stood out to him from their early meetings.
Reich admitted the offense didn't look very good against the Raiders or against the Cowboys for that one quarter, but he doesn't want that limited time to affect the mindset about the offense as a whole or Foles as a quarterback.
"So let's not let the most recent outings, five quarters of play, let's not let that slow us down in our confidence," Reich said. "Maintain your confidence and aggressiveness."