But yeah, one performance, blah, blah, blah. Anyone remember Samkon Gado and how he became the darling for Cheeseheads overnight ? I've seen Foles' performance being compared to Matt Flynn's 6 TD performance. The thing people forget is that Flynn only had one other career start to go on before that (and admittedly played really well in a loss to the Patriots). More importantly, is to point out that in 2010 Matt Flynn played on the roster of the eventual Super Bowl Champions that year. Furthermore, his 6 TD performance came on a team that was one of the greatest regular season teams of all time that finished with a 15-1 record.

Which makes it supremely shocking that the NFL has not by and large gone goo-goo-gah-gah over Nick Foles' 7 TD performance against the Raiders . The fact that he did in 3 quarters no less, makes it even that more shocking.

The NFL media is a bandwagon machine. Each and every week I get frustrated watching NFL analysts over-react about the performance of the week and crown, "the next big thing" or "the blue print for beating XYZ" or "the best team in the league", etc., etc.

And there are these nuggets:

Foles record is garbage.

Foles is a one-hit wonder.

The point is, we've seen a lot of "one-hit wonders" in the NFL over the years. For Eagles fans, the case of Bobby Hoying will be forever remembered in our heads.

So for a person who is constantly frustrated by the premature, over-hyped, NFL media machine...I am going to take the opportunity to contribute to it. I figure I may as well get this post out of the way early because if Foles ultimately fails people can point back to it and laugh at that idiot blogger who claimed that Nick Foles was the NFL's next big thing.

Les asks, "Is Foles the QB of the Future?"

My answer, and you can call it premature, or uninformed if you like. Is an emphatic yes!

Les makes one additional point in favor of Foles:

I'll say one more thing in Nick's favor, though. Look at that list of QBs who've thrown for seven TDs in a game, and find me someone on there who was a career backup just having a fluke of a day. Sid Luckman, Adrian Burk, Peyton Manning, Y.A. Tittle, Joe Kapp, George Blanda - every one of them at least played in the Pro Bowl, and Luckman, Blanda and Tittle are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (Manning will be, of course.)

But I'll take a bit deeper than just one game. For one, I have been slow to jump on the Nick Foles bandwagon. I wasn't particularly excited about the prospect of Nick Foles in a Chip Kelly offense. Thanks to the great guys at Fishduck.com I did a crash course in the Chip Kelly offense and came to an early conclusion that Nick just didn't fit. As I learned a bit over the summer months, I convinced myself (largely based on Nick still being on the roster) that Chip could make it work. That said, I remained firm that if Michael Vick can limit his mistakes his skillset would make this offensive more dynamic and open up the playbook for Chip. After all, pre-training camp Nick Foles was still a slow guy with crappy arm strength.

9 starts in, the shocking thing, is that, for once, the NFL media is ignoring the stats. Nick Foles stats through his first 9 starts are incredibly impressive (Obviously more impressive thanks to the 7 TD game). Note, while Nick has only started 9 games he has played in 13 career games. So for the sake of an easier, but more conservative and biased comparison, let's call Nick's games played, starts.

In his first 13 NFL games, Nick has 2727 passing yards, 61.4% completion %, 21 TDs (2 rushing), 5 INTs, and a QB rating of 94.0.

Just for S&Gs let's look at some HOF QBs first 13 starts (and note, these guys would have gotten a lot more snaps since they started all 13 games whereas Nick has only played in 13):

Tom Brady: 64% completion %, 17 TDs, 10 INTs (he won a Super Bowl in his 16th career start, but it's a minor detail)

Peyton Manning: 58.4% completion %, 21 TDs, 25 INTs

Drew Brees: 59%, 12 TD, 15 INTs

And let's even look a bit more to the modern day at the first 13 starts of a sure-fire HOFer Andrew Luck:

52.7%: 18 TDs, 18 INTs.

Finally, it should be noted that Nick's performance thorough 13 games have been divided between 2 dramatically different systems with 2 completely different coaching staffs. The latter system being one that most agreed Nick was a terrible fit for.

Brian Solomon did a great job of highlight just how statistically signficant Foles' early NFL career has been.

However, statistics aside, my biggest argument as to why Nick Foles will be the next big thing, is based on the usual thing at the ChipWagon, is too look at the tape.

By far, the most important thing for an NFL QB is results. Results = TDs, and in only 13 career games Foles has delievered 21 of them. (Trivia Question that I don't know the answer to: Which QB has the most TDs after 13 career games?).

So I went back and looked at Foles' 21 TDs since he came into this league last year. What I came away with, that has convinced me more than any stat, throwing motion, 40 time, collegiate performance, etc. is that Nick is a dynamic threat at QB who is putting the ball in the end zone in a variety of different ways. Let's have a look starting with Nick's red zone TDs. The biggest difference we've seen between Mike Vick and Nick Foles has been read zone performance. Why? Because Nick is more accurate, more decisive, has better anticipation, and isn't afraid to throw a receiver open (a quality that we've lacked in Philly for a long time).

Everyone knows the red zone is a tight, constricted space. On this play, Foles only has 15 yards to work with so this takes away vertical options. So we stretch the field horizontally. Nick notices the off coverage on the top of the screen and quickly throws a bubble to Jeff Maehl for a TD:

The knock on Desean Jackson over the years is that without the ability to use his speed in the red zone, and his small stature, he's not a legitimate red zone threat. This is one of my favorite plays of the year because notably, it's one we haven't seen an Eagles QB throw in long time. See the frame below, Desean is not open. However Amukamara has his back turned in coverage and Foles unloads to a spot:

Absolutely gorgeous, accurate throw to the 5'10 Jackson for a TD:

He sees the field well, and is savvy. Check out how he pump fakes to freeze the sitting safety opening up the post route to Desean:

Aside from the Dallas game, he's shown great accuracy. Throwing on a backpedal and hitting Brent Celek perfectly in stride for a TD:

How many times have we seen a receiver having to contort their body and turn their back on a crossing pattern over the years?

Another savvy moment where he looks off the one deep safety:

Again, great anticipation throw. Cooper is not open:

But Nick throws him open:

He improvises, buys time, and goes through his progressions. The first read on this play was a delayed slant to Riley Cooper. The Raiders DB is sitting on it and Nick wisely pulls down.

He rolls right, continues to scan down field and throws on the run to Zach Ertz for a TD:

Another example of throwing your man open. Foles rolling right again sees a DB with his back turned to the QB. Foles spots an opening in the back of the end zone for Cooper:

And again, throws him open for an easy pitch and catch:

Foles as a rookie with a nice anicipation throw just as Riley Cooper comes out of his break:

For an easy TD:

Again, here is Foles as a rookie, scanning the field, extending the play and throwing a nice ball on the run in the back of the end zone for a TD to Clay Harbor:

Again as a rookie, we see a glimpse into the future where Nick and Riley seem to have crazy chemistry. Another great anticipation throw. Riley is not open:

Nick throws it to a spot, and Riley makes a great play on the ball:

These are some OUTSTANDING red zone qualities. Nice accuracy, great anticipation, he trusts his receivers, he throws them open, and he can make plays on the move. He is throwing to the sidelines, he is throwing to the middle of the field, he is extending plays with his legs, he is scoring with his legs. What this means, is that you can call just about any play in the red zone for Nick Foles. Including a QB draw:

And you can't sleep on a guy who might not be able to break 5 seconds in the 40 on a 10 yard scamper for a TD:

Moving out of the red zone, the greatest area of improvement for Foles from year 1 to year 2 has undoubtedly been his deep ball. He made some big plays last year, but they always came with the caveat of it being a little underthrown. But here's a beautiful 26 yard TD to Maclin:

And then there's one of the more awkward deep ball TDs you'll ever see to a wide open Maclin. Check out that footwork!:

Fast forward to 2013 and we see plays like this:

That's about 40 yards in the air and an absolutely perfect throw into the hands of Brent Celek for a TD:

And again, Riley isn't open:

Great throw to a spot that travels about 55 yards in the air right into Cooper's bread basket:

Again, we see Nick looking off that one deep safety. He's got Desean one-on-one on the top of the screen. By the time he looks back to Desean, the DB is down. Sometimes these wide open throws are the hardest to make:

On the money, for an easy TD:

So what is Nick Foles? Is he the accurate, dink and dunk WCO passer we thought he was? Certainly not. That accuracy and anticipation comes in handy in the red zone, but Nick is starting to show that he can throw TDs from almost anywhere on the field. Again he's displaying all the hallmark qualities of a franchise QB in this league:

- Accurate

- Good pocket presence

- Functional mobility

- Great anticipation

- Subtle look-offs and pump-fakes

- A consistent deep ball

What's missing? How about delivering in clutch situations? Again, we only have 13 games and 9 starts to go on with Nick, but in that limited action, he's done the following:

2 minute drill in his rookie year:

- 0:35 left on the clock and Foles engineers a FG drive before the end of the half against Dallas

- 0:28 left on the clock in the first half against the Bucs and engineers a FG drive

- 3:30 left on the clock in the first half against the Skins and engineers a FG drive

And then against the Bucs in his rookie season, trailing 19-7 in the 4th quarter Nick brings the team back. On the final drive Nick gets the ball on the Eagles 36 with 2:44 remaining. He overcomes a 3rd and 14 early in that drive and leads the team all the way down the field to a do or die play with 0:02 on the clock with a TD required to win. Nick rolls right:

And delivers the perfect throw for an Eagles win!

A couple of weeks later he engineers a 2 minute drive getting the Eagles into the red zone with 12 seconds left down by 7. Nick spots an open Evan Moore (who just joined the team earlier in the week) on a quick slant:

TD!...eerr...whoops! Perfect throw, on the money, in stride, and Moore drops it:

Fitting end to the Eagles 2012 season:

Fast forward to 2013 and one can't help but have been incredibly impressed with Nick coming in cold off the bench against the Giants with 1:33 left expected to run a 2 minute drill. Nick delivers setting the Eagles up for a FG to end the half. Then the Eagles fell behind 21-19 in that game in the 2nd half only to see Nick deliver 2 TDs in the 4th quarter to lead the Eagles in a relief victory on the road against a division rival.

Contrast that to a guy like Kevin Kolb. He had a couple of huge games early in his career. However he was terrible in relief, and as much flak as Nick gets for his arm strength, Kolb's was even worse, IMHO.

***

So in conclusion, yes, I have basically assembled above a killer mix-tape of the best of Nick Foles. Yes, I have four empty gallon jugs of the midnight green kool-aid in the garage. Yes, there have been some down moments. The first Cowboys game of this year which certainly looks like the outlier, and his NFL debut against Washington last year. His performance against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football was also forgettable.

But the thing is, you expect those growing pains in a QB who has only started 9 career games.

What you don't expect is the production and film I have highlighted above as part of the resume for a young QB who only has 9 career starts.

Am I overreacting to a career day last Sunday? Probably. I do agree with others that his performance on Sunday was the perfect storm. Clearly I am lot more convinced that Nick can be the franchise QB this week than I was last week. I was joining the dialogue that it's likely the Eagles answer at franchise QB isn't Foles. However a HOF performance like we saw from Foles on Sunday, allows you to look through his young career with a different lens. Games like that don't happen by accident. And if you combine that performance with his limited body of work, it's hard not to get excited.

So take notice NFL, Nick Foles is the next big thing.