We don’t have a professional football team in Hawaii, so the story behind why one fan chooses to follow a certain team can be rather interesting. For me, I started following the Philadelphia Eagles back when Randall Cunningham was the quarterback. That was back in the early 1990’s when the internet was something only a few people knew about, and I think, MC Hammer had the #1 Hit “Can’t Touch This!” Even though I played football back then, I really wasn’t passionate about watching the sport until I became an Eagles fan. My family took an East Coast bus tour vacation and one of the major cities we stopped by was Philadelphia. Stuck in the hotel room with nothing to do, I flipped on the tele and low and behold, a television special profiling Randall Cunningham was on. I honestly never saw anyone play football like that before. The scrambling, the long 4o to 60-yard bombs down the field. I didn’t think anyone could throw the ball that far!
From that day, I was an Eagles fan. Not to mention, a diehard Randall Cunningham fan. I was such a diehard Cunningham fan, when he re-emerged on the Vikings team years later, I watched every game that he started; and cheered as passionately for the Vikings as I did for the Eagles.
Being an Eagles fan has always been a tough road. After Cunningham left the Eagles, I didn’t really attach myself to any quarterback for a while. Mcnabb was great, but he was frustrating to watch. The guy kept throwing footballs to receiver’s feet and he failed to throw with anticipation. Vick came along and it was really a lot of fun to watch him play. Even better, it was good to see him redeem himself internally. He’s a good man, God-fearing man now, far from the arrogant child he used to be when he first entered the NFL.
Then Nick Foles entered the picture.
I remember when he first replaced Vick, not under Chip Kelly, but this was under Andy Reid. He looked good. Nick had a natural pocket presence, played calm, and he threw with anticipation. My good friend, Bryan Kircher, who actually was from Philadelphia, became a big fan of Nick Foles too. We were such big Foles fans that we met up in New York to watch Foles play his last game under Andy Reid. That plan failed because Foles broke his hand the week or two before and Vick started the rest of the season. The Eagles got hammered during the last game as well.
I told Bryan, back then, this guy is going to get us to the Superbowl. And thus began my diehard support for Nick Foles.
From there, we know the story. He played outstanding under Chip Kelly, then was traded to the Rams. I want to make one thing clear. The only time Chip Kelly’s offense looked good in the NFL was when Nick Foles was at the helm. It didn’t look good under Vick, Sam Bradford, or Colon Kapernucklehead. Foles did what he did best under Kelly. Threw with anticipation, threw receivers open. He made everyone around him look good.
I watched every game that Nick started for the Rams and it was depressing. To go from watching him play in a high powered creative offense to a very vanilla high-school one, was horrible. Jeff Fisher sucked. And it was not fun to watch those games. I can understand why Foles wanted to quit after playing with the Rams. So did Sam Bradford, by the way. Fisher has a way of turning great quarterbacks and players into crappy ones.
When Foles went to KC as a backup, I didn’t watch all of their games. But when Alex Smith got hurt, Foles lit it up and their offense looked alive. There was talk that Foles would replace Alex Smith, but that never happened. Nick Foles threw down the field, something Alex Smith, till this day, fails to do.
When Philly drafted Carson Wentz and acquired Nick Foles as the backup, I was pretty happy. I still wanted Foles to play though. Wentz was great, is great, and will be great. But for some reason he had a hard time hitting receivers in stride and throwing with anticipation. He couldn’t drop the ball in, Wentz had to fire a 40-yard bullet to do it. Not every pass has to be on-the-rope.
At this time, Foles was already written off as a dud. According to all pundits, His 2013 season, a fluke. His 7 touchdown game, luck. It didn’t matter that he was the MVP of the Pro Bowl, according to sportswriters, he was just plain bad. Crazy enough, sportswriters were calling to bench Nick Foles in favor of Colin Kaepernick.
It didn’t seem like Foles had many fans, other than loyal Eagles fans. Even Philly’s own sportswriters didn’t believe in him (to be fair, they never did).
And now this. Nick Foles, as I had predicted earlier, led the Eagles to Super Bowl. And he played a perfect game, literally! He finished the game with a 141.4 (close to statistically perfect) QB rating, and the rest is history. For the record, his performance was historical. No other QB played that well in a Championship game. And he did so against the #1 defense.
I hate to brag here, but I was right – haha. NICK FOLES IS AWESOME.
Even if the Eagles don’t win the Super Bowl, I’m ecstatic. Getting to the Super Bowl is so tough.
Oh, by the way, a lot of my clients, both present and former, know I’m a diehard Eagles fan. Over the years, some of my clients have littered me with Eagles memorabilia. Every gift really touched my heart. Thank you for all the messages last night as well. It felt like I was part of the team win!
GO E-A-G-L-E-S!
Steve Young
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