It hasn’t been an easy year for the Philadelphia Eagles in terms of injuries, and now head coach Doug Pederson’s team faces another big obstacle with the loss of Carson Wentz for the year.
Wentz won’t see out the end of his second season in the NFL, the Eagles quarterback tearing his ACL on Sunday in a win at the Los Angeles Rams. In his stead is Nick Foles, the Eagles backup quarterback who has plenty of experience as a starter and someone who certainly can play at a starting level in the NFL.
Now the challenge for the Giants is preparing for a different quarterback than Wentz, who started in Week 3 in what was an Eagles dramatic home win. Losing Wentz, arguably the best quarterback in the league this year, certainly hurts a team that has already clinched the NFC East.
Of course, coping with injuries to prominent players have been a theme around Philadelphia this year.
“Yeah, you know, it’s tough. Thing is — we’ve sort of been dealt this hand all season. You lose Jason Peters, Darren Sproles, Jordan Hicks, Chris Maragos. You lose guys like that to IR for the year. Caleb Sturgis, our kicker, early on in the season and the biggest thing is obviously your quarterback and the one that touches the ball all the time, but I was here on staff when we drafted Nick Foles and he played a little bit then and, of course, since then he’s played a lot of football and I’m excited,” Pederson said. “I’m thrilled for him. Obviously, it’s a good opportunity to continue to lead the football team and it’s my job as the head coach to make sure that we move forward. Still got three games remaining in this season and that’s our focus.”
From the perspective of the 2-11 Giants, things likely don’t change that much.
The Eagles still have weapons in the passing game and it was Foles who came in this past Sunday to secure the win at Los Angeles. They also have running back Jay Ajai, a midseason trade who certainly adds a different dynamic out of their backfield.
Foles under center might mean a tweak or two to the offense but it is doubtful that there will be a massive overhaul.
“I don’t think it’s going to change all that much for us because you’ve got to stop that run game. It really didn’t matter who was handing it off. Now, I think Foles throws a really good football. That throw he made against the Rams to kind of clinch it, that was perfect,” Giants interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo said.
“He threw it, they got a first down and kind of iced it. When he went in there and you watched that game, and he’s only played – I think I looked at 26 or 27 plays he’s had this year because I don’t believe he had any in preseason. And, you watch him in the Rams game. He obviously does a really good job getting ready to play a football game because they didn’t skip a beat when he went in there. Didn’t look like they limited with any checks or anything, so they’ve done a good job down there coaching them and he’s obviously a pro at what he does.”
