No team has produced more passing touchdowns this season than the Philadelphia Eagles.
This is indisputable.
Thirty-three of those, however, came from one-time MVP candidate Carson Wentz, the North Dakota State product turned No. 2 overall pick turned Eagles superstar quarterback.
His season-ending knee injury in Week 14 cleared the way for backup Nick Foles, who rejoined Philadelphia before the season after spending three seasons there from 2012-14.
Though the Eagles have won three of four games since Foles took the starting job, their offense has regressed, particularly in the last three — all at home.
The Eagles produced 13 points before a meaningless defensive touchdown as time expired against the Oakland Raiders, were shut out while resting some starters in the season finale against the Dallas Cowboys and managed 15 points in their playoff victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
In the playoff win, Foles threw the ball beyond 10 yards down the field just six times, whereas Minnesota quarterback Case Keenum threw it 10 yards or further on 19 occasions.
Betting analyst and oddsmaker R.J. Bell told Zone Coverage that Philadelphia likely would have been favored by four points with Wentz at quarterback.
As is, they opened as 4.5-point underdogs with Foles.
“We tweaked [the offense] a little bit,” said Eagles head coach Doug Pederson, “maybe simplified a little the motions and shifts and different things. We’re still executing and running the same plays we have all season but just wanted to get back to some of the things that Nick was comfortable with. Again, he’s only been in there a month and so, it’s a little bit harder to get him ready.”
Behind Foles, the Eagles have seen their passing yards dip from 247 to 190 yards per game and their rushing yards decline from 143 to 88. Foles’ 5.3 yards per attempt would place him last among qualified passers in the NFL — over two points worse than Wentz.
Only four quarterbacks with over 100 dropbacks were more inaccurate when facing pressure this season. Foles’ completion percentage was 38.2 under duress, worse than Drew Stanton, C.J. Beathard and Trevor Siemian.
“The biggest thing with Nick Foles is you’ve got to get around him, you’ve got to affect him,” said defensive end Everson Griffen. “You’ve got to make him be a little hesitant in the pocket. With no pressure, he has a very good passer rating. With being affected and getting hits, it comes down a lot, so we’ve got to affect him.”
Philadelphia’s third-ranked run game has also taken a hit now that Wentz is no longer stretching defenses.
The Eagles had 19 runs of 20 yards or more this year, but only two have come since Wentz went out: a 21-yard misdirection run to Nelson Agholor in the playoff game and and a 22-yard scramble by Nate Sudfeld, the backup quarterback, in the regular season’s final game.
LeGarrette Blount, who led the Eagles in rushing this season, averaged less than 3.0 yards per carry in his last four games. Ajayi has 3.8 yards per carry since Wentz departed, two yards fewer than his remarkable season average of 5.8.
“You lose the athleticism of Carson,” Pederson told reporters over a conference call. “You lose a little bit of that ability to run, and not that we exposed him to a lot of runs, but you do get limited a little bit that way, but we’ve tried to maintain the run game, tried to establish the run game every week.”
Wentz had the fifth-most carries amongst quarterbacks and the 10th-most yards. He actually tore his ACL on a scramble play against the Los Angeles Rams where his lower body got sandwiched between Mark Barron and Morgan Fox as he dove for the end zone.
Foles only has three rushing yards this season.
It’s important to note, though, that Philadelphia is 3-1 in Foles’ starts with the defense allowing just 13.8 points per game. In a career with 61 touchdowns and 29 interceptions, Foles has generally taken care of the football, and he has just two interceptions this season.
While Foles has limitations that Wentz did not, the onus will still be on the Vikings’ defense to make some game-altering plays instead of allowing Foles to play turnover-free football.
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