Pt 4 – The Persistence of Pederson (Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach and 2018 Super Bowl Champion)

Audio Transcription

Dr Z and Clay Clark will be discussing the importance of delaying gratification and the idea of getting promoted out of a job you currently do not like much like Nick Foles and Doug Pederson had to do.

 Nick Foles – The Star Athlete from Westlake Texas who Almost Quit

Nick Foles was a third round draft pick in 2012 who had been released twice and who started the season as the Philadelphia Eagles’ backup quarterback and who ended the year by leading his team through an incredible playoff run before ultimately throwing for 373 yards, 3 passing touchdowns and 1 receiving touchdown.

2007 – Age 18 – Nick Foles graduated from Westlake High School in Texas, which is the same school that Drew Brees graduated from. While playing high school he broke most of Drew Brees’ records while throwing for over 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns.

After high school he was recruited by multiple schools to play college basketball yet he chose to pursue college football.

2007 – Age 18 – He played college football at Michigan State University on a roster that featured Kirk Cousins and the New England Patriots’ backup quarterback, Brian Hoyer.

That same year he sat on the bench and eventually decided to transfer to the University of Arizona in search of being the starting quarterback.

2009 – Age 20 – While in college he personally did very well throwing for 10,011 yards and 67 touchdowns, but the team itself wasn’t very good and his teams finished with 15 wins and 18 losses during this time in Arizona. During his final college season the team only had 4 overall wins.

2012 – Age 23 – Nick Foles – During the 2012 draft the fact that his teams lost and that he personally was not very athletic moved him toward to bottom of that year’s quarterback class.

The Eagles ultimately decided to draft Nick Foles with a 3rd round pick and the 88th overall pick.

Nick set an NFL record for the best touchdown to interception radio by throwing for 27 touchdowns and just two interceptions passing the previous record set by none other than Tom Brady.

During 2014, his production went down and he was traded by the Eagles to the St. Louis Rams where he struggled throwing 20 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

2016 – The Rams decided to draft Jared Goff and Foles was released. He contemplated leaving football and retirement, however the head coach of the Chiefs (Andy Reid) helped to convince him that his career was still worth pursuing. The Kansas City Chiefs picked him up to be their backup quarterback.

2017 – He rejoined the Philadelphia Eagles as their backup quarter choice behind Carson Wentz.

2017 – During week 14 Carson Wentz tore his ACL during a week 14 game and Nick Foles was inserted into the starting lineup. He lead the team to Victory versus  the Rams and the Giants on the road.

2017 – During the team’s final two games versus Oakland and the Cowboys he played bad, completing just 50% of his passes against Oakland and posting a terrible performance against the Dallas Cowboys during the final regular season game of the year.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE – “Grow where you are planted and the promotion will come.” – Dr Z

2017 – During their victory over the Atlanta Falcons he did not throw for any touchdowns but he did complete 23 out of his 30 passes for 246 yards.

2018 – Age 29 – During the team’s NFC Championship game, he delivered an incredible performance against the best defense in the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings. He went 26 out of 33 with his passes and scored three touchdowns. His Super Bowl passer rating was 141.4.

FUN FACT – A quarterback’s Passer rating is based upon a player’s passing attempts, yards, touchdowns, interceptions and passing attempts. This is the official formula that the NFL has used since 1973 to determine who is the best quarterback. Passer rating is based on a scale from 0 to 158.3.

2018 – Age 29 – On Super Bowl Sunday, Nick Foles threw for 28 completions out of 43 total passes, passing for a total of 373 total yards with a 106.1 passer rating. His team won with a 41-33 win over the New England Patriots.

QUASI-FUN FACT – Rumor has it that the play designed for the starting Super Bowl quarterback to actually catch a pass was designed by Press Taylor, the quarterback’s coach for the Philadelphia Eagles who is married to Tulsa native and the daughter of GUTS Church senior pastor Bill Scheer, Brooklyn Scheer. Press Taylor is actually the younger brother of Los Angeles Rams Quarterbacks’ coach Zac Taylor.