What we’ll remember about Nick Foles | PHLY Sports

so Nick Foles Nick Foles Zach give me the uh give me the news dump yeah and give me the uh unpacking Nick FES who who did not play in the NFL last year uh but had had not announced yeah that's why I think that this is a little bit anticlimactic it's not this is not like Jason Kelce announcing his retirement but it's still a nice thing to offer an an opportunity for reflection yeah officially uh he announced his retirement today in a uh post on social media you can see it was it was a video of of him explaining it the Eagles will honor Nick Foles and he will officially retire as a member of the Eagles week two against the Atlanta Falcons so that Monday night game why do you think it's not the Doug game which is also a Prime Time game I guess they want to get it sooner like you know as soon as they could but a home opener and of course for the the Atlanta home opener that's what it was F following the Super Bowl right there you go that's true uh so he'll he'll get his his day in the Sun the the Eagles are I mean it's a Prime Time game so night in the Sun the Eagles uh put out there's still no Sun at night okay it's a figure of speech uh the Eagles put out a lot of um clips and you know Jeffrey Lori has a statement this is a big deal he's one of the most important players in franchise history he's the Super Bowl MVP of the only Super Bowl they've ever won uh he played his best game on the biggest stage he had he's iconic in Philadelphia here there's a statue of him commissioned by butl but outside the stadium no player has worn number number nine since he left I can't imagine a player will wear number nine again in Eagles history uh you put out the uh the the Nick F's chapter uh I didn't put out the chapter I he got buy the book for the chapter put the first long chapter I saw some some push back why wasn't why was it chapter 10 and not chapter nine you know I actually didn't even think about the numbers of it it was it was done sequentially so there's so there's Executives then coaches then quarterbacks and he's the third in the quarterback back chapter oh Donovan McNab then Michael Vic okay chronological Nick so it's done chronologically as I saw people say that um yeah it probably would have been good Harmony number nine I didn't think I mean maybe yeah but I mean you can't you can't put it out of order you maybe I could have like uh structured it so maybe the coaches come after the quarterbacks and I put a few things in between it feels like you did it in a in a way that makes anyway more logical probably should have I I I personally I'll be honest with you I did not number the chapters when okay so I sent the chapter you said this is the Nick fols chapter this is well I you ordered it I they they they published it as I submitted it yes but I did not do chapter one chapter 2 chapter three I did like B sections so section one section two section three and then I think they put in the chapters thereafter um anyways uh yeah I agree relatively anti-climatic right it's it's not like Fletcher Cox or Jason Kelce in in in that regard but everyone in Philadelphia has their Nick FES story he's he's beloved here um I think of Nick Foles both stints I I I think of him coming in as a rookie him uh taking over for Vic I think of 2013 that 27 touchdown two interception campaign I think of 2014 and then the the trade in 2015 uh when you probably provided the best story I know of the trade when you're working for the team and you find out the conversation and you tried correcting the person yeah I really mansplained my boss it it was she told us like it's uh it's fos and whatever pick for Bradford and whatever pick second round pick yeah yeah I was like you mean you mean the Eagles are getting the pick right like she's like no they're E A give Pi I like no that can't be right like that's definitely not correct yeah so that um real real aole I think a lot of people had had that had that reaction though then he he he comes back and obviously uh the run in 20177 which as we've discussed on on the show a little bit um there's some revisionist history here the locker room did not know that was going to happen and there was like there was a lot of tight tight butts if you will like um you know going into the playoffs that that year because they they did not end the season well I know it was before I teamed up with you on the podcast but you and Chio have a famous show following the 2017 injury to Carson WI uh and then even the Atlanta game he did not play particularly well yeah he looked terrible in the the Raiders game at the end of the season right and and then the first half of the Falcons game he didn't look good either no but even the Cowboys game if you remember week 17 against the Cowboys they played him in the first half and like just to try to get momentum and it was it was bad they didn't score I mean it was a real talking point would they go to sudfeld I think that was like a but like that was the level of Play It Was it was a reasonable thing to discuss whether that was an option because that was the level that fos was playing at the time and then talk about a heater man Minnesota and unbelievable the Super Bowl and uh the way he he handled it the way he played and then they come back the following year and do it again and and do it again the Eagles like went when when they put Carson Wentz on Ice you know they were what six and seven in 2018 the thought was all right this is just not our our year and they just go on this they go on this great run he's playing out of his mind I remember that Houston game in particular when he was getting the crap kicked out of him and goes on and uh leads him to the playoffs they beat Chicago and then the trade how generous the Eagles were to let him go where he was think just the kindness of their Collective parts so uh I I always kind of cringe a bit when reporters make it about them when a guy like retires and they're like you know this guy always reminds me of my childhood or whatever but I'll I'll say this feel like a shot at me no no no no no no no it's no um like it's about the players but I'll because we we do try to give some some personal Insight here Nick Foles was the first player that I met first player I introduced myself to when I joined Eagles beat in 2012 I I remember vividly you know rookies and selected veterans report under Andy Reed um outside you know so I'm I'm waiting outside the locker room uh in 2012 uh at Lehi and he walks by and I introduce myself you know um I'm Zach bman from the fof inquire great to meet you I'm covering the team and uh we and so then and i' I remember talking to the late buddy tens about him because he was at the uh the quarterback the the fs Passing Academy but anyways so I I I got to know Nick pretty well and Nick's first stint like the way he thought about Philadelphia the way everything um the pressure the market he did not take it as well the first time as he did the second time uh but then even so he he comes back and again like not to make this about me but like we we were on very similar time to our our children were our our first children were were born days apart we we got married around the same time we were going through some similar life experiences we actually we wrote a book at the same summer his book did a lot better than my book um but um I so Nick uh I got to know Nick decently and especially the second time around I I have a lot of uh personal admiration for him in terms of um some of the things he he values the the way he is as a husband as a father uh and uh I'm happy that he's he's um I'm happy that he gets his his career celebrated because it's worthy of it well said uh yeah I mean I would tell you my like specific Nick folos memories aside from him as a player uh I it was I think right before I left so that was 2014 or 15 and we had a friend of ours from college who was going through cancer treatments and uh the idea was like we would there was a bald cap that was being sent around and you would like people would put it on and take a picture in front of something cool and and that was part of the whole deal and I I asked Nick if he would put on the bald cap in the Eagles locker room and take a picture he was very game to do it he was like very touched by the the idea nice and not like that's that's a small little gesture of of generosity but it's one like I knew that he would be a good guy to go to and two like he he was he thought it was cool and you know there is like uh and this was the first in this was this was the first in okay there is like a when he had a and and he had a lot going on in his personal life at that time that he wasn't really sharing Nick is Nick is very religious right yes the Eagles have had a lot of players who are very religious over the years this is this is not specific to the Eagles uh there are there are a lot of people in the world who I think use their uh their religion as sometimes a shield for well I can be kind of like I can be kind of nasty in my day-to-day life but I'm going to just sort of you know boast this up Nick like to I have never heard an experience or witnessed an experience where Nick was not like totally just the nicest guy and uh you know you and I sort of poke fun at the idea of like you know we don't know these guys I don't know Nick Foles that well um but you know I have I have been around him enough that it certainly does not seem like an act this is a guy who I think practices what he preaches well said and yeah there was you know you talk about the first thing when I say um private uh you know I get stuff going on behind the scenes he's he documented this in his book and he later talked about it uh his now wife then girlfriend fiance Tori had a health issue behind the scenes that that Nick was very quiet about and and I I know because it was it was the type of thing that like some people in the locker room knew some people in the media knew and Nick did did not want this in in the public sphere um and he continued you know he was a professional he continued playing but this was something that that was clearly Weighing on him and it's something that like he he he documented in his book uh the anecdote I I put out on on social media today I often think about this so the morning after the Super Bowl he he gives this very good quote you know Ruben Frank as as what the public can learned from his story and he talked about failure and he focused on un failure and it was a it was a quote that since circulated but the context I can add is that four years earlier in 2014 going into the season I had a conversation with him and I vividly remember where it was it was outside it was the hallway outside the locker room he um right by the wait room he called me out the the chat he and I were going to talk about this and the question I posed because I had just spoken actually to D jorski the day earlier and I said if you're at dinner table with Ron jorski Randle Cunningham and Donovan MCN what would you ask them about being a quarterback in Philadelphia and he he stopped and he thought about it and his answer was how they dealt with a bad game how they dealt with with the the negativity and the public pressure and he and as he was giving his his answer there he he said because we all fail and like I want to know how they deal with failure and I I mentioned this actually to you a few months ago when was talking about the book and kind of putting some things together because uh it's something that was on his mind well before the Super Bowl and well before for instance when he was on the verge of retiring uh before the 2017 season and he was out um camping or fishing with uh Evan Moore his his brother-in-law and uh and you know you know this is something that that that he had long thought about and the perspective that he had about football I love that I I had never heard that story you shared uh about the locker room and and and the cap and that doesn't surprise me because it is true Bo is right we don't know these guys you know we have interactions with them you might get to know members of their family but um but but we don't truly know them often times what you can go off of though are the people around him and and what people say and uh you know in the reporting of my book and I spoke to Jeffrey Lori and hearing um Jeffrey Lori is similar to the statement he he said today he talked about like the professionalism the character that Nick folos had and that was uh yeah that's that's um that's a a reputation that Nick harri's with him in addition to like you know you talk to the players on on that team J or I'm sorry the Hog on that guy I didn't say that no Carson was more talented than Nick we can with that that's that's that's why the Eagles kept him but there was a certain confidence that the team had yeah about Nick Foles based on like the way he played the way he carried himself um and yeah he he he deserves kind of this this Victory lap if you will what about the Super Bowl run itself Zack having written a book about it what's the like what's your what's your favorite F's play from that uh game or or moment what what comes to mind uh probably the flea I mean people say the Philly special I think I do think that the Philly special is like you know Doug gets the credit for calling it but it was Nick's idea yeah and by the way Nick before every game Nick Nick always caught passes right and I remember before um maybe it was the Falcons game the the following year Nick was like catching passes on the sideline and I think you know was it was a Monday night game or no was a Thursday night game and NBC caught this and see and people are like he's working on the Philly special and no Nick always caught caught passes before games that is like part of his his uh his his routine so yeah he deserves credit for that we heard the clip of him suggestion uh but the the Flea Flicker against Minnesota was was was just an incredible play but but I I think of there's there's two passes in the Super Bowl first off the touchdown pass to Cory Clement so good was like so well placed and uh this isn't like the Hipster answer but you talk to a lot of people about that Super Bowl and they say the big play in the game and Brandon Brooks talked about this when he was on was the fourth and two to uh to Zack Zs and like he threw that to S with like an inch to spare um so that that's probably uh those are probably the some of the memories what about you those are good ones yeah I think I was going to say that the the CL The Clement went too although the Philly special like it has to be yeah it's his it's his idea and he he wasn't catching it all the time during the uh they practiced that in the ballroom they didn't want it on tape sure and also the acting job oh yes exactly I mean he does such a good job it's like give give the guy an Oscar yeah so so by the way if if you haven't seen the interview we did or I shouldn't even say the interview it was more the conversation that we had with Brandon Brooks back in March check that out I think it was March or was it April uh I trust you in the spring check that out um but but Brandon talked about like the the Philly special as well but yeah I I uh you have to I guess you have to think of the Philly special Super Chat from Arthur boow wolf Smith who says the Eagles are honoring Nick week two against Atlanta do you guys think anyone wears nine again for the birds I don't Josh W asked for it this year and they said it's not available so it's been you know what he he left after the 2018 season the Eagles were so gracious to let him hit free agency that year uh so that that that's uh what six seasons ago and then um and so no one's worn it since and it might I kind of I I could kind of see scenario in which Nick bequeaths it like they draft a young first round quarterback who's worn nine his whole life and you know Nick Nick gives it his Blessing okay something like that maybe so yeah nobody's maybe so that's interesting just an idea I don't I don't think Nick I think Nick wore number five when he was at Arizona which he obviously couldn't wear here he wore he wore number nine here but yeah no I don't think they give number nine out how much do you think that Nick fos is Legacy as having won the Super Bowl as a backup quarterback has influenced the Eagles decision- making at that position H well I I mean they've always valued it right yeah they would like to think so so actually um so Jeffrey lurry told me uh before the flex before the Super Bowl that year um I interviewed Jeffrey in the team hotel in in in Minnesota and I talked about this checklist that he had of like tenants for a success organization and he said that he later added second quarterback and he would not call it the backup quarterback it has to be called the the second quarterback because he talked about how important that was in the organization and then he re he he emphasized to me like the amount of money that they ate getting rid of Chase Daniel so they can bring in uh Nick Foles uh because there's a lot of teams that would be like look we just signed this guy last year we're not just going to I think they had to eat 8 million to bring and then pay fos on on top of that they wanted Nick in the building uh and then yeah I mean clearly since then they if you think they signed Josh Macau um when they were going into it they wanted Nate sudfeld sudfeld got hurt that year they so they they brought in Macau they they signed flacko they signed Mariota they drafted jayen Herz of course uh so they will they traded for Kenny picket this year drafted Tanner mcke well that's that's the thing there there was there was a 15-step guide to how H Rosman should approach the off season and one of those is let Tanner mcke compete for the backup quarterback job but instead they wanted the trade for Kenny picket based on maybe the preseason last year which we'll get to we like the mayor