Add to the Foles resume: tough

NICK FOLES has been called a lot of things by a lot of people in the last year or so: cool, accurate, smart, franchise; lucky, fad, product of a system, flash in the pan. The descriptions shift with the winds, and the final scores. There is little upon which everyone can agree.

Except now, maybe, this: tough.

It is an essential quality for success as an NFL quarterback. There is no faking it, either. The rules and the officials do everything they can to protect you and you still get leveled by human missiles on a regular basis. Sometimes the missiles take your breath, or bruise your body, or test your soul - and you either get up and keep playing at a successful level or you don't. It's all about you at that point.

And yesterday, Foles kept getting up.

"My teammates are fighting for me, so I'm not going to stay down," he said. "I'm going to get up for those guys. That's my mindset. It's not a pride thing where I have to be a tough guy. I know those guys are depending on me so I'm going to get up and keep fighting for them."

We all saw the most noteworthy example - when Washington's Chris Baker pulverized Foles during an interception return in clear violation of the rules. (You can't hit a quarterback on a change of possession unless he's really in there trying to make the tackle on the returner.)

Foles was laid out - "obliterated," in his description - and surrounded by doctors as the two teams engaged in a massive brawl that started when the Eagles' Jason Peters sought vengeance on Foles' behalf. It was all followed by the ejections of Baker and Peters, a replay review that turned the interception into an incompletion, and an order amid the chaos from referee Tony Corrente that might never have been heard before on an NFL stadium public address system: "Both teams are directed to their benches."

After which, Foles got up and led the Eagles on a touchdown drive that put them ahead to stay, finishing it off with a 27-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin. There were still a couple of twists and turns to go before the 37-34 score was final, but that was the drive that cemented the image of this quarterback, on this day.

Again, tough.

"It's like when JP [Peters] went out there and he had my back," Foles said. "Or when all of those receivers kept doing their jobs. We had backup o-linemen in and they kept fighting, each and every down. So I'm not going to sit there and not get up. I'm going to get up no matter what because those guys depend on me."

But it was more than just that one play, which Foles said was a rib shot that never left him foggy. He got hit a ton yesterday behind an offensive line that is, well, what is the next step beyond "patchwork"? After Jason Kelce got hurt (abdomen) and Peters got ejected, following Lane Johnson's suspension and Evan Mathis' injury in the season opener, Todd Herremans was the last starter standing, and it looked it.

In the fifth minute of the third quarter, Foles was clobbered after throwing a 22-yard completion to Darren Sproles. You could tell he was hurt because, as he attempted to pick himself up, he could not put any weight on his left (non-throwing) arm. The strong suggestion was a shoulder problem.

A simultaneous Washington injury gave Foles a minute to gather himself. With backup Mark Sanchez warming up hurriedly, Foles pretty quickly said he was OK to stay in the game. And while the shoulder was obviously bothering him - you wonder what might have happened if there had been a bad, high snap to his left - Foles hung in and won the game.

Foles did not deny the shoulder issue. "It just got banged up a little bit," he said. "It's football and you get hit a few times. I'm good right now."

He completed 28-for-42 for 325 yards and three touchdowns. The Eagles are now 3-0 and Foles has three straight games of more than 320 yards, but this was clearly his best game because it was his most complete game. Accurate, decisive, aware in the pocket - this was the first time in 2014 that Foles reminded us of the Foles from 2013.

Without a running game, unprotected, physically battered - Foles nonetheless looked like the player who made the Pro Bowl last season. After it was over, his coach called him "a tough sucker."

Chip Kelly also said, "What you've got is, you've got a guy that's just an unbelievable competitor and understands what the game plan was and really took advantage of it."

Nick Foles was able to do that because he kept getting up. Upon that, everyone can now agree.

On Twitter: @theidlerich

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