He's winning, but something's not right with Foles

Nick Foles is 12-3 as a starting quarterback under Chip Kelly, and yet, something is still missing.

The Eagles won again with Foles at the wheel - a sloppy, 34-28 effort over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday - but they survived in spite of his two turnovers. A second-quarter interception was converted into a touchdown, and a fourth-quarter fumble was followed by 14 unanswered points and a Rams comeback that should have never been.

The fumble was painful to watch because all Foles had to do was slide and he would have been down. But he dove forward after picking up the first down, and the ball popped up without contact.

"I tried to get down," Foles said. "I felt a guy right behind me so I was trying to get down forward. In that situation I just have to make sure that I hold onto the ball."

Sliding has never come easy to Foles, but in that instance it was necessary. Kelly seemed more concerned about the end result than he was about the method, but if his quarterback had given himself up, there never would have been a fumble.

"That's critical," Kelly said, "especially at that point in time."

Foles now has eight turnovers (five interceptions and three fumbles) in five games - doubling last season's amount (four). Many of the turnovers have been unforced.

On the interception, Foles had good protection and tried to hit Jeremy Maclin deep. But the pass was "low and inside when we needed it to be high and outside," Kelly said, and Rams cornerback E.J. Gaines made the pick.

It was the last time Foles went deep, or perhaps Kelly called plays that gave his quarterback fewer chances to throw long. Foles' deep ball has been shoddy this season - he completed only 1 of 13 attempts over 20 yards last week - a year after it was the NFL's most precise.

There were positives on Sunday. Foles tossed two touchdowns, completed 65 percent of his passes, and that first down scramble sure looked sweet - until the fumble. But turnovers and deep-ball inefficiency continued to plague Foles, and there isn't a clear explanation as to why.

There are many theories:

Foles' mechanics are off. He's throwing off his back foot too often.

Kelly said he would have to watch film to fully evaluate Foles' mechanics, but it's clear as day that he's unnecessarily throwing off his back foot too often. He had Jordan Matthews wide open in the third quarter, but he didn't step into his throw despite a clean pocket, and he short-hopped his receiver.

"There are definitely things that I can do better, and that's what I'll work on," Foles said. "I always have to let the ball rip."

A play later, Maclin ran a route similar to Matthews' and was also unguarded. Foles let it rip, and Maclin had the easy touchdown, but he appeared to be throwing off his back foot again.

The injuries on the offensive line have given Foles less time in the pocket.

While that may have been true in the Redskins game, Foles has had time to throw in the last two games. He wasn't sacked by the Rams and has only been sacked once in the last four games. Sacks hardly tell the full story, and Foles has taken some shots, but pass protection hasn't been the problem.

"I wouldn't lump it all in one category," Kelly said when asked if Foles' throwing problems were more of his own doing or the protection, "whether it's one or the other."

The lack of a running game and offensive balance has made his job more difficult.

Faced with the choice of having LeSean McCoy or Foles beat them, teams so far have chosen the latter. If anything, this should make Foles' job easier, but he has often failed to capitalize.

In the first two games, he had trouble locating open receivers downfield. In the next three, he missed them.

Foles' injured left shoulder is affecting his throwing motion.

He definitely has a bruised shoulder, but he hasn't missed a play this season or a practice repetition, per Kelly, which may have more to do with Foles' toughness than anything. Still, quarterbacks play through pain. This is what they do.

There are other hypotheses. Some have wondered if Foles is still adjusting to new quarterbacks coach Bill Musgrave. Others have questioned whether the departure of former receiver DeSean Jackson has stunted his development.

Neither holds much water. Foles and Bill Lazor, Musgrave's predecessor, didn't get along by the end, and it's not as if Eagles receivers - especially Maclin - haven't gotten open.

Foles is still a developing quarterback, but was 2013 his ceiling, and are we seeing more of the real thing in 2014? Those are long-term questions, and as important as the future is at that position, the short-term question has a bottom-line answer.

The Eagles are winning.

"He is 4-1 as the starting quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles," Maclin said. "He wants to play better, but we are winning. What you want is a winning quarterback."

But, right now, something is amiss.

Nick Foles had his moments in Sunday's win over the Rams, mostly in the first half. The Rams' Austin Davis had some big plays, mostly in the fourth quarter. Here are the passing numbers:

Nick Foles

24   37   207   2-1   0-0   24   86.2

Austin Davis

29   49   375   3-0   4-34   43   103.7

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