When Carson Wentz went down with a knee injury, Eagles fans began to think “here we go again.” Their MVP quarterback was lost for the season in a year that many thought could be a special one.
Enter backup QB Nick Foles, the former Eagles starter from 2012-2014, who kept the train rolling into the playoffs. On Sunday, Nick played the game of his life in leading Philadelphia back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2004 season.
Foles to @TheWorldof_AJ. Six points.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/NPIlrQc4pl
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 22, 2018
The Eagles destroyed the Vikings 38-7 for their third ever trip to the Super Bowl. And it was Foles who led the way, throwing for 352 yards completing 26 of his 33 passes with 3 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Combine Foles’ effort with a dominating defense that forced 2 interceptions, including a pick-six, and you get a trip to Minneapolis on February 4th for Super Bowl LII.
Nick Foles was interviewed three times after the Eagles win on Sunday, on the field immediately after the win, on the podium when they received the NFC Championship trophy and then in the postgame press conference, and each time, Foles stopped, paused, and recognized that he wouldn’t be where he is without his strong faith in Christ.
“Words can’t describe what I feel right now,” Foles said in a post game press conference. “I said it out there, all glory belongs to God. I wouldn’t be here without any of that. I’m grateful and humbled to be a part of this team, to be in this moment, to share it with our family and fans. All the people that love this franchise. It’s unbelievable. Words can’t describe.”
Foles has always been outspoken about his faith and has always placed Jesus Christ as the center of his life and back in the summer of 2017, he shared about how he almost retired until returning to Philadelphia.
“A lot of people don’t know this — I’m going to share this right now, because I think it’s important. After my time with a certain NFL team, I wanted to retire,” Foles told You Version. “This was a year ago. I wanted to retire from the NFL, and I really struggled. I couldn’t pick up a football for about eight months. I had no love for the game, and it was tough.”
Foles shared that it was a time of prayer and connection to God that brought him back.
“I kept reading scripture, I kept praying, I kept asking God — and so many of us ask God for signs, we ask God, ‘Hey, please just put it on the wall, like, I want to know,’ but that’s not how it works,” Foles said. “He’s not always going to do that. He was shaping me. He was bringing me down to my knees … At that moment, through that prayer, He said, ‘Hey, just take a step of faith. You’re either going to stop playing the game of football and you’re going to go onto a different area of your life and I’m going to be with you, I’m going to be the most important thing in your life, or you’re going to step back into football and you’re going to continue to play and I’m going to be with you every step of the way and you’re going to play to glorify me.”
Click below to read more about Foles’ faith journey.
Eagles Nick Foles says prayer helped keep him in the NFL after contemplating retirement
Please be praying for Nick and all of the Eagles and Patriots players as they play on the biggest platform. Pray that God gets the glory and that His name is lifted high no matter what happens in the Super Bowl.
Related Links:
– Philadelphia Eagles players get baptized in team facility pool
– Football Sunday 2018: Seek, Surrender, Serve
