Quarterback Nick Foles is a fighter.
He showed it countless times in 2013. He showed it in the Eagles' Week 3 win over Washington. And he showed it Sunday in the Eagles' win over the Rams.
Foles is a fighter, and no matter what's thrown at him, or what he throws himself, he'll keep fighting until the problem is resolved.
Foles was credited with a pair of turnovers in the Eagles' 34-28 win over the Rams on Sunday and inaccurate on a few deep balls, but none of that stopped him from executing in key moments, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said Tuesday.
"I saw Nick battle through the game," Shurmur said. "We haven't given up sacks the last few weeks. There's been times when he's had to get the ball out in a little quicker manner than we'd like, and there are times when he's had some bad footing."
But Shurmur keeps returning to one key moment in Sunday's win, when Foles showed his mettle just as he has any number of times before.
"I go to one area of the game where we missed what appeared to be an easy throw to Jordan Matthews. Then (Foles) followed it up by ripping the seam ball to Maclin on the next play," Shurmur explained. "And that's really the tale of the tape when you talk about quarterback play. I was home watching games in the afternoon, and I saw some really good quarterbacks do some things where I said, 'Wow.' And then they turn around and make a good throw."
Foles has made his share of mistakes this season, tossing five interceptions and fumbling four times. He's also thrown eight touchdown passes. Mistakes happen, and so do successes. Foles just wants to keep working to make sure he comes out next week with fewer of the former and more of the latter.
"We're continuing to progress," Foles said. "We're in spurts, and we want to be more consistent as an offense. But I saw us moving in the right direction. We just have to come out here this week, make more corrections and continue to work on execution.
"I've just missed a few throws. I've missed five percent more throws, and that's something that you want to continue to get better at, continue to grow each week. You want to be more accurate each week and you want to be a better player each week, and that's what I strive to do each and every day is just grow."
Four of Foles' five interceptions this season have come on deep balls. After last season, when he threw 11 touchdown passes of more than 20 yards and was known to look downfield early and often, Foles has a few things to fix in terms of his long throws.
But that doesn't mean he's discouraged. Like with everything, he'll keep working until he gets it right.
"We can't be afraid to throw the deep ball," Foles explained. "I'm not afraid to throw the deep ball. I'm going to continue to. I've always liked throwing the deep ball. You play quarterback, you love launching the ball, you love letting it loose, and you can't let the start of the season not being good at it scare you away from it. You've just got to execute."
Interceptions happen, Shurmur said. Mistakes happen.
"Every once in a while you have a bad play," Shurmur said. "So you know what you do? You admit it, you find a solution, you correct it and you move on fast to the next one."
Which, as Foles has repeatedly demonstrated, is exactly what the Eagles' quarterback will do.
