Air Apparent

Of all the stories behind the seven quarterbacks in pro football history who have thrown seven touchdown passes in a game, none might be more surprising and less expected than that of Nick Foles on Sunday in Oakland.

Foles, who wouldn’t be playing if Michael Vick hadn’t pulled his hamstring again last week against the Giants. Foles, who two weeks ago was knocked out of the Cowboys game with a concussion. Foles, quarterbacking a supposedly high-octane Eagles offense that looked to be running on the cheap stuff in recent weeks.

On Wednesday, head coach Chip Kelly acknowledged that he can’t afford to think about finding the Eagles’ “quarterback of the future,” and that he bases his pick of each week’s starter “first and foremost on health.’’

Cleared to play on Monday, Foles was the man, for the time being.

And on Sunday, in the Eagles’ 49-20 dismantling of Oakland, he did what had been done by Peyton Manning on opening night against the Baltimore Ravens—and only five other times in an NFL or AFL game. Before this season, the last time it had been done was 1969, by Minnesota’s Joe Kapp, long before either Foles or Manning was born.

Sunday was still only the ninth start of Foles’ two-year career, and he had thrown 12 total touchdown passes, six this season. The Eagles (4-5) scored all of 10 points in the previous two games, none on offensive touchdowns.

But on Sunday, Foles chased down the record shared by three Hall of Famers (Sid Luckman, Y.A. Tittle and George Blanda) and one, Manning, who is on his way there. (Ironically, he only tied the franchise record: one of the seven is Adrian Burk, a two-time Pro Bowler who threw seven against Washington in 1954.)

Foles had a perfect passer rating for the game, 158.3. He had more touchdowns than incompletions: He was 22 for 28 for a career-high 406 yards and no interceptions.

He threw a touchdown pass to Brent Celek in the first quarter, then the next two to Riley Cooper and another to Zach Ertz in the second. He connected with LeSean McCoy out of the backfield for his fifth scoring pass 39 seconds into the third quarter, then Desean Jacksondown the right sideline for a 46-yard score three minutes later.

The record-tying touchdown pass went to Cooper again, from five yards out, with 4:28 left in the third quarter. It made the score 49-13, and the all-time record was within reach, even if the game no longer was.

But Foles and the offense went three-and-out on their next two possessions, and rookie Matt Barkley came in for him for good the next time the Eagles got the ball, with 9:23 to go in the game.

Manning, already esteemed, only saw his reputation rise after his record-tying performance in the season-opener. Foles may not get such acclaim. He was the backup, someone gave the Eagles a chance to win but no guarantees. Perhaps some of his astounding success can be attributed to Kelly’s lethargic offense finding a pulse.

Much of the credit, though, deservedly goes to Foles, who made himself a part of NFL history.

-David Steele, Sporting News