After two weeks of offensive struggles, Nick Foles came to the rescue in a career outing, throwing for seven touchdown passes which ties an NFL record. The Eagles improved to 4-5 with a 49-20 victory over the Raiders.
The offense looked good right out of the gate this week. On their first drive, they showed the uptempo offense much like we saw in the first half of the Redskins game. They drove the ball right down the field and ended the drive with a touchdown reception by Brent Celek. Riley Cooper had a big play during the drive and they were also to convert on a few third downs.
The offensive efficiency continued as Foles went on to throw for over 400 yards and ended the day with a perfect quarterback rating. His favorite target on the day was Riley Cooper who had five receptions for 139 yards and three touchdowns. DeSean Jackson also had five receptions for 150 yards and a touchdown. Along with Celek, Cooper, and Jackson, the Eagles had receiving touchdowns from Zach Ertz and LeSean McCoy.
There were a lot of questions surrounding the quarterback position coming into the week. No one was sure how Foles would bounce back after a poor showing against the Cowboys. However, he came out and looked like the Foles were used to seeing and took it to a whole different level. You have to believe that the Cowboys game was just an outlier for Foles.
Defensively, the Eagles gave up a ton of yards but they were able to do a pretty good job at keeping the Raiders off the scoreboard. Terrelle Pryor was able to make some plays with his feet but the Eagles were able to do a decent job of getting in his face and forcing him to make errors.
Overall, it was a good bounce back game for the Eagles. They’ll have their hands full next week when they take on the Packers, but it will be a good test to see where this team truly stands.
(Photo Credits: USA Today, The Penalty Flag)