Nick Foles Had Best Game of Season Against Saints
Nick Foles had his best game of the season against the New Orleans Saints and it wasn’t really close. Per Pro Football Focus, which seeks to grade a player’s “contribution to production” on a given play rather than just standard measurables, Foles graded as a much more efficient passer ($) than in his previous five games. His 92.7 passer rating was also a season-best for a full game, though he had a 95.2 after taking over for Mitchell Trubisky in Week 3.
Nick Foles had his highest-graded game of the season against the Saints
His performance also featured a season-high in passing yards, yards per pass attempt and dropped passeshttps://t.co/zAM5XLETGk pic.twitter.com/BInPmF1K9I
— PFF CHI Bears (@PFF_Bears) November 4, 2020
The improved grades came from season-highs in passing yards (272) and yards per attempt (6.63), despite also dealing with three drops. That latter total doubled his season total and leads you to wonder what might have happened had Bears receivers been a little more sure-handed. Of course, Foles was also under constant pressure and was sacked five times while being forced to throw quickly with great frequency.
He may have to do more of the same Sunday afternoon behind a makeshift offensive line that may be almost unrecognizable. James Daniels has been out for some time now, but Bobby Massie just hit the IR and Cody Whitehair was already out with a calf issue before testing positive for COVID-19. Jason Spriggs likewise tested positive and Germain Ifedi is on the reserve/COVID list as a high-risk close contact.
Then there’s Rashaad Coward, who PFF grades as the 76th-best guard out of 77 who’ve met the minimum snap counts. It’s not a great situation to say the least, but Foles put up his best game when he faced the most pressure and may be able to do so again in Tennessee.