Nick Foles’ willingness to take risks helped make him a Super Bowl champion.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback revealed to ESPN on Wednesday he called the trick play on which his team scored a touchdown just before halftime. Facing a fourth-and-goal situation on the New England Patriots’ 1-yard line, Foles recommended to head coach Doug Pederson the Eagles run a daring reverse pass, which ended up in Foles’ hands inside the end zone to give Philadelphia a 22-12 lead at the break.
“That was something we’d been working on, and Doug and I were talking — I was like, ‘Let’s just run it,'” Foles said. “And it was a good time. And the end was a little wider than I thought, so I really needed to sell like I’m not doing anything. And it worked — Burton made an amazing throw right on the money; I just looked it in. We worked on it for a while (in practice), so I was excited for it to get a run in the Super Bowl.”
The interaction between Foles and Pederson was documented on Showtime’s “Inside the NFL” on Tuesday night.
.@NFoles_9 made the call, made the touchdown and made history. #PhillySpecial
Watch more @NFLFilms highlights on the #InsideTheNFL finale TONIGHT 9PM ET/PT on Showtime.@Eagles #SBLII #FlyEaglesFly #Eagles pic.twitter.com/jIDrfeYpVW
— Inside the NFL (@insidetheNFL) February 6, 2018
Philadelphia took the play from the Chicago Bears, who ran it earlier in the season, according to ESPN.com’s Tim McManus. But running it in the Super Bowl offers higher risk and greater rewards than doing so in the regular season.
Perhaps that’s why the play will go down in history as the “Philly Special” and Foles has transformed from unassuming backup quarterback to Super Bowl MVP.
