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Nick Foles has made it.
By "it", I mean the cover of the latest edition of Sports Illustrated magazine. Take a look for yourselves:
Nick Foles, SI coverboy, with story written by Michael Bamberger: pic.twitter.com/o1jEs8lMo8
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) December 11, 2013
Foles is obviously one of the most intriguing stories in football this year. After a quarterback competition in training camp, he entered the year as Michael Vick's backup. Vick suffered a hamstring injury that knocked him out of action and Foles took over and played well. Then Foles put up a terrible performance against the Dallas Cowboys and had some people seriously questioning his ability. Foles returned against the Raiders a few weeks later and threw an NFL record-tying seven touchdowns. He's played well again ever since that game and has made it look like he could be the Eagles' long-term answer at quarterback. The second year quarterback owns the NFL's highest passer rating at 120 and has thrown 20 touchdowns to only 1 interception. Foles has been a big part in turning around the Eagles season from a 3-5 start to now a 8-5 record and a potential playoff berth.
The last Eagle to make the SI cover was... Nnamdi Asomugha in 2011. Perhaps not exactly the most fond memory for Eagles fans. Prior to that, Michael Vick was on the cover in November of 2010. Foles' appearance on the most recent cover marks the 19th time the Eagles have been featured on the cover.
As some will point out, there is a jinx associated with the cover appearance. It's thought that players who make the cover are cursed and don't play as well after they don the cover.
Look, if a magazine cover photo is what prevents the Nick Foles and/or the Eagles from playing well, then they were never really any good in the first place. Plus, as good friend Liz Roscher points out,
I don't care about the SI cover jinx, being that I had zero expectations for the Eagles going into the season. Also, the cover is badass.
— Liz Roscher (@lizroscher) December 11, 2013
Chip Kelly was asked about the jinx during his Wednesday morning press conference. His response:
"I don't believe in it."
And neither should you. The Eagles are playing good football right now and a magazine cover is not what's going to bring that to an end.
