Eagles coach Doug Pederson announced on Monday to the Philadelphia media that Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles would start against the Falcons in the season-opener on Thursday night.
Foles also started in the Eagles’ 15-10 win over the Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs last season.
“When you go through you preparation for the offense, you want to see if things change from one player to another,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said on Monday when told of the Foles announcement. “In their instance, so much of what they do is similar. Both of them have done it at high level….Their system stays pretty consistent.”
Carson Wentz, who’s coming back from LCL and ACL knee surgery, has not been cleared for contact.
“He’s a good quarterback,” Falcons middle linebacker Deion Jones said of Foles. “He gets them guys lined up and ready to play. He executes what they need him to do.”
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Free safety Ricardo Allen isn’t putting much stock in the fact the defense held Foles to 15 points last season.
“It never rolls over,” Allen said. “You can’t figure that because you stopped somebody in one game ... sometimes you play the same divisional teams and you stop them the first game and they can run the same stuff and they do it a little better. You just never know. You just do your job and play to the best of your ability.”
After facing the Falcons, Foles went on a roll that ended with the Eagles winning the franchise’ s first Super Bowl.
“They have different skill sets, but they are both good,” Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said of the Eagles signal callers. “One is a MVP candidate and the other was the Super Bowl MVP. So, I mean they have two really good options. We are getting prepared for whatever ball they roll.”
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