NEWSLETTER
All quotes of effusive praise for a team’s starting quarterback, whether pre-season or in-season or post-season, have to be taken with a grain of salt. Players know how important that guy is, know how much they want that guy to succeed, and know that anything they say that has even a kernel of negativity in it will be picked apart.
So, then, when guys were saying great stuff about Mitchell Trubisky OR Nick Foles during camp, there’s not a lot you can take from the praise, itself. And when guys said great stuff about Trubisky after the first couple weeks of the season, again, you might appreciate it, but you can’t just assume things are ACTUALLY totally awesome and without issue.
In turn, when Nick Foles took over last week and led the Bears on an incredible comeback, you knew some big-time praise was coming from his teammates.
But sometimes, if the situation is right, that normal rah-rah praise actually tells you a whole lot more.
Like, for example, if a veteran tight end who specifically talks about the way Foles was diagnosing defenses and appropriately adjusting plays.
“His execution and really taking over the kills and the calls was pretty special,” said Jimmy Graham, an 11-year NFL veteran. “He was out there ad-libbing a bit for sure and checking and changing some plays. There’s one play called, I’m like, ‘We got that?’ So it was pretty cool to see and pretty cool to be a part of.”
To be sure, Graham did not explicitly say that it was a stark contrast from the 4th year quarterback who’d been under center earlier in the game, but again, this is what Graham chose to point out. And it really says a lot about what Foles brings to the Bears, and one of the unseen skills he’s developed over his time in the NFL.
