Nfl, Nick Foles, the gentle champion, leaves football: his unforgettable “Philly Special” made him a Philadelphia icon

He leaves. It was to be expected after a prolonged inactivity. Eleven years in the NFL is not a short time. He, Nick Folesa gentle champion with a sweet smile, humble but tenacious enough to achieve the highest goals, does it with a few words: “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to retire as a Philadelphia Eagle,” he said, previewing the news that he will be celebrated when the Eagles open their home season at Lincoln Financial Field Monday, September 16 against the Atlanta Falcons.

“The City of Brotherly Love always felt like home to me as an NFL player. Philadelphia is a city that I truly love and it was an honor to wear the Eagles jersey. Thank you, Philadelphia, for embracing me and making me a part of your family forever. Your love and support meant the world. Fly, Eagles, fly!” he concluded his sober public farewell.

There is an image that tells the character’s candor: a zoom of the cameras shows him incredulous in front of the trophy of Super Bowl and the unmistakable lip-synching records a naive “Wow!”. Stuff you would expect from a kid and not from the quarterback who just gave the Philadelphia Eagles their first historic and sensational Super Bowl and did it as the best player of the final, Mvp, Most valuable player. As a shower of hundreds of confetti falls on him, on the night of February 4, 2017, QB number 9, Nick Foles, is truly wonderfully incredulous and almost says: “What the hell have I done?”.

And to think that a few hours earlier Foles had really messed up. In an important moment of the match with the football dynasty of the New England Patriots era Bradyat the end of the first half, had left an important mark on the match with an action that has gone down in NFL history: the Philly Special in a truly unpredictable overdose of personality.

As the great Eagles center said – with a few unpronounceable words Jason Kelce on the day of his retirement: “I will never forget Nick Foles playing the game of his life on the biggest stage possible and at one point turning to coach Doug Pederson and asked him for the Philly Special. And Doug said yeah, let’s do it. Only someone with a… (unrepeatable, ed.) could do that.”

And here’s Foles perfectly executing a trick play with the running back giving the ball to the tight end and the tight end throwing it for a touchdown right to him, the wide receiver version. Fantastic. The legendary Tom Brady furious, the guru of the cocach Belichick out of his mind.

And to think that everyone was desperate in Philadelphia when the knee of a then formidable Carson Wentz of the season he crashed in Los Angeles in the match with Rams and the Eagles convinced themselves that that fantastic season was coming to an end. Without their starting QB, where do you hope to go? They will immediately exit in the playoffs… Poor things, how unlucky they will never win the SB: these were the comments of the sophisticated NFL analysts.

And instead that qb with that face a bit like that showed he was a great. He took the team by the hand and won. With personality, indeed, but also evident talent. Which, it’s life, was expressed to the maximum only in Phila. In his wanderings to other teams Nick, however, was never able to express himself to the maximum. On the contrary, in the green jersey he was irresistible. Gkind, helpful, humble and champion. Everyone on the field will miss you, Nick, especially the Eagles Nation. Good life, MVP of the night of dreams.