Instant Analysis: Foles gives Eagles hope

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There hasn’t been much to cheer about during this dismal 2012 season. Hasn’t been much to celebrate during a seemingly endless two-month losing streak.

Foles at least gives us hope.

The rookie third-round pick was no less than brilliant Sunday, rallying the Eagles to their first win in two months in the final seconds against the Buccaneers (see Instant Replay).

His one-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Maclin with no time on the clock gave the Eagles their first win since Sept. 30, 23-21 over a Buccaneers team that six years ago beat the Eagles by the same score on a 62-yard field goal, also with no time left on the clock.

This was Nick Foles coming of age. First two starts, you just didn’t see it. Last week in Dallas, he was very good. Sunday, he was astonishing.

The Eagles took a 10-0 lead into the third quarter, fell behind 21-10 in the fourth quarter, then scored 14 points in the final four minutes for their first win since September.

And it was all Nick Foles.

Foles passed for an Eagles rookie record 381 yards, threw for two TDs, ran 10 yards for another, completed 32 of 51 passes -- two of the incompletions were spikes -- and overcame six sacks and numerous other vicious hits to stand tall in the pocket and make correct decisions and deliver the ball on target.

He doesn’t have DeSean Jackson, doesn’t have LeSean McCoy, didn’t have any sort of running game Sunday -- except the one he created himself -- and didn’t get very good protection from the makeshift offensive line the Eagles are running out there these days.

OK, maybe this is Bobby Hoying against the Bengals in 1997. We all thought he was the next Joe Montana for a few weeks. It’s a fair point.

But seeing a 23-year-old rookie throw two touchdown passes in the final four minutes to rally his team on the road to a win over a team in the playoff hunt -- that’s something special.

We have three more weeks to watch Foles continue to grow and develop, and whoever’s coaching the Eagles next year will have his own thoughts on how to proceed at quarterback.

But at least we’ve seen what this kid is capable of doing, how he handles himself when things aren’t going well, how he responds to adversity.

It gives us all some hope. Something we’ve had very little of this year.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.