Doug Pederson looks to past to help Nick Foles

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Doug Pederson actually laughed at the question. Yes, Nick Foles is still his starting quarterback.

The fact that it was a legitimate question during the Eagles' bye week before the divisional round speaks to how poorly Foles has played in the last couple of games. It will be hard for the Eagles to win a Super Bowl if he doesn't play better.

Foles is the guy, so this week is about self-scouting and tailoring the offense to him. The Eagles have to give him the best possible chance to succeed.

Back in early December, when Carson Wentz tore his ACL, Pederson claimed the offense wouldn't need to change much with Foles (see story). But now, as the Eagles are preparing for their first playoff game in less than two weeks, the head coach is going back to see what has worked for Foles before.

"Just taking a look at what his strengths are," Pederson said. "Strengths and weaknesses and making sure we're ... everything at this time of year becomes magnified even more now that you're going into the postseason. We've got to make sure that we're doing our due diligence as a staff to put our guys in successful positions."

The Eagles will start their playoff run on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4:35 p.m. against the Saints, Panthers or Falcons. They have until then to figure out their offense with Foles at the helm.

During that magical 2013 season, Foles thrived in Chip Kelly's offense, which included a lot of one-read and quick throws. It also included an uptempo pace, which has seemingly given him a kickstart in Pederson's offense this year. Pederson made sure to note that the Eagles used it with Wentz at times this season too.

Pederson has gone back to watch tape of Foles from that wild 2013 season, including the 26-24 playoff loss to New Orleans. He actually watched that game on Tuesday morning before his press conference.

"I saw a guy that stood in there, took some shots in that game, delivered some great throws in that game and led the team back to the go-ahead touchdown late in the game," Pederson said. "That's the type of quarterback that we have."

He also went back and watched Foles from 2012 when Andy Reid was still coach. He even watched tape from when Foles was in St. Louis in 2015.

Pederson watched everything he could of Foles because that's his quarterback for the rest of this playoff run. He wants to make him as comfortable as possible.

"The little play-action pass, the shotgun stuff, those are all things that are in our system and we might just have to dust a few more off and get that ready to go," Pederson said. "That's kind of what this week is for, to get some of those ideas and thoughts down on paper and execute them this week at practice."

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