Sunday in Baltimore, Case Keenum will start for the St. Louis Rams. That’s because Nick Foles — who just two years ago posted the best touchdown-to-interception ratio and the third-best passer rating in NFL history while also leading the league with a 9.1 yards-per-attempt average — has been benched.
How is it possible that in 13 games in 2013 Foles was statistically the best quarterback in football and has been mediocre at every other point? It’s an enigma that might go down as the ultimate example of why small sample sizes can’t be trusted in professional football.
Last year, Foles was the league’s seventh lowest-rated qualified passer, and he ranked 30th among 33 qualifiers before being sent to the bench by Jeff Fisher this season.