Red Zone Lets Nick Foles Show He's Learning Receivers

If one-on-one passing drills inside the red zone at Tuesday's Bears practice provided accurate indication, quarterback Nick Foles is rapidly learning his new receivers' abilities.

Foles' well-placed throws ignited the wide receivers to a decisive victory over the defensive backs in one-on-one red zone, so one-sided that wide receivers coach Mike Furrey was hollering trash at defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend from 53 yards away on the other sideline. For their efforts, the wide receivers gained Furrey a "championship belt," and he held it aloft proudly, while screaming for Townsend and the DBs to try to take it away again. in the future.

"Obviously the tight ends jumped out to our eyes down there," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "There are some nice-sized tight ends that have some really good ball skills, and so it's a great challenge when our safeties are covering them or our linebackers, or if you put a corner out there for that matter."

When it wasn't Jimmy Graham standing out or Cole Kmet or Demetrius Harris, it was wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. Allen Robinson II capped it by beating Tashaun Gipson easily with a little inside move to catch a TD.

Only cornerback Kyle Fuller seemed immune to the offense in those drills, and the common denominator in it all for the offense was not a receiver but was Foles.

"I mean, one on one in the red zone is always a fun time," Foles said. "There's not much room, man vs. man. I thought it was really good work today.

"I thought guys were being extremely competitive, practicing hard but being smart. And having a guy like Jimmy, I thought Jimmy had a great day of work today and really showed why he's been such a great player in this league for so long."

The new Bears quarterback displayed a deft touch on the second day of padded practices. He took the majority of first-team snaps as he and Mitchell Trubisky alternate days in their involvement with the first-team offense.

"I think slowly but surely it is coming for both of them," Nagy sad of his quarterbacks. "But specifically for Nick, he's the one that hasn't had the time, for instance, with Allen Robinson so there are some specific routes where you can see he is throwing to spots on time, he's anticipating.

"That's a strength of Nick's. He's nice and tall in the pocket so he is able to see over the defensive line."

Foles did not want to count one drill in a day of practice as evidence he's on the same page with receivers, although something similar happened earlier in 7-on-7 drills in the red zone. In that one he also found a dime-sized passing window to Kmet as he lunged forward in air-tight coverage for a touchdown.

"I think it's just that you want to be at that top level, where you're just not thinking and you're just playing," Foles said. "And so I just keep reminding myself that each time a play is called, just focus on this play, execute this play."

Learning the receivers is a little different than executing plays and focusing on plays. Unlike Trubisky, Foles lacked any offseason work with these receivers.

"And then when it comes to the players, it's just getting used to how different guys run their routes, how they catch the ball, what they like, what they don't like," Foles said. "That's something that I'm learning every single day. The guys are working hard and we're really making plays so it makes it easier to get up to speed faster but it's still a process."

To do this, Foles said he watches receivers closely during the times when Trubisky or Tyler Bray are throwing to try and understand their indiosyncracies.

:If we stay after practice and throw when I'm not throwing I'm watching receivers to see how they run their routes, to see how they're catching the ball," Foles said. "So just continuing to build a data base in my mind."

The data base has obviously expanded in a short time, based on the passes Graham, Ginn, Robinson and Kmet hauled in during drills.

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