Nick Foles has a calling far greater than throwing touchdown passes.

If Foles leads the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots Riley Sutter Capitals Jersey , he’ll become a folk hero in a city that has desperately waited for a championship since 1960.

But that won’t define Foles in the big picture. He has more important plans for his future.

”I want to be a pastor in a high school,” Foles said Thursday. ”It’s on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It’s a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people’s hearts.”

Foles is part of a team that has a strong Christian brotherhood. MVP contender Carson Wentz has been outspoken about his faith and many players spend a lot of time together in prayer, studying the Bible and sharing devotionals.

Foles was one of the study leaders during his first stint in Philadelphia and has become a go-to source for younger guys. Left guard Stefen Wisniewksi also plans to become a pastor after his career ends.

”Guys like Nick and Wis can spit out scripture all day and it’s awesome to take in that knowledge,” said special teams ace Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Foles is passionate about helping students find their way and plans to use his experiences to inspire and encourage them.

”When I speak to (students), that’s such a time of young men and young women’s lives that there’s a lot of things that are thrown at them. So much temptation in this world, so much going on with social media and the internet that you want to talk to them and address it and share all the weaknesses I have because I’ve fallen many times,” Foles said. ”It’s something I want to do. I can’t play football forever. I’ve been blessed with an amazing platform and it’s just a door God has opened, but I still have a lot of school left and a long journey.”

Foles, who was offensive MVP of the Pro Bowl following the 2013 season, contemplated retirement after he asked the Rams to release him last year. He ended up going to Kansas City and reuniting with Andy Reid http://www.vikingsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jalyn-holmes-jersey , who drafted him in the third round in Philadelphia in 2012.

He says prayer helped him decide to stay in the NFL, and he returned to the Eagles to be Wentz’s backup. When Wentz tore his left ACL in Week 14, Foles stepped in and led Philadelphia. He was spectacular against Minnesota in the NFC championship, tossing four touchdown passes in a 38-7 win.

Foles – not Tom Brady – has the highest passer rating in postseason history for quarterbacks who’ve thrown at least 75 passes. Foles has completed 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions in three games for a 116.4 passer rating.

”It took a lot more faith to come back and play than it would’ve to go in the other direction,” Foles said. ”Either way would’ve been fine. Either way, I would’ve trusted in God. I would’ve done something else and glorified God in that instance.

”The reason I decided to come back is I’ve loved the game of football since I was a kid, I loved playing sports, I loved being part of a team, and I knew as a person that the more growth I’ve had and the more opportunity I would have to glorify God and trust in him would be to go back and play football.”

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AP NFL website: No one was safe from the NFL's new helmet rule during Friday night's game between the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets. Every facet of the game was affected: defense Reuben Foster Jersey Youth , offense and special teams. A penalty showed up in each.

"I'm anxious to go back and look at those," Atlanta coach Dan Quinn said.

The rule first struck specials teams in the opening quarter, well before the Jets closed out the Falcons 17-0 at MetLife Stadium.

After the Jets scored their first touchdown, Atlanta running back Ito Smith returned the kickoff 25 yards before being stopped by Buster Skrine. Once he was down, everyone got up and moved on 鈥?until they were reminded that before the whistle blew there was a flag on the play. It was specifically against Skrine, who left the game afterward with a shoulder injury. The officials moved the ball up 15 yards.

That was the first of the three calls, a significant amount considering they all came in the first half. The penalty was for "lowering the head to initiate contact." Key word: contact.

Two plays after the first penalty, still in the first quarter, Falcons wide receiver Reggie Davis caught a pass and was pushed out of bounds to end the play. There was another flag for a helmet penalty, on Smith 鈥?and he was on offense.

"I knew that could happen Jerome Baker Color Rush Jersey ," Quinn said. "I probably was surprised it happened on a pass play by a blocker. . If that's going to be the way it's officiated, I think that's good that it happened now, not only for our team but for other teams around the league, to provide an example."

That 15-yard penalty was enforced at the 42-yard line where Davis went out of bounds after advancing Atlanta 5 yards.

"The first two that I saw I had a good look at, and I thought they were the correct call," Quinn said. "... It's an emphasis, and I'm disappointed to see our team 鈥?that we take such pride in that 鈥?have those fouls."

Lastly, the helmet penalty hit the defense, the side of the ball people expected to break the new rule on initiating contact by lowering the helmet.

Falcons defensive back Damontae Kazee tackled wide receiver Tre McBride after an 8-yard pass. Kazee apparently lowered his head enough to draw a flag. New York moved up half the distance to the goal line, or 4 yards.

"We're not only going to show ours Daniel Castro Colorado Rockies Jersey , we're going to show ones from around the league this week, so we have more teaching (opportunities)," Quinn said. "Clearly we have work to do in that area, and we'll devote the time to it because it is that important."

This was both teams' first preseason game and it was sloppy. Overall, the Falcons had 10 penalties for 71 yards. The Jets had eight for 65 yards. Two of the helmet calls were on Atlanta, one on New York.

"Those can go down," Quinn said. "Let's continue to work on it because clearly we're not doing it (right)."

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