Eagles' Nick Foles tears up talking about baby daughter, wife

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles spoke to reporters on Tuesday, choking up about playing for his wife and 7-month old daughter.

Foles met with the media at the Mall of America's radio row in Minneapolis. The veteran backup-turned-Super-Bowl-starter welcomed daughter Lilly in June with wife Tori. He was asked about what it means to look into his daughter's eyes and play football, compared to when he had no children.

"Everything," Foles said. "That's the most important thing. When I think about this journey and everything, I get home and I get to see her. I get to see my wife and I see my wife in her, in her face, in her mannerisms. That's what it's about.

"And I know that every time I step on the field, every single thing I do, there is going to be some day she looks and wants to know who her daddy was. And what he did. That gives you a little extra juice to want to go out here. Whenever you are tired, whenever you are doing it, doing things the right way. I think about that."

Foles became the Eagles' starter after NFL MVP candidate Carson Wentz tore his ACL in early December. The 29-year-old responded by throwing for 237 yards and four touchdowns in his first start. The Eagles won two of their last three games to end the regular season and captured the top seed in the NFC.

Foles has completed more than 77 percent of his passes for 598 yards and three scores and owns a 122.1 passer rating in his two starts this postseason.

But he puts more pressure on himself to be a role model for his daughter and someone she can be proud of when she gets older.

"Because I know she is going to grow up and I want her to be proud of her daddy," Foles said. "That's why we have such a great responsibility as athletes, not only to young kids who watch...because I was once the young kid who watched the professional athlete and saw what they did. I watched the college athletes.

"Now to be a father, that changes everything. It takes the pressure away because I get to go home to her every night and no matter what happens, no matter if I play a horrible game or not, she loves me. She has no idea. If we win the Super Bowl, she has no idea. And she's going to love me no matter what. But obviously I want to go win this game and we are here to win it, but to have her here at this game with my wife is the greatest thing ever."

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles speaks to the media at Super Bowl LII Opening Night Monday at Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

Foles -- who owns an 87.4 passer rating during his six-year NFL career -- first joined the Eagles in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He had brief spells for the Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams before returning this off-season to backup Wentz.

He married Tori in 2014, while with the Eagles. The couple met while attending the University of Arizona, where Foles was on the football team with New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. Tori was on the volleyball team.

In 2013, Tori was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), before she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. Her heart rate could raise 30 beats per minute just from sitting and standing.

The couple spent a month at the Mayo Clinic, where they got engaged. They were married two months later at a courthouse.

"We knew we were in for a run. We didn't know when we would get married. We never had a wedding ceremony. We never had a honeymoon. Just the journey we've gone on and gone through this and just to see her strength and to see her determination and to see her health continue to improve...And she still deals with it. It's amazing."

"It gives me strength because I knows she deals with it every single day."

Foles leads the Eagles into Super Bowl LII at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.