Eagles not about to coddle Wentz
Coach has no plans to pull back the reins on star quarterback
A look at some of the NFL’s top storylines:
Carson Wentz returns this week. What can we expect?
News: The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback has been cleared for contact and will start Sunday at home against the Indianapolis Colts, his first game action since a knee injury last season.
View: Last time we all saw Wentz in NFL game action, he was having an MVP-calibre season until tearing up his left knee. At the time, Wentz led all passers with 33 touchdowns, against seven interceptions, for 3,296 yards.
Alas, Wentz tore not only the anterior cruciate ligament, but the lateral collateral ligament, too, and suffered other softtissue damage. Nick Foles, of course, filled in for Wentz and led the Eagles to a playoff run for the ages and Super Bowl championship, the franchise’s first.
Now, after two additional games with Foles as stand-in, Wentz is ready to return.
Will the Eagles baby him? Head coach Doug Pederson this week said no. That’s not only the right approach, but the only approach a team should take.
“I mean, he’s cleared. He goes,” Pederson said. “There’s no need to hold back.”
Is it realistic, though, to expect Wentz to pick up right where he left off ? Of course not.
Should the Packers consider sitting out Aaron Rodgers? News: The Green Bay Packers quarterback did not practise Wednesday as he continues to manage the pain and recovery of what he and the team are calling a left knee “sprain.”
View: Although Rodgers said immediately after the game in which he hurt the knee — the Week 1 opener versus Chicago — that he was told he couldn’t further injure it by playing, he said Wednesday he was worried about doing precisely that by continuing to play. Green Bay visits Washington Sunday.
The club should order Rodgers to shut it down for a week or two, so he can heal quicker, avoid making it worse and be healthier.
Can Josh Gordon really succeed in the Patriots’ tight box? News: New England acquired serially troubled receiver Josh Gordon in a trade with Cleveland. View: Bill Belichick of the Patriots probably too often thinks he’s crazy like a fox when he brings in one of these troublemakers or prima donnas. For every Randy Moss that works out (however briefly) in a Patriots uniform, we tend to forget the Chad Ochocincos who don’t.
Speculation is Gordon’s biggest issue is not his struggles with substance dependency, but rather, he just doesn’t give a flying fire-truck about football on too many days. If true, Gordon is the antithesis of the prototypical Belichick-era Patriot.