Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wentz’s hunting trip with Trout bags a lot of hype
Ducks, geese and PHILADELPHIA >> Trout.
That’s how Carson Wentz spent a free day last week, teammate Zach Ertz having hooked him up for a little hunting expedition with Major League Baseball MVP Mike Trout.
Wentz joined Trout, the celebrated Birds season ticket holder from Millville, N.J., in a quest for “waterfowl” somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. Wentz declined to describe the scope of their one-franchise-playerto-another conversation.
“We just hung out and went hunting,” Wentz said. “Nothing real crazy. He’s a great guy, a great guy and it’s been cool getting to know him.”
That get-together somehow fueled social media speculation that Trout, who plays for the Los Angeles Angels, might be angling to play for baseball’s Phillies, based on his friendship with Wentz.
No one realizes more than Wentz that wild speculation and loss of privacy is the price you pay for being the quarterback of the Eagles. When Wentz, not long after joining the Eagles, tweeted how he was rescued from a locked restroom at a Jersey gas station, it went viral. Ditto the Trout get together.
That’s life for the savior of Eagles football. Or, as safety Malcolm Jenkins corrected after a hearty laugh, the Birds’ “franchise quarterback.”
Jenkins, the reigning NFC defensive player of the week, knows stellar quarterbacks having won a Super Bowl with Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints in the 2009 season.
“He’s the franchise quarterback that you build around,” Jenkins said. “I feel like he’s faced every situation there is this year. He’s played all the division games, played in overtime games, played in tight games and he’s prepared and showed up in all of them. Some he didn’t necessarily make the plays or we as a team came up short but he showed up every week. And every week you can see plays where he himself has given us an opportunity to win games. And this is all his first year. He’s got a great foundation to build off of.”
For Wentz to take that next step the Eagles are going to need to add to their talent. The rookie out of North Dakota State has made Nelson Agholor, for example, about as good as he can be. While Ertz has become a solid possession tight end, he absolutely must be more physical to get open in goal line situations. You can do a lot worse than receiver Jordan Matthews, a leader who has fought through injuries that began in training camp.
“Definitely he’s done a lot with not that much,” Jenkins said of Wentz. “And we’re going to need some help at some positions. But as you upgrade I think it’s going to make it that much better. But we do have some pieces. I think this next year, that’s where it will really jump. That’s when he really takes control of the entire offense and he starts making all the other guys better.”
Believe Wentz when he says he’s sad to see the season about to end. The Eagles (6-9) have one game left, a New Year’s clash with the Dallas Cowboys (13-2), the top seed in the NFC.
Wentz was just beginning to feel comfortable with the routine. Ditto the close games, although obviously he would have preferred more than one win and fewer than six losses in one-score games.
“We’ve been in a lot of close games and I’ve learned that it’s tough to win in this league,” Wentz said. “There have been a lot of things that have been really good learning things for the season. It’s unfortunate that this is our last game of the year and we’re not going to be playing into January. The Angels’ Mike Trout, a New Jersey native and Eagles season ticket holder, went hunting this week with Carson Wentz in a much-tweeted about get-together. I’ve loved it. I’ve loved every step of the way.
“It went quick and unfortunately, it’ll be over in a couple of days.”
Wentz isn’t certain what he’ll do after cleaning out his locker along with his teammates next Monday.
“I’ll definitely have some time to relax and let everything just decompress a little bit,” he said.
The goal obviously is to beat the Cowboys and finish with a two-game win streak in the division, which otherwise is 4-1 against the Eagles.
“I think that’s huge for us, especially in the NFC East, two rivalry games like that,” Wentz said. “I think that will give us a lot of confidence going forward. We know we’re a good football team, we know we’ve been in all these games. But I think just to give us that extra boost to carry over into the offseason.”
It might even add to the conversation the next time Wentz takes time off for ducks, geese and Trout.