As Wentz presses, so do scuffling Eagles
PHILADELPHIA >> Carson Wentz completed 19 of 33 attempts, matched a career-high with three interceptions and compiled a career-worst
31.9 passer rating in a
48-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints last Sunday.
And you know what? You’re delusional if you thought he was trying to do too much. What game were you and the rest of the football world watching?
“I didn’t feel like I was pressing,” Wentz said. “I know late in the game when were down by what we were, we’re trying to make plays, we’re trying to put up points. So, you could call that pressing. But really, we were just trying to make plays. We were just trying to fight and that led to a couple of turnovers and different things. So those are things we’ve got to clean up. But I never felt like I was pressing.”
That type of thinking has been the story of the season for the defending Super Bowl champions. The Eagles aren’t who they were. They aren’t who they want to be. They aren’t even who they think are.
Wentz’s substandard play and far-out leadership is a big reason they’re 4-6 right now. His next solid start will be his first since he led the Eagles to a 14-3 lead over the Giants the last time the teams played.
The Eagles are 1-3 since the 34-13 victory over the Giants, who just happen to be on the docket this Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. A word of caution for the rematch, Carson: Don’t get behind early, lest you start feeling the need to, uh, try to make plays that lead to turnovers and different things you’ll just need to clean up. You could call that pressing but really, it’s just trying to make plays. Something like that.
How would you like to be embattled Eagles head coach Doug Pederson these days? You can just imagine what those get-togethers are like. Pederson tells Wentz he doesn’t have to do so much. Wentz says he isn’t. Pederson says you can’t win football games throwing three interceptions. Wentz folds his arms and says, is that all?
Pederson is walking a slippery slope with Wentz, the high-maintenance perfectionist who you can probably surmise from his remarks doesn’t take kindly to feedback that sounds remotely like criticism.
“I saw a quarterback that really was fighting and trying to make plays on the field and generate a spark offensively,” Pederson said. “It just didn’t happen and so it just — it’s unfortunate because he prides himself in really embracing that and kind of taking this team on his shoulders and leading by example on and off the football field. It just didn’t happen, and so he’s disappointed, obviously frustrated — as we all are.”
Pederson pointed to Sunday as an opportunity to fix what’s wrong — with all due respect to the Giants.
The Eagles are in strange territory these days. They’ve lost three straight games at the Linc, their most in the Pederson era. All of the games were one-possession setbacks where Wentz blew opportunities to lead his team to victory in the fourth quarter.
Then there’s the trade of a third-round draft pick for wide receiver Golden Tate. The deal hasn’t been good for the Eagles or Tate, who has seven receptions for 67 yards in two games.
Incorporating Tate into the scheme in the middle of the season has cluttered the passing game. In the last outing, Nelson Agholor didn’t have a catch, Zach Ertz was held to two grabs for 15 yards and Alshon Jeffery wasn’t a factor with four receptions for 33 yards.
It’s not the fault of Tate. The Eagles needed a deep threat, a burner, not another possession receiver. There were doubts that Mike Wallace would be able to fill the role before he fractured a leg.
You can’t play Pederson’s style of football without somebody who can stretch the field. All of the big-play teams have a deep threat. The Monday night game between the Rams and the Chiefs was a perfect example. There were three defensive pass interference and four defensive holding penalties in a game featuring 105 points. You don’t even need to catch the ball to get a pass interference penalty and the big yardage that comes with it in this NFL.
That said, Wentz is so firmly in Tate’s corner that Agholor and Jeffery might want to reassess how they fit into the Eagles’ plans going forward. It’s pretty clear who exactly thought Tate was the best player to add.
“We feel confident with Golden,” Wentz said. “I feel really confident with getting Golden in there and how we’ve used him and how we’re just going to keep progressing using him going forward. And he’s done some really good things.”
Wentz reiterated that getting rolled by the Saints “doesn’t represent who we are and how we play this game.” Which is ridiculous because that’s exactly what it did. It’s what you do, not what you say that defines you.
Wentz didn’t look remotely like the MVP candidate he was last year while getting schooled by Drew Brees, a favorite to be MVP this year. Maybe just another thing to try to clean up.