Wentz is proving he is better out of the pocket
Halloween
PHILADELPHIA >> is Thursday.
Feeling festive, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz allowed himself to flash back to his trick-or-treating days.
“I know I was Hercules for Halloween once,” Wentz said Wednesday of the North Dakota phase of his childhood. “That was pretty sweet. I grew up in North Carolina and when I was three and I remember throwing on the Carolina Panthers’ Kerry Collins (jersey). I still have those pictures which is always funny to see. Halloween is always, always fun.”
Speaking of disguises, Wentz has done a subtle job masquerading as a pocket quarterback this season. If the pass game isn’t working he’s not been one to stick around and take a sack, at least in ideal weather conditions.
Looking at the numbers, Wentz’s dirty little secret this season is his effectiveness throwing the football out of the pocket.
Twenty-two starting quarterbacks have a higher overall completion percentage than Wentz, who’s connecting at a 62.1 percent rate. The list includes Mitchell Trubisky (64.6), whose underachieving infuriates Bears fans each time they see players selected ahead of him in the 2017 draft, talents like Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes, win football games.
The out-of-pocket Wentz has completed 15 of 23 attempts (65.2 percent) on the run this season. It’s the best figure in a league full of mobile quarterbacks. Mahomes (60.0 percent) is second, Russell Wilson
(55.6 percent) fourth. The average completion rate when scrambling is 40.4 percent this season.
Wentz’s success out of the pocket goes beyond completions. His passer rating of 119.8 when scrambling is third in the league, trailing only Mahomes
(136.4) and Wilson (125.9). The league average is 65.1.
The numbers speak to the creativity Wentz and his targets show when plays break down, a common occurrence in the blitz-happy NFL of today.
“We talk a lot about our scramble drill and what are we expecting from guys when we are able to extend a play like that,” Wentz said. “I feel I have really good chemistry with those guys. They know what I’m thinking and I know what they’re thinking when a play does break down.”
It’s not quite that simple. The 6-5, 250-pound Wentz also is a threat to run, although he’s used that skill strategically. Nate Sudfeld, one of the backup quarterbacks, believes Wentz’s prowess out of the pocket is a combination of things.
“A, he’s really athletic, B, he practices those throws a lot and sometimes that’s what the game calls for,” Sudfeld said. “The defense is playing coverage. They’re rushing and if you can get outside you can get some easier completions just from moving guys and moving the pocket. It slows down the rush. Obviously, it comes down to him making the throws and being athletic.”
Sudfeld also thinks defenders have to play the run and play the throw when Wentz is scrambling.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins has been on the other side of the scrambling quarterbacks. He cites the coverage stress mobile passers bring to the table.
“I think in Carson’s case, usually when he gets outside of the pocket, he’s extending the play,” Jenkins said. “And it’s more likely our receivers will get open when it’s an extended play. It’s just harder to cover Nelson Agholor and Alshon Jeffery and Zach Ertz for five seconds. Eventually they’re going to get open.”
Wentz’s scrambling skills will come into play Sunday when the Eagles (4-4) oppose the Chicago Bears (3-4) at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wentz is coming off a game in which he used all of his skills to beat a solid Buffalo Bills’ defense, albeit one without a pass rusher cut from the mold of Khalil Mack, who has to be accounted for on each snap.
The Eagles’ game plan should be fairly obvious – run the ball with former Bear Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders to set up play-action passes and take it from there.
“Extremely fast defense,” Wentz said of the Bears. “They play fast, they disguise things, they show you different things. But that’s the one thing that keeps popping on tape is how fast they play and how quick they’re able to get to the quarterback. You definitely take inventory of that but at the same time we’ve just got to do our thing. We’ve got to be able to run the ball, play action, stay on the field, do our thing and I think we’ll be just fine.”
The Bears have fallen on hard times, their threegame losing streak highlighted by a missed 41-yard field goal attempt last week by Eddy Pineiro as time expired.
The Eagles want nothing more than to go into their bye with a winning record after an up-and-down start. Wentz is prepared to do whatever it takes to get the team there.
“When it’s there I’m willing to take off,” Wentz said. “But it’s definitely something that it will just naturally come within a game. It’s not something we’re going to design. It’s not something that I’m scrambling to run the ball. When things break down or when there’s good coverage and we’re able to extend it I’m more than willing to go get a first down and move the chains. But I’m not seeking to do it.”
In the pocket, out of the pocket or on the run, Wentz has done a Herculean job of helping to stabilize the Eagles this season.