Time’s Yours
Eagles try to temper expectations of Wentz entering second season
PHILADELPHIA » From owner Jeffrey Lurie to head coach Doug Pederson, from defensive captain Malcolm Jenkins to offensive leader Jason Peters, the Eagles have tried to minimize the pressure facing quarterback Carson Wentz this season. And for good reason. Wentz’s rookie year was nothing to write home about beyond the 3-0 start and the true grit he showed playing in every game. He was the first Eagles quarterback to go the distance since Donovan McNabb in 2008.
Wentz completed 62.4 percent of his passes, just below the league average of 63 percent. He compiled a 79.3 passer rating, 10 points below the league average. Ahe he was right at the league average with a 2.3 interception percentage. Wentz threw for 16 touchdowns and 14 picks in 16 games.
Former Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil knows enough about Wentz, the pride of North Dakota State, and Philadelphia fans to understand how difficult it is to temper expectations.
“My only concern about Carson Wentz is not about how good he’s going to be,” Vermeil said.
“It’s about how quickly he’ll meet the expectations of everybody. People expect him to be a full-blown Hall of Famer right now and it’s going to take him some time. He came out of a good program, no question. But it wasn’t like playing at Ohio State or Florida State or one of those schools. And I think he’ll go way beyond that and he’ll excel as a quarterback here, but I’m more patient with it. My anticipation is somewhere down the road he’s going to be a great one.”
Behind their rookie quarterback, the Eagles wound up in last place in the NFC East with a 7-9 record. To reach the playoffs for the first time in four seasons they’re going to need a lot more out of everyone, including Wentz.
Unless, that is, you’re riding with Jenkins. Always the optimist, Jenkins expects no more out of
Wentz than any teammate.
“There’s no pressure on Carson right now,” Jenkins said. “For us to say there’s pressure on him would be to say that our team isn’t talented enough to win and he’s got to kind of hold us up. If anything I think he can just cut it loose. He’s got a stable of running backs behind him. He’s got the pick of the litter when it comes to receivers. A defense that’s going to take the ball away and be stingy and the No. 1 special teams unit in the league. So if I’m Carson Wentz I’m having fun. There’s no pressure at all but to be the best quarterback he can be.”
The stable of running backs includes 32-year-old LeGarrette Blount, who rushed for 1,161 yards and a league-high 18 touchdowns with the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots.
It continues with 34-year-old third down back Darren Sproles, who last season was overworked to the point that he didn’t register a score on a punt return for the first time in
three years, and Wendell Smallwood, whose injury marred rookie season consisted of 83 touches.
The Eagles need a young, versatile and reliable back to turbo-charge the West Coast offense. They wanted Christian McCaffrey, who was drafted by the Panthers and Dalvin Cook, selected by the Vikings. Kareem Hunt, who had that breakout game for the Chiefs Thursday, was still on the board when the Birds selected injured cornerback Sidney Jones.
The Eagles immediately upgraded the receiver corps in free agency with Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. But they shipped Jordan Matthews, Wentz’s most reliable target and best friend, along with a third-round pick to the Bills for another cornerback, Ronald Darby. And Nelson Agholor, whose mistakes are legendary, still is on the roster. He’ll line up in the slot.
Jenkins clearly is invested in the defense, and if anyone would know how good it can be, it’s him.
“You’ve got Tim Jernigan, who’s been impressive so far,” Jenkins said of the addition at defensive tackle. “So we’re excited to see what that does for our front after losing a couple of guys, (like) Bennie Logan. (First round pick Derek) Barnett comes in, and he’s playing well as a rookie. We’re looking for Brandon Graham to kind of take over some more. We’ve got Ronald Darby who we added at corner. When you go down our roster we feel really good about where we are. But obviously we’ll find out what we’ve got on Sunday.”
It begins in earnest Sunday when the Eagles oppose the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. The Eagles have lost five straight to the Redskins. The Birds also own a sevengame road losing streak, yet another concern for a club that plays four of its first six away from home.
Lurie has shied away from playoff talk, citing injuries and other issues out
of the team’s control. The plan for Wentz?
“My expectation with Carson is he’ll be better in Year Two than Year One, he’ll significantly be better in Year Three than Year Two and he’ll be significantly better in Year Four than Year Three,” Lurie said. “That’s where we’re at. It typically, I think, is how do you surround him? You have young quarterbacks that join teams and take them to the Super Bowl. But those are teams basically that have top two, top three defenses. We hope to be there. We hope to be there. But that’s the rarity.”
Speaking of rarities, Jason Kelce is in his seventh season with the Eagles. There’s no better example of what hard work and passion will do as Kelce has started 41 straight games. Only Jenkins has more consecutive starts on the squad, 48 and counting.
Kelce joined the Eagles during the “Dream Team” season in 2011. He’s on his fourth head coach, fifth
starting quarterback and first playoff victory.
This could be the breakthrough year.
“It can be for sure,” Kelce said. “I think we have the talent to (do it). It’s going to come down to how well we play, injuries, how composed we are in critical situations. I think talent-wise we have a lot of great pieces here to definitely be a playoff team. I just feel like we have a very, very complete team. It seems like we’ve addressed a lot of our areas and now we’ve just got to get out there, start playing and see how it looks under live fire.”
On paper the Eagles look like they have the most well-rounded squad in the division. But it’s just paper.
“I think the NFC East has a lot of really, really good teams,” Kelce said. “I’m going to wait until we start playing to make that statement. Like we’ve seen with the Dream Team when I first got here, it can all look good on paper until you start playing games.”