Jaws gushing over Wentz’s new, quicker release
PHILADELPHIA >> As a rookie, quarterback Carson Wentz got MVP votes from almost everyone, including then-President Barack Obama, after throwing seven touchdown passes and just one interception to lead the Eagles to a 4-1 start last season.
The trade up in the draft to secure Wentz was hailed nationally. Around here it was the biggest heist since villains Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta ripped off Lufthansa for $6 million in the Goodfellas movie.
Unfortunately for Hollywood dreamers, the Eagles stumbled, losing seven of their next nine starts for a variety of reasons, including the quarterback.
Wentz turned out to be flawed, after all.
The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Wentz had a terribly long release. And while he never was in danger of tripping over his own feet, his footwork was anything but classic.
The proof was in the statistics although Wentz didn’t need to look at the final numbers to realize it might be a good idea to get another opinion — or two — on his throwing mechanics. That he did with a throwing guru.
The new and improved Wentz got a thumbs-up after débuting the new delivery at Eagles Organized Team Activities (OTAs) Tuesday.
“He’s tightened it up,” former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski said. “The ball was quicker and faster coming out of his hand from the point when he made up his mind to throw the football. So he’s better.”
Jaworski was his usual demonstrative self illustrating what he felt Wentz had to do, calling it a quick twitch correction.
“From here,” Jaws said, right forearm and hand cocked, “to the ball out of his hand. When you decide where you’re throwing, now the quick twitch has to come from here to here. In this league defensive backs that read the quarterback’s drop and know where he’s going with the football, that one-tenth of a second is like a minute. It’s a tenth of a second but they’ll get a jump on the ball and that’s when you get in trouble.
“The release is definitely quicker.”
Trust Jaworski’s critique. To nonNFL quarterbacks watching the Eagles practice, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on with a new fleet of receivers — including rookies — running less than perfect pass patterns this way and that.
Wentz indicated he wasn’t crazy enough about the outside instruction to say that he would try some more after OTAs.
“I was only down there for about 10 days so it wasn’t super in depth,” Wentz said. “It was just really kind of cleaning up some things from an efficiency standpoint. No mass overhauls, nothing really major. Just cleaning up some little things, a lot of it having to do with footwork, which I thought was good. I’ll focus on this, see what happens, see how this all transpires and then just kind of play it by ear.”
After the big rookie start, Wentz threw nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions in the last nine games as the Eagles wound up 7-9.
The bottom line is the Birds were 2-7 in games Wentz threw an interception and 5-2 when he didn’t.
All told, Wentz completed 64.3 percent of passes with 16 TDs and 14 picks. His average yards-per-attempt was a lowly 6.23.
From the outside looking in at practice, Wentz’s footwork in throwing drills didn’t seem as smooth in drills as that of Nick Foles, who participated almost side by side with him. Foles looked more accurate in those drills, as well. Of course, it was only one day of work.
“It’s subtle, that’s the thing,” Eagles head coach and former NFL quarterback Doug Pederson said. “We’re going to see it as coaches. You may not see it as a spectator watching the game. It’s just pointing his toe. It’s getting him on his target line, things that we talk about each and every day that [quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo] does a good job with. And those are the things we continue to work on.”
Wentz has three months to sort it out. And it’s early but it sure looks like he has the weapons to be more productive. Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith are upgrades at wide receiver. LeGarrette Blount is a threedown back who can stay healthy.
Wentz figures to have a better chance this season to make the players around him better.
“But guys have got to make him better, too,” Jaws said. “They’ve got to catch the ball.”