Caution with Wentz leaves scrambled message
PHILADELPHIA >> Through good practices and bad, in front of fans or in a more private setting, for weeks of training-camp preparation and hype, Carson Wentz has played to positive reviews.
His arm has been strong. His leaner, healthier frame has been noticeable. His teammates have been quick with praise. His once-rebuilt left knee has functioned. His more recently rehabbed back has not kept him from reporting to work.
“I’m ready for Week 1,” he said Tuesday, before a joint practice with the Baltimore Ravens.
That’s the story, told and retold.
That’s the spin, with little evidence to suggest it is inaccurate.
But while Wentz is strong, healthy and willing, there has been something curious about the way he has attacked training camp. And when some who’d monitored his every August move called it into question Tuesday, Wentz was in no position or mood to differ.
Simply, not only has the Eagles’ quarterback been more of a pocket presence in camp than the first two seasons of his NFL career would have suggested, but it was pointed out that he had not scrambled. Not at all. Not once. And since that ability to make plays on the run, to create offense when there seems to be none, to thrill fans and frustrate would-be tacklers with what often has seemed to be a mystical ability to worm out of pressure, has been his trademark, that’s both noteworthy and concerning.
It’s noteworthy because it suggests the Eagles’ quarterback has become less willing to expose his brittle body to unnecessary stress, even if he is in a red shirt and thus off-limits to offseason contact. That should be a good thing for the Eagles.
It’s noteworthy because his newer-look methods tilt toward those of Nick Foles, who had some measure of success in the same offense. That could be interpreted as a concession to a different, if not better, way to function in Doug Pederson’s schemes.
But it could be concerning to the Eagles and their fans that Wentz has not really uncorked all of his legendary skills in time for the Sept. 8 opener against visiting Washington, no matter how loudly he proclaims his readiness. For unless Pederson is plotting to open the season with the old Statue of Liberty play, Wentz is going to be made to start running no more than two snaps after the season begins.
So … why so stationary in camp?
“For one, it’s not a conscious decision,” Wentz said. “I think it just goes back to playing fast and making quick decisions, going through my reads quicker, maybe after another year in the system. But that part of my game is definitely not gone. It’s still there.”
Wentz is 26 years old, hasn’t missed any training camp work of significance, and has insisted for weeks that he will be ready for the opener despite not having played since last Dec. 9 in Dallas. He did not play in either of the first two preseason games and is unlikely to play in the final two, including the Linc visit from the Ravens Thursday night at 7:30.
Unlike last year, when he was recovering from major knee surgery and needed to miss the first two regular-season games, this time he will be coming back from back stress. And for a quarterback to have spent an entire offseason not absorbing a hit, the threat of being drilled in the recently damaged back within the first series against the Redskins carries its own threat level.
“Yeah, I am really not too worried about it, to be honest,” Wentz said. “Everybody, every year, there is always going to be that first hit. No matter if it’s three months off, six months off, 10 months, 12 months, it really doesn’t matter. That first hit wakes you up real quick and it’s football mode again. So I’m really not too worried about it.”
The Eagles hardly are alone in protecting their more valued investments, keeping them out of preseason games, preventing them from taking too many training-camp hits. But Wentz’s transformation from a quarterback uniquely mobile and evasive for his 6-5, 237-pound frame into a different form of the more deliberate, pedestrian Foles has become the story of camp.
Is it permanent? Is it just a function of keeping him protected? Will it matter in the forkeeps games? Through camp, Pederson and offensive coordinator Mike Groh have prioritized allowing their quarterbacks to throw deep, which should be of high value once Wentz grows fully comfortable with DeSean Jackson. That has limited Wentz’s requirement to run in camp.
“It’s always a work in progress,” Pederson said. “You’re trying to throw on time and in rhythm and trying to throw to a spot and have a receiver go get the ball. And those are hard to do, especially with defenders and d-linemen in your face. But he’s done a really good job with that. The closer we get to the goal line, you’re seeing more back-shouldertype throws and fades, allowing our bigger, taller receivers to make plays, and those are all things that we have to continue to work on.”
The Eagles chose to work quietly and safely with Wentz, a $154 million investment. But have they been so cautious to have made him into a different quarterback than they’d believed they had financed?
They won’t know that until Wentz either takes a hit from a Redskin … or runs away to avoid one.
“I don’t really worry too much about that,” Wentz said. “At the end of the day, you can only control so much. The coaches make those decisions. All I know is that I feel good now about where I am, and whatever they decide, I am good with.”