WENTZ INJURY COULD DASH EAGLES’ DREAMS
Philadelphia’s second-choice quarterback Foles is good but lacks the mobility and elusiveness of their sidelined star, writes Ben Spigel in Los Angeles
The thousands of Philadelphia Eagles fans that annexed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, that turned the seating bowl into a greenand-white party before, during and after their team’s absurd victory over the Rams in one of the more absurd NFL games this year, could tell their friends they were there when Carson Wentz threw four touchdown passes to set the franchise’s season record.
They could say that they watched their team clinch the NFC East, outlasting the formidable Rams by 43-35. They could say they watched the Eagles reach 11-2, best in the NFL, and reclaim the No.1 seed in the rugged NFC, enhancing their chances of a first-round bye.
They could say all that, but when they glance at their ticket stubs, they will not.
Because late in the third quarter Sunday Wentz absorbed hits from both sides as he dived headfirst towards the end zone, and the collisions contorted his left knee in an odd way, and even though he stayed in four more plays to guide Philadelphia to a touchdown, he hobbled towards the tunnel with a towel over his head — a sight about as soothing as Ronde Barber’s ruining the Eagles’ finale at the old Veterans Stadium with an interception for Tampa Bay in the 2002 NFC Championship Game.
Eagles in that game were supposed to reach the Super Bowl, and maybe, just maybe, this one was, too. The Eagles have balance and depth and resilience and swagger. They had Wentz, and now they will not.
After an evaluation, he was ruled out for the rest of the game. Eagles coach Doug Pederson confirmed on Monday that Wentz had a torn ACL and would be out for the season.
“We knew he wasn’t coming back when he walked into the tunnel,” Philadelphia receiver Torrey Smith said. “When a guy like that goes in — you know how tough he is, he would fight through anything.”
Afterwards, Pederson picked an interesting word to describe the mood in the locker room: “jubilation”. It might have been jubilant in those rapturous first few minutes, when Brandon Graham ran off the field flapping his arms like an Eagle, but the euphoria subsided by the time players had showered and dressed, filing out of the locker room with NFC East champion hats atop their heads but stoic looks on their faces.
“I’m excited we won,” said Nick Foles, who took over for Wentz with 13 minutes 58 seconds remaining and guided the Eagles to field goals on the ensuing two possessions, “but at the same time, I’m dealing emotionally with seeing him go down.”
The Eagles are deeper than Oakland were last year, when a Week 16 injury to Derek Carr destroyed the Raiders’ Super Bowl hopes. But Wentz’s absence could have a similar effect. It will also reverberate beyond Philadelphia, yanking a marquee player off the field for the play-offs and upending the NFC postseason.
The last two weeks have functioned as an abbreviated round-robin, with six of the conference’s top seven teams matching up against one another. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Atlanta Falcons, who beat the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Carolina Panthers, who beat the Vikings. The Seattle Seahawks beat the Eagles, who beat the Rams, who beat the Saints.
Fortunately for the Eagles, that quarterback is Foles, who started the team’s last playoff game, a home defeat to New Orleans four years ago, and whose inability to secure that job long term initiated a sequence of moves that precipitated Sunday’s tantalising matchup: Wentz, the second pick in the 2016 draft, opposing Jared Goff, whom the Rams selected No.1.
In March 2015, Philadelphia traded Foles to the Rams for Sam Bradford, and when neither thrived in their new setting, both teams traded up to select the quarterback they coveted. (Foles ended up back with the Eagles two years later, signing as a free agent.)
What the Eagles loved about Wentz, among other things, was his improvisational ability, a sense of how to extend plays within the team’s offensive structure.
Foles lacks Wentz’s mobility and elusiveness, and his promotion will restrict the Eagles’ ability to call run-pass options, a staple for Wentz. Philadelphia will probably rely ever more on their rushing attack and defence, which is partly how Minnesota have thrived under their back-up quarterback, Case Keenum.
But the Eagles’ staff is confident in Foles, who, however much of an outlier it was, threw for 27 touchdowns against two interceptions for Philadelphia in 2013. So confident that Pederson, with the Eagles facing third-and-8 at their own 23 with 1:52 minutes left and a two-point lead, decided not to force a Rams timeout by running the ball, opting instead for a pass. Foles connected with Nelson Agholor for nine yards and a first down, allowing the Eagles to drain the clock down to seven seconds before they punted.
“People ask me, ‘Why did you throw the ball?’” Pederson said on Monday. “Because I’ve got confidence in Nick. I’ve got confidence in the guys. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. I’m going to continue to stay aggressive. I’m going to lead this football team. It falls more on my shoulders than it does these players. That’s why they need to stay encouraged. That’s why they need to stay excited about this opportunity we have in front of us.”
In the locker room on Sunday, Wentz awaited his teammates, and he congratulated them as they arrived. He limped out, his knee entombed in a brace, and fixed himself a plate of Mexican food before being ferried away on a cart. It chugged up a ramp, and towards a team bus. Wentz was there, and then he was gone.