Wentz still in spot to lead a rally
If NFL quarterbacks are to be judged by their ability to create last-minute rallies, those first necessarily failed
59 minutes must be disregarded.
They always are, of course. They are forgotten, buried and never again to be mentioned. Every interception, every fumble, every stumble and every goof are bleached. The reset button is pounded. The history is set.
Win late. That’s the first rule of quarterbacking. There is no second rule.
Because of that, and because the Eagles have spent the first 12 games of their season playing mostly rotten football, that means Carson Wentz has found himself in a position to benefit from that predictable plague of fan amnesia.
He’s behind.
It’s late.
And even after a 3731 loss Sunday in Miami, he and the Eagles have a chance to concoct a late rally, win a playoff spot, and take their postseason chances.
It’s not easy, nor should it be, to recognize opportunity through the haze of a blown 14-point second-half lead against a team that had entered with two wins. But the NFL is deliberately warped, splintered into a pile of fourteam mini-divisions, too many stashed with at least two inept teams. The idea is to keep even the most ordinary teams involved in the playoff race until the final play and then, through the inevitable video review of the final play.
The Eagles are one of those teams. They have been one of those teams since losing two of their first three games. They are a passdropping, penalty-committing, injury-stricken crowd with questionable if any locker-room leadership. They are prone to taking anonymous verbal swipes at Wentz, possess a reputation as entitled, have not consistently played solid defense and offense on the same weekend and have lost their last three. Yet they have four games remaining, all within their feeble division. There is a fair possibility that they will be favored in each. There is no chance that they will be heavy underdogs in any.
So there it is, right there for Wentz, who has spent the season shedding criticism and trying to win with many of his better offensive teammates loitering near the injury tents: Win four. Rally late. Earn a reputation that can appropriately accessorize that $144 million contract.
“It’s my job to make the guys understand that we are still fighting,” Doug Pederson said at his postgame press conference Sunday. “Come to work this week ready to go and try to figure this thing out.”
That sounds good, which is the reason those things are televised. Yet it’s not a singular “thing” that needs decoding. In the first of their three consecutive losses, the Eagles were so phenomenal on defense that Tom Brady skulked out of the Linc muttering his frustration. That was followed by a close loss to Seattle, a better team. Then Sunday, that defense that tormented Brady had no answers for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who included three touchdown tosses among his 365 passing yards.
Yet Wentz was excellent, too, throwing for 310 yards and three touchdowns, his only interception coming on a desperation heave on the last play of the game. Alshon Jeffery, who’d missed the first two losses in the slide, returned to accumulate 137 receiving yards. The Eagles still miss Jordan Howard, who is recovering from a stinger and would provide a refreshing change of pace alongside Miles Sanders. And Zach Ertz is too vital to any weekly plan to drop as many passes as he did Sunday. And that’s why the Eagles are where they are: A game behind the Cowboys with four to play.
Yet … they are alive. Don’t argue.
Don’t “at” anybody. Just recognize the NFL for what it is, an ingenious way to keep TV viewers interested well past what normally should be any expiration date.
Why can’t the Eagles win the NFC East? The Giants can’t play. The Redskins are onto their second coach. And the Cowboys, thumped at home by the Buffalo Bills Thursday, are a football circus, complete with their owner honking out back-door critiques of his coach while he was still in first place.
“I’ve got to make sure the team understands we are still a good football team,” Pederson said. “Listen, it’s about what we do. We self-destructed in a couple areas and it hurt us. We didn’t make enough plays. They made them. We didn’t. When we talk about being a disciplined team, that’s stuff we have to take a look at as a whole, as a group, as a team, and get that area fixed.”
If the Eagles win the division, it will be by default. But don’t blame them for winning a playoff spot. Blame them if they don’t. And they are not yet close to elimination.
Though it may not be the given it was while Eli Manning was doing the honors, recent history screams that the Giants will leave the Linc next Sunday night having just experienced some humiliating defeat. A week later, the Redskins should crumble. Then the Cowboys will visit for the game likely to decide the season, before the Eagles visit the Giants in Week 17.
Wentz is nearing a spot where he needs to produce or risk being called a massive personnel-department fail. But he was good, if not great, Sunday. So complain about a loss to the Dolphins. Criticize the play-calling. Pick out the scapegoat coordinator of the week and let it rip.
But the Eagles can rally from behind, with Wentz leading the way. And if that happens, a whole lot else will just fade away.