Wentz’s turnovers will be costly in the end for the Birds
The division championship will be left for them to pick up at their convenience.
The occasional game will be there to be won, even if on the final play.
There are enough good players for the Eagles to be competitive on most nights, just as they were Sunday when they defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 23-9, to solidify their first-place status.
And … that’s it.
No more.
No championship contention. No respect as a premium NFL product. No reason to be trade-deadline buyers. There will be none of that this year for the most fundamental reason: It’s impossible to gain maximum success with a turnover-prone quarterback.
That’s what Carson Wentz is, has been, and if the eighth week of the NFL season proved anything, is what he is destined to remain. He fumbles. He throws interceptions. And if there were an NFL rule against traveling, the referees would never stop doing the arm-spinning motion they use in basketball.
The Eagles won Sunday because the Cowboys were down to their third quarterback and should have used their fourth instead. They won because a product of James Madison, Ben DiNucci, looked like he was playing beach football, running for his life and flipping side-arm passes to nobody. He was tentative. He looked scared. He was so ill-prepared for major-league sports that the only explanation must be thoracic outlet syndrome.
It’s for that reason, and that reason alone, that Doug Pederson didn’t have a mandate to turn to Jalen Hurts in time for the second half. The Eagles were destined to win anyway against a team that has given up. If he wants to start the quarterback carousel spinning, he will do that on a night when they are in danger of losing. That will happen. And it will happen soon.
By halftime, the Eagles were trailing, 9-7, and were booed off the field by 7,500 in the
Linc. As for the cardboard cutouts, they just made faces. That outburst, long in coming, was reasonable and right. The Eagles had six possessions, five of which Wentz ruined, one with which he tossed a touchdown pass to Jalen Reagor.
Already having fumbled five times and been intercepted 10 times through the first seven games, Wentz did enough in the first half alone to claim the Dallas-radio prize for Cowboys player of the game. He lost a fumble on the third play of the game, the first of two in the half, and threw an interception. That allowed him to remain perfect this season, with at least a turnover in every game. Just to be safe, however, he ended the Eagles’ initial secondhalf possession with an interception.
The Eagles are off next week, but Wentz will probably fumble his fishing rod in a lake to keep the streak alive.
That Wentz would be having a challenging year is not shocking. His offensive line is somewhere above XFL caliber, yet not quite to the level of, say, the Montreal Alouettes. Brandon Brooks is out for the year. Lane Johnson is out all the time. Ja
son Peters is old. Jordan Mailata is training on the job. It’s been rough for Pederson. There’s only so much lineup shuffling a coach can do before realizing he just doesn’t have the cards.
That’s why Wentz has been sacked 31 times. That was understandable. He’s always under pressure. He can only run so far. Still, he tries. And that’s when he too often turns a problem into a catastrophe.
Just because a quarterback is under pressure, it doesn’t mean the opposition has to wind up with the ball.
Pederson, who had deep experience in Green Bay, was asked last week to compare Wentz’s high-riskhigh-reward style to that of Brett Favre. The Eagles comprehended Wentz’s style when they traded two
first-round picks, a second, a third and a fourth for his draft rights. And they have had some rewards, including a Super Bowl championship that they would not have won had Wentz not waged an MVP candidacy.
That’s not happening this year.
“Well, that was always the thing with Brett, the reward was definitely greater, but you knew there was going to be some risk involved,” Pederson said. “Carson obviously has the ability to do that. He’s got the arm strength and the mobility to extend plays with his legs.
“I would think the one thing that we’re seeing with Carson now, the same thing I saw with Brett, is that physical toughness, being able to stand in the pocket, take some hits, bounce up, and do it again. To me, there are similarities there.
“Carson is solid. He’s getting better every week. That’s some of the same things that obviously I saw in Brett when I played with him.”
Even if the Favreturned-it-over-too-much defense intrigues, it doesn’t apply to everyone, every year, on every team. And this year, it will not serve the Eagles well in the second half of the season. After the break, they will play three of four on the road. The schedule includes Green Bay, New Orleans, Arizona and Seattle. They have an admirable competitive streak. Defensive coordinators still not have found a way to neutralize Travis Fulgham, who scored a go-ahead touchdown Sunday and continues to spark visions of Terrell Owens. Some players are due to return from injury. And, well, there’s that division, which the Eagles are running away with … at 3-4-1.
As long as the playoffs remain likely, there is no reason for Pederson to turn to a rookie. But there won’t be any more than that for the Eagles.
Not this year. Not any year. Not with a turnoverprone quarterback.