Birds have chance to get on roll with Wentz
PHILADELPHIA >> It’s been a few years since the Eagles produced a healthy winning streak with Carson Wentz at quarterback.
A victory over the winless New York Jets Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field (1 p.m., CBS, WIP 94.1-FM) could go a long way toward changing the win-one, loseone culture for Wentz, who has won just seven of his last 15 starts.
The Eagles are coming off an emotional Thursday night victory over the Green Bay Packers, who, just like the Birds are among a handful of teams thick in the middle of the NFC playoff chase. The difficult schedule following this weekend, one in which the Eagles play consecutive road games against Minnesota, Dallas and Buffalo, is more of an opportunity than an obstacle. All have proven beatable and vulnerable.
The Eagles (2-2) haven’t won more than two games in a row with Wentz at quarterback since they went on a nine-game win streak during the 2017 Super Bowl season.
“We all know what the schedule is,” Doug Pederson said. “But listen, we’ve got a big test, a big challenge on Sunday. We are trying to figure out another way to win this week and our goal doesn’t change. Just try to be 1-0. We’ll worry about next week next week. But obviously the schedule is out there, so we know who we play. We just haven’t got there yet.”
The Jets (0-3) will be without the services of quarterback Sam Darnold (mono) for the third straight game. He threw their last touchdown pass in the opener against the Bills. It’s been 10 quarters since the Jets scored an offensive TD. Luke Falk makes his second straight start at quarterback in place of Darnold and Trevor Siemian, the primary backup who is out of commission with a broken ankle.
Defensively the Jets are talented and play well together. Safety Jamal Adams is an intimidator. The Gregg Williams defense stops the run.
“They’ve got a good front,” Wentz said. “They fill the gaps pretty quickly. They want to give you a lot of Cover 2 looks but they’ll fill them pretty quick with the corners in the nickel. It can create some challenges in the run game but we can take advantage of that in the passing game as well. I trust that the coaches and the O-line are really going to get this run game going really versus anybody going forward.”
Jordan Howard rushed for 87 yards and two TDs, and rookie Miles Sanders added 71 yards to stoke the offense in the win over the Packers.
Tight end Zach Ertz also got going. Though he leads the Birds with 24 receptions, he still doesn’t have a scoring catch. The Eagles will again be without deep threat DeSean Jackson (abdomen strain).
The good news is the Philly secondary gashed all season won’t be facing a top-notch quarterback. With Avonte Maddox (concussion-neck) sidelined, the Eagles hope to get Sidney Jones back. They also signed Orlando Scandrick.
The not so good news is that Jets general manager Joe Douglas spent the previous three years with the Eagles, where he oversaw the draft.
“He can tell us about the guys, he can tell us strengths, weaknesses, all those type of things,” Jets head coach Adam Gase said. “Obviously he has a very intimate knowledge of the entire roster. The hardest thing is at the end of the day they have a lot of really good players. It’s going to come down to whether or not we execute what we’re doing and whether or not they execute what they’re doing.”
Speaking of execution, the most telling indicator that the Eagles are on the cusp of turning their season around is their leagueleading 56.1 percent success rate on third down. Wentz and company are killing it.
“You know, his anticipation is as great as it’s ever been,” receiver Nelson Agholor said referencing two Wentz TD passes versus the Packers. “You look at Jordan Howard on the wheel route, that’s all anticipation. He knew where the ball was going. You look at the red zone touchdown to Dallas Goedert, he saw Dallas had leverage early, he looks away, boom, Dallas gets an easy TD. Every game somebody pops up and is huge. Jordan Howard definitely stole the show last game. You saw Miles Sanders do great. You saw Week One what DeSean did. Everybody is able to make plays and go crazy. At the end of the day we’ve got a quarterback that’s very unselfish and is getting everybody the ball.”
That said, the Eagles can best prove it by putting together a win streak.
“Our record says we’re a 2-2 team, so based off the record we’re not an extremely talented team right now,” Ertz said. “So, we’re extremely focused on being 1-0 this week against a team that’s got a really good defense and going out there and playing a home game.”