What happened to Carson Wentz?
That is the million dollar question in Philadelphia. How does one of the best NFL quarterbacks become one of the worst overnight?
It is probably not a thing. And there are two things. It is a combination of many factors that converged in a perfect storm of historical regression.
Here are 10 possible theories. Are they all? Is it any of them? Is it something totally different? We may never know. But we will always ask ourselves.
1. The knee: Wentz has had some really good stretches since he tore his ACL three years ago, but the reality is that he’s just not the same defender since he left the LA Coliseum on December 10, 2017. In his last 11 games of 2017, Wentz was the best defender in the NFL. He threw 29 touchdowns and five interceptions, and the Eagles scored 10-1. He hasn’t addressed that since. He had an excellent period of six games in 2018, a very good result of five games last year. But that level of sustained MVP excellence is lacking. Wentz showed that he can still be very good when the pieces are in place around him, but perhaps because of the ACL injury he is no longer able to shine when they are not.
2. Trust: No matter how big your arm is, no matter how well you know the attack, if you’re playing as a defender and don’t have your confidence, it’s impossible to be effective. And there were certainly times this year when Wentz didn’t seem confident. His body language was totally wrong. He would make some good shots and get the attack going, and then the inevitable disaster or interception. It wasn’t always his fault, but we all saw Wentz lowering his head on the way to the sideline and then another turn and then the whole thing went out of control like a snowball. Without trust, bad things will happen.
3. Doug: It’s pretty clear that Doug Pederson seems to be more comfortable calling plays to Nick Foles and Jalen Hurts than Wentz. His skills seem to better align with the RPOs and QB move moves that Pederson loves more than Wentz, which Pederson seems to see as a classic setback passer. Why were Pederson and Wentz together in 2017? Wentz seemed more agile at the time, and Pederson did not hesitate to get him moving and making moves that took advantage of his athleticism. This year, Pederson seemed to have no idea how to make Wentz comfortable, and he showed it.
4. He had no help: He has not had Zach Ertz for five games. He did not have Dallas Goedert for four games. For six of his matches, Jason Peters was trying to play the left tackle. He had exactly one game with the Eagles’ two best tackles – Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata – on the field and Johnson didn’t even make it through the game. He was losing Miles Sanders for three games, Jalen Reagor for five games, DeSean and Alshon almost all year. Hell, he had Jamon Brown blocking a game for him. He had a productive receiver for a period of five games, and the Eagles averaged 25.4 points in those five games. Passes were discarded, blocks were lost, assignments were lost. It was a very difficult environment for a quarterback to flourish. Perhaps impossible.
5. Very muscular: A lot has been said about the muscles that Carson added during the off-season with the goal of finally getting bigger, stronger and stronger and finally staying healthy for an entire season. And if you look at the 2017 Wentz and the 2020 Wentz, its construction is definitely different. He’s just a much bigger and heavier guy. Wentz never said how much weight he put on, but it is conceivable that the extra weight and muscles compromised his ability to get in and out of his pocket and eliminated one of his true strengths.
6. Concussion: As Chiefs and ex-Eagles coach Rick Burkholder likes to say, “If you saw a concussion, you saw a concussion.” Often, the effects of concussions are short-lived. Sometimes, they can last for years. It is fair to ask if there is a connection between the concussion that Wentz suffered from that brutal shot by Jadeveon Clowney in the playoff game against the Seahawks in January and the difficulties he had to make split-second decisions this year.
7. The Affection Jalen: We know that Wentz did not like Jalen Hurts’ choice very much, and perhaps the perception that the Eagles felt the need to hire a quarterback when they already had a 27-year-old former professional football player at their peak could have damaged Wentz’s psyche. very profound ways. If you think your boss just hired your successor, this is not an ideal environment to shine.
8. He was really about to turn the tide: There was a point this year when it looked like Wentz was about to change things. In his first five games, Wentz had six TD passes and nine INTs. The next four he had eight TDs and five INTs and a decent passer rating of 83.4 with very little help. Not very good, but there were significant signs of improvement. In a period of four games, he had only two TD passes less than Pat Mahomes. Maybe he was about to get out of this. But then the Eagles said goodbye, and when they returned, he showed more signs of regression until he was placed on the bench. Why were Pederson and Wentz unable to take advantage of the progress Wentz made during that period, from the Ravens ‘game to the Giants’ second game? Who knows. But they were not, and after goodbye the signs of improvement disappeared.
9. No game running: Pederson never tried to take the pressure off Wentz by balancing the attack. In 12 games, the Eagles had the 28th highest number of run attempts and the 28th highest number of run attempts, although they ranked 3rd in the NFL in yards per run and 32nd in yards per pass. In his 11 completed matches, Wentz averaged 43 hits per game, while running backs averaged 17 runs per game. How are you going to get a quarterback in trouble from a takedown by throwing the ball 72% of the time? You are not.
10. Many cooks spoil the broth: With the departure of offensive coordinator Mike Groh, the Eagles brought in senior offensive assistant Rich Scangarello, senior offensive consultant Marty Mornhinweg and pass game analyst Andrew Breiner and added the pass game coordinator to the job description of coach Press Taylor of QB. There are four offensive coaches who were new to Doug Pederson’s team or had a new title. It is an unusual arrangement, with no offensive coordinator and many voices in Pederson’s ear. Quite possibly, it failed miserably.
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