The Carson Wentz Era begins in Philadelphia on Sunday and everybody is eager to find out if Wentz is capable of being a star quarterback in the NFL. Will he be able to demonstrate to everybody that he can lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl Title? I see numerous positives for Carson, but I also see quite a few negatives.
Positives:
He’s 6’5″ and weighs 240 pounds.
He’s got a strong arm.
He played in a NFL style offense in college.
He’s used to making changes of the plays at the line of scrimmage
He learned how to read defenses and defensive coverages.
He’s a fighter, who has great leadership qualities.
He has a great work ethic
Negatives:
He only started for a season and a half in college.
He only stated in his senior year in high school.
He played his college ball at North Dakota State, which is Division 1.
In college, he played with and against players, who were no where near being NFL caliber.
There’s a chance he could be injury-prone. He missed half of his season a year ago with a broken wrist and he had his ribs broken in his only preseason action.
He played only a half of action in the preseason because his ribs were broken in his only preseason action.
He hasn’t had a lot of reps with the Eagles first team offense.
I think the success of failure of Wentz’ teammates to help him will have a major affect on how the rookie plays in this opening game against the Browns. If the Eagles run the ball well, he’ll probably have success with play action passes. If they don’t run the football well, it’s probably going to mean problems for Wentz because he will be asked to throw the ball too often. He will have more pass rush pressure in his face and Cleveland will have great blitz opportunities.
I don’t think the Eagles should throw it more than 20 or 25 times with the youngster. The more often the Birds ask him to drop in the pocket, the more opportunities he has make mistakes. It’s a fact that rookies make mistakes and if you give them the opportunities, they can make a lot of them.
A Great Defense to go against in starting the Wentz ERA
The Browns had the 30th Ranked Rushing Defense from a Year Ago (130 yards per Game)
The Browns Ranked 28th in the NFL with only 29 Sacks and Lost its Best Defensive Players in Safety’s T Gipson, Donte Whitner, LB’s K Dansby, Krueger, Mingo and Pass Rusher Armonty Bryant,
They Cut/Traded/Released Veteran Players top Clear Cap $$ and to Stockpile Draft Picks and now many of these Young Players are going to be asked and have an opportunity to become Full-Time Starters…
I count 6 Brown Defenders with less then 2 Years of Starting Time on their Starting Unit Sunday with even less experience as Back-ups..
Eagles should be able to control the Line of Scrimmage, the Clock, Tempo and pace of the Game and Win going away in a Game that’s over by the end of the 3rd Quarter .. As long as Eagles Protect the Ball and limit Negative Plays/Penalties, they should Win convincingly ..
And for that reason I think I have to start wentz in fantasy over dak and dalton
Eh. Who cares.
So very very excited for this year. Wentz Era begins as it should with him under center learning by doing. No chance of getting suckered into Bradford making playoffs and returning for another year. Fan base unified behind #11.
I am hopeful that DGB and Wentz develop something special and open up JMat and Ertz. Gonna hang onto hope that Wentz can help Ags become a player.
Man…is Andy Reid coaching the Carolina Panthers tonight. Poor clock management and burning timeouts..none left in 4th quarter in last 2 minutes due to burning 3rd and final TO to avoid a delay of game penalty…brutal.
What was somebody saying about wanting Wentz to run around like Newton?
Who would want to watch their QB get the shit kicked out of him like Newton did tonight?? (almost all of it self inflicted)
That’s not QBing…that’s idiocy.
FIrstly he should have received about 4 taunting penalties for standing over DBs he ran into.
Secondly, he should have been put into concussion protocol at the end.
Thirdly, its going to take him a couple of weeks to recover from this beating. I don’t care how big he is. Keeps playing like this and he won’t finish the year, and his career will fall off a cliff by 2020.
And yes…what a disaster with the timeouts and also with their offense not being ready and having to take several TOs to save delay of game penalties.
lol
He was speared in the head behind the LOS at least 4 times.
That had nothing to do with running around.
There are images of Denvers defenders literally launching themselves at his head. Not trying to tackle but trying to maim.
I know you hate Cam – but every media outlet is covering the story and none of them is talking about anything being “self-inflicted.”
But yeah…let’s call taunting on a QB but not personal fouls for trying to decapitate him.
You and Vinnie both have valid points. Cam needs to protect himself and yes he was targeted (as all QB’s are) to be knocked around. That’s why not taking extra hits is important because the in the pocket stuff is GOING TO Happen. It is a good thing he is built like a tank because that his what helps modern QB’s survive.
As to the head hits. Yes they missed a lot. Yes I still feel like a-lot of them are the nature of an aggressive game and really can not be stopped. Defenders are going extra hard and with less control because Cam is so big and he escapes so many hits. He also gets hot 2 and three times by gang tackles more because he is strong.
Sleeves would have been down from the first hit and never gotten the next 2. What I am saying is there are pluses and minuses to being an extreme athlete.
Lastly- there was a recent article where they outlined that coaches are teaching Wentz that outside the tackles to the mumbers is the “Dead Man’s zone”. This is apparently where QB’s are most susceptible to season Enders. So I guess there are stats to back up Vinnie. However i do wonder about these stats because every human being could be hurt by a hit anywhere at any time. I wonder if the fact that so many pocket passers just have accepted hits and protected themselves for many years has skewed the data.
Any way here is hoping for a season full of healthy play for all these guys. The product is just better with stars healthy.
Most of those hits weren’t incidental though.
Guys literally launched themselves at his head. He ran all over them in the first half and they decided in the second if they couldn’t beat him they would knock him the f*ck out.
It was so bad that all the national media is talking about it. I mean it’s like it’s random opinion at this point. And don’t get me started on them not taking him out of the game.
That was bad.
We’ll see how seriously the NFL wants to take this. But my guess is they won’t care.
Tsjohnson5 quite a bit of those hits came simply because the offensive line couldn’t handle the Denver pass rushers.
Launching and targeting a QBs head is illegal in today’s league.
Doesn’t matter about the OL – there are plenty of CLEAN ways to take a QB down. Denver decided to do something else. Guys weren’t even trying to tackle they were trying to maim.
And its the first time in NFL history? putting a hurtin’ on the QB is standard procedure–there was at least one penalty i believe for launching???
As someone mentioned earlier…big guys paid to tackle get pissed when they go to tackle, a shoulder gets lowered and the other guy taunts– they will exact revenge– its a big boy game, cam plays like a big boy, the other guys will react
I’m not disagreeing with you because those were dirty hits, and you can clearly see that some of those hits were well after the ball left Cam’s hand. I’m just pointing out that the line is responsible not for the Broncos players malicious hits against Cam. They are responsible for keeping Cam upright and responsible for him having a clean pocket they failed last night just like they failed in the superbowl.
1. with newton being a golden child in the nfl
2. with the emphasis on concussion
The nfl will care–
That was a very poorly officiated game if you apply the same standards from the last couple of years where they have increased the emphasis on protecting the QB. Late. High. And clearly the goal of the defense was to stretch the rules as much as they could until they got called on it. Well they never did, so they kept doing it.
That being said when they call designed runs for him, it is a great weapon, but he is opening himself to more hits. I don’t want to see any designed runs for Wentz at all. I want him to be mobile in the pocket and extend plays, but I don’t want him running the ball into the teeth of the defense.
As far as taunting goes, it went both ways as it always does. But if the NFL really wanted to crack down on this, they can now because of the new rule about personal fouls. As the taunting and the strutting is my least favorite part of the game, I wouldn’t have a problem with this at all.
Just to be clear, I love end zone celebrations and I wish that they let them do more of these. What I hate is celebrating after every play especially DBs who don’t even affect the play, but then get up and celebrate like they were Sherman against Crabtree.
As for the head hits. I felt there were 2 helmet to helmit hits on Newton last night. The second was the worst and the player recieved a personal foul penalty. He will also be fined. The other was the play where Newton first got hit from behind and was falling backwards when the second guy came flying in. There was helmet to helmet there, but Newton was going down.
But that’s not my main point…there were a couple of questionable high hits. The worst of which was penalized.
But is he a QB, or is he a FB?? He can’t have it both ways.
Yesterday Newton ran 11 times. The majority on read-options or planned QB runs.
Look at each of those runs and find me the one time he either slid or ran out of bounds. I’ll wait.
Each and every time Newton initiated contact or dove head first. He consistently and constantly lowered his shoulders and head and slamed himself into opposing defenders.
He was trying to punish those defenders.
And clearly they were out to punish him back.
You can’t have it both ways. Can’t go slamming into every defender at every possible opportunity (often then standing over them and staring them down) and then scream “woe is me” when a defender comes in with a little extra juice to return the favour.
And it puts the refs in a tough spot. Every scramble outside…is he a runner? Is he about to plaw into somone? Or is he a QB? Is he near the LOS, or over it….
If you want to play like a fullback, then don’t be suprised when the refs call the game like you are a fullback.
And this doesn’t even take into account the pure the idiocy of doing this and having a 100 million dollar Qb get unnecessarily planted over and over.
3 sacks (unavoidable and expected)
7 or 8 hits after the throw (unavoidable and expected)
11 designed runs each and every one ending with a massive collision between QB and defenders. (completely absurd and unnecessary)
Those extra 11 hits a game are going to add up…have been adding up…and are going to end the guy’s career.
to you point…whoever said Wentz should model his game after newton is being completely foolish– model his game after Rodgers and Ben… all QB’s are subjected to brutal hits– don’t subject yourself to even more brutal hits.
Agreed.
And to add to the “don’t subject yourself to unnecessary hits”
Do you think that….just perhaps…..that pulling that bushleague, immatue, standing with your hands on your hips staring down the crowd while nodding before slowly pulling the “Superman” garbage didn’t play a role in what happened during the second half.
I guarantee you it did.
That crowd switched from just reveling about the SB trophy to being out for blood….and I guarantee you the same thing happened in the Denver dressing room. They came out for blood in the 2nd.
Want to show up your opponents in their house. Reap the rewards.
There is something that has been confusing me lately. People are incredibly excited that Wentz will be our franchise QB, but at the same time predicting that this team will go 5-11 this year. I don’t think those two predictions jive and people are just hedging their potential disappointment if Carson under performs.
The bottom line is that in today’s NFL, rookie QBs with promise and potential to be Franchise QBs look good even in their rookie years. The days of a QB struggling the first two years and then a light going off in year three are in the past. Guys like Mariota, Winston, Luck, Russel Wilson, Derek Carr, Cam Newton, Flacco etc. (i.e. guys that seem poised to be “franchise QBs”) had success early in their careers.
If Wentz is truly is among that class of QB (as everyone is all excited about), then he should perform well this year. If that happens, there is no way this team goes 5-11 or 6-10. The team has too much talent to be a 5-11 team. There is no unit (aside from the outside receiver position) that is below average. At worst, every unit on this team is average with some units (i.e. DL and Safety) with the potential to be top-five units.
A team like that with solid QB play does not go 5-11.
I think deep down people’s expectations have not changed and they expect this team to be competitive because they believe Wentz is a franchise QB. They roll out these 5-11 and 6-10 projections just to hedge any potential disappointment that they will feel if Wentz sucks this year.
sorry can’t i call bullshit!!!!!!!!!!
Winston- 6-10
Newton 6-10
Mariotta 3-13
Hac those teams didn’t have near the talent we have that’s the difference
I will continue to call bullshit… The original post talked about the contradictory, built in excuse of wentz having a “way out” while still showing promise… I countered with my response as for “way more talent” …says who? Certainly not Vegas who regardless of qb has not been high on the eagles , not “experts who say the eagles are the 25-30th ranked team in talent…
Again, the call of BULLSHIT stands.
Good point can’ttakeit.
Wentz should be very successful this year. He is taken over a team that is slept on and is very talented. He’s a smart intelligent person and football player. He has talented coaches who played and are also intelligent and his teammates I’m sure will be in his ear not to do it all.
He does not need to be Andrew luck and try to make a giant play every time. Let your teammates help u out. And that’s included with ur coaches, defense and special teams.
20-22 passes with 2-3 rushes. Let Ryan sproles and Kenjon split carries and use that 3. Tight end set to help the rookie get his feet wet and get rid of those butterflies
Eagles win 27-10 in a score that’s a little closer then it should have been
No one is hedging any bets. We’re just realistic. Even today the majority of rookie QBs struggle.
Mariotta was 3-9
Carr 3-13
Winston 6-10
Newton 6-10
Flacco and Wilson both went 11-5, but both were asked to do very little …they had the best defenses in the league at the time….do the Eagles have that??
Luck also went 11-5 (how – I don’t know)
Now on top of the new QB you also add in a new coaching staff. I think the Eagles can surprise this year…and I think they have a great chance to get going right out of the gate with Cleveland and Chicago……but I am also realistic and understand the historical numbers point to a better than average chance that this will be a “learning” year at best.
Luck had a very good Start to his Career for the AFC South was probably the Weakest Division in Football when he came in… Jags,Titans,Texans are all better Teams than they were 3-4 Years Ago..
Vinnie – Should have clarified. I didn’t mean team success, I meant individual success. The teams that took Mariotta, Carr, and Winston were awful (much worse – talent wise – then this team). Those teams finished with 3-13ish records which is how they got the top picks in the draft to get those QBs. We only got there because Howie made miracles happen.
Individually, the QBs i referenced each put up pretty solid numbers in their respective rookie seasons. Not eye-popping statistics, but not awful numbers either.
As such, the point I was making was that with this team, if Wentz performs similarly as those other “future franchise QBs” then there is no way they go 5-11.
That is why I was saying the two predictions don’t seem to jive. If we think Wentz is our Franchise QB, then history says, he should probably finish no worse than middle of the pack in QB stats. If he performs like that, then this team should be competitive all year.
Ya…so for example.
A performance like Siemian last night. Despite the fact that the guy looks as skinny as a twig, I thought he played pretty damn well.
18 of 26 for 178 1td and 2 ints?? I thought it was a good debut (and was kind of pissed actually – how’d they get this 7th round nobody to play so well?)
Question though…if Wentz plays like that……the Broncos can win those games….can the Eagles?
Wentz will not be awful. I think he’ll come in above 60%. He’s have more TDs to Ints and I think he’ll have some very very good “wow” moments. I would love to see a successful (or 2 or 3) end of half (or even better) comeback to win drives at the end of games.
But he’ll also throw some maddening Ints. Hold the ball too long. and do other annoying rookie things. I am not as confident the Eagles will be able to recover from those mistakes like say Denver could last night.
Completely agree. Eagles are not the Broncos defense (and that’s not what i’m saying). This Eagles team, with a performance like Seimian’s isn’t beating Carolina.
However, this Eagles team with a performance like Seimian’s should be able to beat Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, possibly the Ravens and then go at least .500 in the division.
That’s kinda been my thinking all along. My expectations for this team start at .500 because i believe in Wentz and I think the talent around him is not bad at all. I’m surprised the rest of the fan base (especially this fan base) is not on board with that.
I am with you Cant. I think 8-8 is where I am at.
Wentz was taken too high and is not that good.
With that said…he’s rookie…great rookie years often happen with losing seasons so, people need to pull back on those expectations a bit.
Just watch the games for fun…keep your emotions out of it or you will be sorely disappointed.
I am not sure why it matters where Wentz was Selected by the Eagles …
If he ends up being the Eagles QB for the next 6-8-10 Seasons, what Difference does it matter if he was Chosen 1st, 2nd,8th,13th, 2nd Round or 5th Round… Getting Drafted Early in the Draft gets you an earlier, easier path to become a Starter for any Team in the NFL no matter what your Position is, but at the end of the day, it will be his Performance on the Field,like all other NFL Players, that determines his longevity and success in the NFL. If he Plays Well and the Team Wins,
Then No one will care that Eagles Traded up to #2 to get him..If he crashes and burns, then everyone will say what a Bust he was… let the Kid Play and we will all find out..
Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s see him play at least one NFL game b4 we decide on how good or bad he is. If you wanna say he doesn’t have a long track record, hasn’t played much, has an injury history, played for a small school. Fine, but you don’t know how good he is.
Clearly you don’t agree with the move, but don’t pretend that you know that this guy’s NFL trajectory is.
I don’t want wentz to model shit after cam. Cam can’t throw
Cam throws long passes to open the running game up for his halfback and self.
The Hot Takes are piping hot today I see.
Vinnie What did think of Cam’s new dance in the end zone without the dab?
Ya. New dance. Of course you can count me among those who thought it was pathetic.
I mean seriously.. He does realize that a: They lost the SB last year and B: the game wasn’t over yet.
I believe his staring doewn the crowd with his hands on his hips followed by the slow-motiuon Superman bit was the turning point of the game.
At that point the game was all Carolina, the crowd was still happy, basking in the earlier trophy presentation etc.
Suddenly he pulls his bush-league show up your opponents in their house BS and everything changed.
The Crowd started chanting “Sup-er Bowl! Sup-er Bowl” The intensity ramped.
I guarantee you they were talking about it in the Denver locker room too. And they went out with a purpose to make him pay in the second half….and they did.
I love celebrating. I love fun.
But you want to stand and stare, you want to “Bat flip”, you want to attempt to humiliate your opponents and scream “I am better”
You get whats coming every single time. (Exception – NBA)
Can’t tell Michael Jordan not to go down the lane and dunk the ball because Rick Mahorn and Bill Lambeir might rough him up. Michael Jordan’s game is in the air. If Wentz isn’t running he isn’t winning. Maybe in a few years if he is successful he will adapt like McNabb and run less but he is going to run during this first contract. Pederson won’t call read options because he has broken ribs this sunday but they will be in the game plan eventually.
Wentz is not going to be modeled after cam newton because well 1. he’s not cam newton and not even Close. They may be similar in height and weight but they are two completely different built animals.
Cam can take the punishment and absorb the hits. I think if carson got hit like that as cam did yesterday he would have been out of the game.
Look for the Eagles to use him like Big Ben. He has mobility and can sling it like Favre and flacco as well.
Wentz naturally wants to scramble to the right. So to get Wentz to use the whole field the Eagles called 2 read option plays designed to get Wentz to the left in the Tampa preseason game. On one of the plays wentz keep the ball and ran for 9 yards; the other Wentz keep the ball but instead of running he chose to pass the ball for a completion. The read option is already in the play book for Wentz, I’ve seen it twice.
Each team in the NFL has two objectives:
1. get a franchise qb and protect him
2. beat up the opponents franchise qb
obviously those two objectives are diametrically opposed… making it the best game there is.
When u have a mobile qb, it would be idiotic not to utilize the read option here and there. Not as much as Wilson or Newton, but here and there.
You can’t play scared. Going to come in handy when wentz buys time and scrambles for a first or extends plays and throws one down field.
If he faster then Luck? Rodgers? Alex smith? Idk. He’s bigger then those guys and he ran a 4.7 forty. That’s okay fast. Idk if he is Donovan fast when he was younger.
A lot of people saying wentz struggled under pressure in college? Is that true?
Comes to an Eagles site to blow cam and hate wentz. Lmfao