I’ve seen hundreds of young quarterbacks come into the National Football League and not have a clue about calling audibles at the line of scrimmage, changing the pass protection by sliding the line one way or the other. I’ve seen many complications of quarterbacking, destroy the confidence of signal callers, as their minds lock up while trying to process all this information as they drop into the pocket, before getting hammered in the back by a big, angry 270-pound freight train.
Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz was able to figure it all out on Sunday. He’s far ahead of nearly all of them because he’s been playing in ta NFL-style offense for five-years. He was reading the secondary coverages, making audibles at the line of scrimmage from the first day he stepped onto the field in May as an Eagles quarterback.
Is he the fastest young quarterback I’ve ever seen or the one with the best arm? Probably not, but he’s got good speed to play the NFL quarterback position and he has an outstanding arm. More importantly, I think Wentz has the maturity and leadership abilities to do a great job leading the Eagles.
Let’s check out some of the throws Wentz made in the first drive versus the Browns. On the first pass play he it Jordan Matthews in the hands, but he dropped the football. On the first completion of his career, Wentz did a great job of throwing the ball outside on this route where only Eagles tight end Zach Ertz has the chance to catch the football. This is an excellent throw on a back shoulder fade.
Shot 1 – #Eagles use of multiple TEs continued. Great back shoulder throw by Wentz to Ertz vs a safety pic.twitter.com/R4AGUbGAE0
— Fran Duffy (@EaglesXOs) September 12, 2016
The Eagles allowed Carson to use his legs and his ability to throw on the move. So they got into a two-tight formation, then ran this bootleg play where Wentz fakes a handoff to his right, then rolls back to his left and hits Brent Celek with a short pass outside. It was a safe throw and a confidence builder.
Shot 2 – #Eagles did a lot to move the pocket for Wentz. 2 TEs here; easy pitch and catch to Celek for a first down pic.twitter.com/9CIeY7sRQL
— Fran Duffy (@EaglesXOs) September 12, 2016
On Carson’s first touchdown throw, Wentz makes a perfect throw to Jordan Matthews who took off from the slot position and ran an outside fade route. Wentz checked out the alignment of the single high safety and he knew there’s no way he could get to the sideline, to help the nickel back on his coverage of Matthews. The rookie put it on Matthews’ outside shoulder away from the defensive back. He couldn’t have handed him the football any better than where he placed the ball.
Shot 3 – Wentz TD1. Outstanding throw on slot fade. Reads 1-high & man coverage presnap. Holds safety. Great touch. pic.twitter.com/lg9mUGggcJ
— Fran Duffy (@EaglesXOs) September 12, 2016
This throw was the first touchdown throw of Carson’s career and it helped to give him the confidence that he was going to have no problem making plays in the National Football League.
