The Philadelphia Eagles are off to a hot start under rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz, going 3-0 during the team’s first three games of the 2016 season. The road to this point has been crazy to say at the least, especially considering the fact that no one expected Wentz to be the team’s starting quarterback prior to the beginning of the season.
The Eagles traded their former starting quarterback, Sam Bradford, to the Minnesota Vikings shortly before the start of the regular season. The move shocked the NFL world and later that week Pederson named Wentz the starter.
Many assumed the Eagles were throwing away the season riding with the rookie quarterback. There was some speculations that the team’s veteran players were unhappy with the trade of Bradford, but nothing concrete, besides cornerback, Ron Brooks, saying “no comment” when asked about the trade.
All that speculation is out the window now given the Eagles start to the season. Pederson addressed the media today following the team’s 34-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers and answered questions about how his team has embraced their rookie quarterback.
“Obviously just the way he plays, he’s so aggressive on the field,” Pederson said. “When I say aggressive I’m speaking to a physical and mental standpoint. His personality I mean he’s constantly smiling and it’s infectious. Guys have gravitated to that.
“I think three weeks ago when I named Carson the starter you see some eyebrows raised, but now these guys have bought in. They’ve got the leader of the football team. You see it yesterday, you watch the tape and you see it on film. These guys, these veteran players have really embraced him. They’ll do anything they can now for a guy like that.”
Pederson is correct. Just watching these past three games, you see everyone of the Eagles players gravitating towards Wentz and respecting him as a leader. Jordan Matthews, who’s been very vocal about the quarterbacks he’s played with during his Eagles tenure, is even speaking about Wentz in ways he’s never talked about a quarterback before. He explained their celebration yesterday.
“We were thinking about something that represents both of us. So usually when guys score touchdowns or something crazy happens, they jump into each other’s arms, and they call it getting ‘hype.’ But with us, we want to play with each other for a long time,” Matthews said. “We feel like we work hard enough to be where we should expect the touchdown and we should expect great things to happen.
“So every time I run up to him, we fake like we are going to jump into each other. Then say, ‘Nah,’ put the tie on and shake hands. So it is like no hype, straight business.”
The Philadelphia Eagles have identified their franchise quarterback that they’ve been waiting for since the team traded Donovan McNabb. Guys have bought into the hype Wentz brings to the team, but they’ll let you know first – it’s business as usual.
