365 days ago today, Carson Wentz was in the process of leading a practice-squad-filled roster to the division title and there could be no denying who the face of the franchise was.
Changes needed to be made, but the belief that Wentz was “THE guy” was strong across the city.
How did we get here?
Fresh off the Eagles disappointing 30-16 loss to the Packers, Carson Wentz has found himself in unfamiliar territory. The former MVP candidate was benched in the second half for Jalen Hurts and now the sharks are circling the water. Now, the Eagles signal-caller will be riding the bench in the upcoming game against New Orleans.
Carson Wentz has not played well this season. You can point to any clip this year and it’ll show a QB playing poorly. He isn’t the only problem on this roster though. When looking at all the issues that plague the Eagles franchise it leads to only one conclusion.
The Philadelphia Eagles have failed Carson Wentz.
Front Office
If we want to really go there, the front office is the biggest issue to the Eagles, and the biggest failing of Carson Wentz. Whether it’s anonymous leaks coming left and right, a piss poor draft record, or horrendous moves in the draft and free agency, the Eagles have failed the player and the person that is Carson Wentz.
Draft
The evidence goes all the way back to when he was first drafted.
One player. In 50 picks. An absurd statistic for any General Manager. Howie Roseman’s draft picks have not panned out since he retook power from Chip Kelly in 2016.
Many of the picks didn’t make sense when it happened. In the last seven drafts, the Eagles have drafted only one offensive lineman in their first three picks. That has left older OL to be overpaid yet forced to start because the depth is full of guys in the later rounds.
And then there’s Howie passing on almost every good receiver of the last three years.
An absolute mess.
Free Agency
We can just highlight one move here and it would be enough evidence to support the claim that the Eagles front office has failed Carson Wentz.
When Brandon Brooks went down – the Eagles signed Jason Peters to play Guard.
A left tackle. At 38 years old. To play a brand new position of need.
That’s gone as well as we could have expected.
Medical Staff
LOL.
Here’s a a nice outlook of how many injuries the team had in 2018.
This was an injury report from 2019.
This is one from 2020.
The Eagles made two changes to the med-staff this year and absolutely nothing has changed. Frequently injured players means little to no continuity in practice, which leads to poor game performance.
Carson Wentz stuck in a QB Controversy
Carson Wentz had to watch his backup QB win a Super Bowl. He had to see a statue erected outside of the Linc (btw how ridiculous is it that we have a statue for one play? Don’t see the Steelers/Packers or Patriots have one).
He was finally able to prove he belonged as the starter in 2019 as he single handedly led the team to the playoffs. Instead of going all in on backing him up with capable players, Howie Roseman chose Jalen Hurts in the second round.
Think about that – a team that barely made the playoffs in 2019…and the GM felt so arrogant that he didn’t need to fill any other pressing needs so he drafted a backup QB within the first 64 picks.
What do you think that does physiologically to a person? And before you claim that it shouldn’t be an excuse, remember, Carson Wentz is 27. He’s not 33 years old (the age of Alex Smith when they drafted Mahomes). He’s not 37 (the age of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers when they draft JimmyG/Jordan Love).
You cannot expect a 27 year old (!!!!) to react the same as people six years older than him. That’s absurd.
Coaching staff let Carson Wentz down
The front office is a massive example of how the Eagles failed Wentz. Coaching just might be just as bad.
You can chalk this up to the front office, but instead of signing an actual Offensive Coordinator in the off-season, the team hired multiple “offensive assistants” to help Doug Pederson.
So now instead of having a QB Coach push Wentz, and OC and HC to put the game-plan based on his skillset, he has multiple people in his ear telling him different things.
Just look at how he plays, he looks unsure of the offense and doesn’t trust what he sees.
That is on coaching.
Carson Wentz struggles
Coaching and the Front Office haven’t done Wentz and favors here. And as previously said, Wentz should hold some of the blame. He has not played well at all, and that’s a big part of his benching.
But there is plenty of other evidence to show how bad the supporting cast has been this year.
Lack of effort
Offensive Line
An easy way to prove this is to debunk the latest ESP tweet:
Simple math here people:
Carson Wentz has been sacked 53 times. You take Wentz and Peters out – that number goes down to 34.
That would STILL be second in the league. SECOND IN THE LEAGUE!
And if the argument is that Russell Wilson is able to perform even though he’s been sacked a lot, I take you to:
Bad offensive line play absolutely matters when it comes to a QB being successful.
Receivers/Skill Positions
Want to know how much separation the receivers are getting in games?
That’s not just it. On multiple occasions last game against Green Bay, multiple times receivers were running close together on routes down the field.
That is football 101. You don’t let one defender to cover two players.
Not enough evidence for you? How about this dousy from Alshon Jeffery?
The Carson Wentz conclusion
Carson Wentz is a broken QB. He hasn’t played well and probably deserves to sit for a game or two to get his head right.
But, do not think for one minute, that he is the main problem in Philadelphia.
Just because the Eagles have made him the #1 scapegoat, it doesn’t hide the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles have failed him more than any player in team history.
Photo by Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire
