More Sports:

December 12, 2022

NFC East news: Commanders QB Carson Wentz returns from IR

Plus: The Cowboys lose their starting right tackle for the season and Jalen Reagor is left eating crow.

The Eagles are flying high atop the NFC East after a 48-22 blowout of the Giants that had the whole team firing on all cylinders. 

They're an NFL-best 12-1, became the first team to officially punch its ticket to the playoffs, and are gunning straight toward the NFC's No. 1 seed.

They're not alone in the NFC East, however, as the Cowboys, Commanders, and Giants are all in the playoff picture as well. 

We know what's going on with the Giants given Sunday's pummeling, but what about the other two?

Here's a look at what's going on around the division:

Wentz is back(up)

The Commanders have activated Carson Wentz off injured reserve, but as reported last month, the starting quarterback job belongs to Taylor Heinicke now, so Wentz will sit as the backup. 

Wentz suffered a broken finger in the Commanders' 12-7 win over the Bears on October 13, when his hand hit a defender's helmet on a follow-through late in the first half. He stayed in the game and helped Washington snap a four-game losing streak, but they looked miserable in doing so. 

Heinicke took over the next week against Green Bay, and since then, the Commanders have looked like an entirely different team. 

They've gone 5-1-1 with Heinicke under center, handed the Eagles their only defeat of the season so far, and climbed into the playoff picture as one of the NFC's hottest teams. At 7-5-1 overall and third in the NFC East after the Giants' loss to the Eagles on Sunday, FiveThirtyEight now has the Commanders with a 73% chance of making the playoffs. 

A brutal past couple of years for Wentz, meanwhile, continues. Once the Eagles' franchise QB, who completely fell apart in 2020 then burnt out quickly in Indianapolis, Wentz hasn't been all that bad in Washington – 62.1% completion rate, 1,489 yards, 10 TDs, 6 INTs – but the Commanders' offense never completely meshed out of the gate with him, and he was still prone to some reckless decision-making with the football. 

What comes next for Wentz is unclear as the soon-to-be 30-year-old has another two years left on his contract

Washington was on the bye this week and will face the Giants in the Meadowlands Sunday night in primetime. 

Dallas loses Steele

The Cowboys just barely squeaked by the league-worst Houston Texans on Sunday, but it came at a massive cost. 

Their starting right tackle, Terence Steele, is now out for the season with ACL and MCL tears in his left knee, per ESPN's Todd Archer.

Steele, 25, formed a key run-blocking duo with guard Zack Martin on the right side of Dallas' line, so to lose him this late in the season could be a critical blow to the Cowboys' hopes of catching the Eagles in the race for the division and be a major problem heading into the playoffs.

The Cowboys will see the Eagles in Arlington on Christmas Eve, and the expectation is it will be one of the biggest games all season. But after back-to-back routs of the Titans and then the Giants the past two weeks, the Eagles are relatively healthy and playing arguably the best football in the league right now. 

Any team looking to compete with them right now needs to show up with their absolute best, and Dallas very well may not have that. 

Brutal.

Outside the NFC East, but maybe (probably) of interest to Eagles fans. 

From earlier this week, with the Vikings in a position to clinch the NFC North with a win:

Sunday's final score from Detroit: Lions 34, Vikings 23.

Reagor's line: 1 target, 0 receptions, 0 yards, 1 punt return for 9 yards. 

Lions left tackle Taylor Decker postgame (via MLive): "Tough look for Jalen Reagor this week, huh?”

Brutal. 


Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Videos