October 01, 2020
It's human nature to want to find someone or something to blame for the failings of those close to you.
Many will understand that sentiment on a micro level when it comes to issues with their own families and friends where enabling can be commonplace. On the macro level, it's much tougher to understand, but when you bleed green in Philadelphia it's comforting to blame the bloated coaching staff or perhaps the overmatched personnel executives when it comes to the regression of the star player whose jersey hangs in the closet.
Many fans want to believe in Carson Wentz, and those who don't are likely caught up in a love affair with an ex (Nick Foles) or the unknown (Jalen Hurts).
The truth with Wentz lies somewhere in between the thoughts of an elite quarterback vs. a bottom 10-level starter. The sample size is large enough now to understand the 27-year-old isn't turning into a true superstar, but he's also far from the worst starting signal caller in the NFL, something he's been in the conversation for through three weeks of the 2020 season.
Before all of this, Wentz seemed poised to settle in as a player who would teeter in and out of the top 10 at his position depending on the supporting cast placed around him.
The regression has been real in the COVID-19 environment and perhaps no offseason has hurt Wentz, a player who needs to stay on top of his mechanical concerns diligently, particularly when it comes to footwork, more than most.
"As far as the mechanics and everything, I don’t want to over-analyze any of it," Wentz said on Wednesday. "I thought there were some little things with the footwork here and there. Some of it is just timing, chemistry, there are other things involved. Some of it is just me, I got to be better. I got to be cleaner with everything."
The real world also got in the way a bit this offseason as the Eagles' QB1 became a father for the first time, a higher-calling in life than entertaining people on game days.
Potential explanations or excuses like a continued poor receiving corps are just that, however. Wentz is expected to deal with any outside noise and play at a high level.
To date, he’s headed down a difficult path unless someone, whether it’s Wentz himself or a piece of the overstocked coaching staff, can decipher the problem[s] and find a way to right the ship when it comes to the veteran’s decision-making.
Cost-benefit analysis has never been Wentz’s strong suit as he’s married a Brett Favre-like aggressiveness, absent the legendary Favre fastball, with the willingness to extend plays at all costs.
When QBs struggle in the NFL, the most popular player in town is always the backup quarterback, something that's been a cliche around this league for decades and isn't changing anytime soon. That said, assuming Hurts isn't even remotely ready as a rookie with no offseason seems specious, so forget about drastic measures like benching.
With Wentz, you've already seen the ceiling during his brilliant 2017 campaign before an ACL/LCL tear changed the trajectory of his career in too many ways to calculate, both physically and mentally.
While the fact-checkers were hard at work at Tuesday's Presidential shit show and weren't contracted for this piece, you can feel comfortable in espousing that the Wentz is the only face of the franchise in league history who can drive to work on game days knowing there is a statue of his former backup waiting to greet him.
Fans don't care about things like mental health, however. Athletes aren't real people to most. They're glorified joysticks and Wentz is now the previous generation of game consoles while Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson have taken over, at least when Aaron Rodgers allows them.
Wentz isn't in any of those kinds of conversations any longer, so maybe it makes sense that Howie Roseman took a layered approach at the position back in the spring by drafting Hurts at No. 53 overall.
The problem with that is it’s what was described to me by one ex-personnel executive as “laboratory thinking.”
“Managing personalities is a big part of this, maybe the biggest,” the exec explained.
The strangest part of this plan is the Eagles' brass reluctance or inability to factor in the human element when shocking the football world by selecting Hurts.
This organization once described hiring now-Cleveland GM Andrew Berry as an opportunity to add talent to its front office, creating a new position for the Harvard-educated Berry. The Eagles played-up a similar narrative when it came to Hurts. The difference, of course, is Roseman had control in both instances and knew Berry wasn't a threat to his job status. Wentz doesn't have that same peace of mind.
The two players seem distant, even if Wentz says the right things for public consumption.
"Obviously the summer was tough getting to know him or any of the new guys with all of the protocols, and it still is to some extent because you can’t get together with guys outside of the building too much," Wentz admitted. "There is a lot of different things going on. But it has been good. It has been really good getting to know him and work together. It is cool to get him out there."
So maybe the presence of Hurts explains this weird regression over the last month, something the Eagles certainly weren't expecting.
Rewind back on August 25 and you will find senior offensive assistant Rich Scangarello, brought in to ramp-up the play-action game as a Kyle Shanahan disciple, calling Wentz an "elite processor" in the mold of Matt Ryan.
"Carson, he's an elite processor in my opinion, both pre-snap and post-snap," the veteran coach explained. "He's able to do a lot of things because of it. That's what separates him, to me, from a lot of people in this league."
A day later Pederson agreed with Scangarello.
"Rich is right," the coach told PhillyVoice. "He's not only a smart, quick thinker but he's a deep thinker when it comes to football, and he does process things extremely well, extremely fast. You know, obviously now that he's going into his fifth year with us and understanding our system, understanding our offense, things process even faster for him.
"... Carson is mentally in a really good state right now, frame of mind, and it's fun to be around guys like that, especially at your quarterback position."
Now fast forward to Monday after the ugly tie with Cincinnati, the realization that Wentz has doubled the number of turnover-worthy plays as any other starting QB in the NFL, and Pederson is singing a different tune.
"I think one of the ways that we [get Wentz on track is] to kind of maybe unclutter his mind some is to play fast, play up-tempo where players don't have to think," the coach said. "They just react. And that has been a recipe for us over the years, and it's something that we may have to lean on a little bit more.”
If you have an elite processor like Rodgers — or Peyton Manning in the previous generation — smart people get out of the way, they don't dumb things down.
And let's just say Pederson isn't dumb. He isn’t getting out of the way for a reason.
If Roseman is still intent on adding "talent" to his front office in the wake of Berry's departure from the organization perhaps he should consider "Mad Max," Jordan Belfort's father made famous on the silver screen by Rob Reiner in "The Wolf of Wall Street.".
"One of these days the chickens are gonna come home to roost," Max told his son, the hedonistic stockbroker.
Creating doubt is Wentz's mind has the chickens assembling in Philadelphia.
John McMullen is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media, the host of “Extending the Play” on AM1490 in South Jersey and also contributes Eagles and NFL coverage for SI.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com
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