September 20, 2016
It seems too good to be true. Carson Wentz cannot be the next great young quarterback in the NFL. GM Howie Roseman didn’t suddenly become a genius after a year in exile. No way Doug Pederson is this good a coach.
It’s not possible that the Eagles are 2-0.
Is it?
So far, everything’s coming up Roseman for the Eagles as they have completely redefined this rebuilding season. Yes, the new coach has been amazing, and the defense has been superb. But all of the joy in the streets of Philadelphia today revolves around a 23-year-old North Dakota kid with an uncanny arm and a steady hand.
After Wentz’s first two extraordinary games as an Eagle, only a grump would hedge his bets now. Ex-Super Bowl coach Brian Billick said it best in a tweet this morning: ”This kid can flat play.”
Yes, he can. He can hit his first six passes in a hurry-up offense with an empty backfield, daring the Chicago Bears to stop him. He can float a 29-yard pass to Jordan Matthews for a key first down, then unleash an even more amazing throw right off the fingers of the wide receiver near the end zone.
Nothing can stop this young quarterback. Eagles wide receivers dropped two certain touchdown passes, center Jason Kelce sabotaged one drive with two terrible penalties, and Bears defenders smacked the kid all over the field.
So what? Final score: Eagles 29, Bears 14.
The best part is, the scoreboard and the final stat sheet told only part of Wentz’s story in Chicago. On one of the biggest stages in sports – Monday Night Football – Wentz looked more like a 10-year veteran Pro Bowler than a raw rookie who just finished a career in Division 1AA college football.
Wentz has already defied all logic with his play and his demeanor. He is so focused, so in control, he cannot be real – not to Eagles fans who have waited since 1960 for an NFL championship. Fans called my WIP radio show in waves today, all bearing the same message: The wait is over. The successor to Donovan McNabb has arrived.
Pederson and Roseman have been careful not to say too much about this wunderkind because it’s so early and he’s so young, but their actions speak volumes. The coach went for it on fourth downs three times, and made all three. He scripted the start of the game with a flurry of passes. He already trusts the kid.
And the GM, well, he has shed the dunce cap he wore for years here and is now being fitted for a crown. Obviously, Roseman saw something in Wentz that Cleveland and Los Angeles missed. But even in his most ambitious dream, did Roseman envision what has unfolded in the first two games? Did anybody?
What is happening right now with the Eagles and Carson Wentz is primal in its appeal. Wentz represents the endless possibilities of youth. He symbolizes the value of patience. He is the poster boy for a whole new era of hope for Eagles fans.
I was hesitant to commit to this young man so soon after the disappointments of Nick Foles and Kevin Kolb, but my eyes do not deceive and my heart can no longer be denied.
Carson Wentz is indeed the next great young quarterback in the NFL, and he’s ours for the next decade or more. He’s the real thing, the answer to so many prayers.
Don’t pinch me, Philadelphia. If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up.
***
Here’s a spin on the Colin Kaepernick national anthem controversy that I’ll bet you never considered. One of the main causes of this ongoing national debate is ... Riley Cooper.
That’s right. The former Eagles wide receiver, now justifiably unemployed, unwittingly set this entire mess into motion three years ago when he shouted some racially-insensitive remarks at a Kenny Chesney concert in Camden.
Follow the reasoning here. Cooper’s use of the n-word, caught on video, forced Chip Kelly into his first big decision – and first big mistake – when the then-new Eagles coach suspended his player for only one long weekend. Kelly’s blasé response to an obvious act of racism immediately divided the clubhouse.
This summer, not long after Kelly arrived in San Francisco, another overrated player, Kaepernick, decided to protest police brutality against African-Americans by kneeling for the national anthem, an act that has inspired protests throughout sports, including one by the Eagles last night.
Throughout this national debate, one voice has been conspicuously absent – that of Chip Kelly. Under normal circumstances, the coach either could have forbidden a member of his team from desecrating the flag, or at least coaxed some kind of compromise from his player.
Kelly never did that, for a very good reason. After the Cooper debacle, if the coach insulted his black players again, he would have doomed his second tenure in the NFL before it even started. Can you imagine the backlash Kelly would have gotten if he took a strong stand against Kaepernick, after what happened with Cooper?
Instead, Kelly did nothing this time, even as the debate grew louder and the anger grew deeper. What Kelly did was no more courageous than what he did as an Eagles coach in 2013, but at least this time he had a good reason for his decision.
In the end, Cooper is out of football now because no other team wanted his dubious skills or his major baggage. But make no mistake; he is still having an impact on the NFL.
As usual, of course, it’s a negative one.
***
It has become an obsession with fans to count the days until the next big star emerges on their team. We’re seeing it right now with the Eagles and Carson Wentz, with the Sixers and both Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid and with the Flyers and Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov.
Unfortunately, sometimes a guy who’s already on the team is better than the prospect on his way up. A case in point on the Phillies is J.P. Crawford, a shortstop with all of the talent to be the next Jimmy Rollins. Crawford is a stud, no question – but he will never offer as much as Freddy Galvis.
In fact, Galvis is the most underrated player in Philadelphia sports right now. The 26-year-old is not just a Gold Glove shortstop, but he also has 19 home runs at a position not known for producing power. His stature may be small (5-9, 185), but his bat is not.
The clamor for Crawford to join the Phillies this month has not swayed GM Matt Klentak, who is in no hurry to bring up a 21-year-old with plenty of holes still in his game. For example, Crawford has 19 errors this season in 123 games, he finished with only 43 RBIs, and he managed only a .244 batting average at Lehigh (AAA).
Galvis is a much better infielder (six errors in 145 games), a much better power source (64 RBIs), and – let’s just say it – a much better long-term solution at shortstop than J.P. Crawford.
Last week, I mentioned Crawford to manager Pete Mackanin, and his answer was very revealing: “I really, really like Freddy Galvis.”
Mackanin has publicly requested two professional hitters to fill the middle of his lineup next season, two established bats on a still-too-young roster, and he’s right. The Phillies are not going to move up the standings, and fill all the empty seats, with Maikel Franco, Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp in the power slots. They need help.
The first trade piece Klentak should use to obtain those steady hands is Crawford, a prospect who has not yet demonstrated he is anything more than that. The Phillies can afford to lose the heir apparent to Jimmy Rollins, because he’s already here. His name is Freddy Galvis.
And finally …
• Temple may have lost a game Saturday in Happy Valley, but the Owls fans who turned their backs at Beaver Stadium during the outrageous tribute to child-abuse enabler Joe Paterno were heroes to me. Bravo to Temple for bringing some much-needed common sense to a Penn State community whose hero worship has obliterated common decency.
• Among the nominees for the 2017 class at the Pro Football Hall of Fame are former Eagles Brian Dawkins and Donovan McNabb. Although I don’t get a vote, here’s where I stand. Dawkins is a first-ballot inductee, not just for his brilliant play but also for his exemplary leadership. McNabb is not a Hall of Famer – not next year, not ever. He was a good quarterback. That’s all.
• How charming was it that Sam Hinkie reconnected with his cult last week in a series of 10 tweets? The ex-Sixers GM reported that he is on a dogged search for more basketball knowledge, and mixing in some snowboarding and some teaching (very little, actually) at Stanford. What he left out is that no NBA team offered him a job after his debacle here. Nevertheless, the cult lives on.
• Sam Bradford started his career in Minnesota on Sunday night with a near-flawless performance, recording the highest passer rating of his career (120). If you were the least bit surprised by that performance, stand by. There’s more where that came from. Bradford is a good quarterback, victimized by bad luck and bad coaches. He would have done well here, too.
• In case you missed it, Chip Kelly’s 49ers got smothered on Sunday in Carolina, 46-27. The real story is how much slower the ex-Eagles coach is running his offense in San Francisco. Often, the snap doesn’t come before there are 10-15 seconds left on the play clock. Is he admitting he’s changed his philosophy to save his defense? Ha, ha. Yeah, sure he is.
