It's silly that something like this should be written. But quite frankly, it seems as though a good portion of the Eagles fan base needs this.
Coming on the heels of the incredibly disingenuous report by PhillyVoice that Carson Wentz is "selfish", I've seen plenty of talk from pundits and fans that Wentz is not the answer for the Eagles long-term.
Well, before I do my part in re-educating the fan base on just how special Wentz is, let's take a look at what his teammates have to say about this report:
Fletcher Cox
https://twitter.com/fcoxx_91/status/1087367581323984896
Zach Ertz
https://twitter.com/ZERTZ_86/status/1087376168431566849
Malcolm Jenkins
https://twitter.com/MalcolmJenkins/status/1087548645644357632
Nate Sudfeld
https://twitter.com/NateSudfeld/status/1087392560861986816
Need more?
How about:
Jason Kelce
https://twitter.com/BrandonGowton/status/1087415626556235776
Lane Johnson
https://twitter.com/LaneJohnson65/status/1087378123895726080
Others who have spoken out include Brandon Brooks, Torrey Smith, Chris Long, Kamu Grugier-Hill, and Stefan Wisniewski. Players who play, or have played, with Carson Wentz since he broke out into the league in 2016. If that's not enough for you, let's take a look at his career so far, shall we?
2016 - Rookie Year
Carson Wentz is SO injury prone!
Yeah? Well during his rookie year, Wentz started all 16 games for the Eagles.
During that year, Wentz became the second rookie ever to attempt more than 600 passes in a season (Andrew Luck is only other player to do so). His 607 pass attempts in 2016 is second to Luck's 627 set in 2012.
Sure his rating could've been better, which was 79.3, but he still had 3,782 yards passing, good for fourth ALL-TIME in Eagles history. He also completed the most passes in Eagles history. He was a rookie and he made it into the top five of a couple of all-time records. Pretty good, don't you think?
2017 - MVP-Caliber
I'm sure you remember this remarkable year, but let me remind you.
Carson Wentz started 13 games for the Eagles in 2017, before getting hit the wrong way while diving for a touchdown (which ended up not counting) and tearing his ACL, something that could happen to absolutely any player. You wouldn't have immediately known he tore his ACL on that play though since he stayed in for four more plays and did this:
He then left the game and Nick Foles took over, which ended up working out, in the end, don't you think? But the work that Wentz did over those 13 games cannot be overlooked.
He passed for 3,296 yards, 620 yards short of the Eagles single season record of 3,916. In the next three games, if he hadn't suffered that injury, he would've needed to average 206.7 yards per game to tie that record. If he would've averaged his season average of 253.5 yards per game over that time frame, he would've been the first quarterback in Eagles history to pass for over 4,000 yards.
Would've, could've, should've, right?
So how about we talk about what he actually did. In 13 games, Wentz threw for 33 touchdowns. One more than the Eagles all-time record of 32, which Sonny Jurgensen set in 14 games. His completion percentage did take a dip from his rookie year, 62.4% to 60.2%, but that does not diminish the fact that he was the leading candidate of the league's MVP discussion.
Winning the award was Tom Brady, who had 32 touchdowns in 16 games, and also lost the Super Bowl to the Eagles. Russell Wilson won the passing touchdowns title, with 34, but started all 16 games as well. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't believe Wentz would've won the MVP if he didn't get hurt.
Although everything fell into place that postseason, and you can see my letter to Nick Foles here about that, but the Eagles don't make it to the postseason without Wentz's performance and the 11-2 record that came with it.
2018 - The Return
Wentz wasn't fully recovered to start the season, so Foles started the first two games for him. After a 1-1 start, Wentz was deemed healthy to come back.
After 11 games, Wentz was shut down again due to a stress fracture in his back. After a 5-6 record, the 6-7 Eagles went 3-0 with Nick Foles to reach the postseason again.
Wow, 5-6 record, he was terrible!
In 11 games, Wentz threw for 21 touchdowns, an average of 1.9 per game. He also completed 69.58% of his passes, over 9 percentage points higher than in 2017. This was an Eagles record until Foles broke it at the end of the season with 72.31%. Wentz also avergaed 279.5 yards per game, over 20 yards more than the year before, and also an Eagles record until Foles broke it at the end of the season with 282.6.
Two fewer games for Wentz in 2018 than in 2017, and he was better. He needed just 222 more passing yards to tie his 2017 yardage total, and he was on pace for 3,912 yards if he played those last three games. His passer rating of 102.2 was better than his 2017 rating of 101.9, and both are in the top five all-time of Eagles single-season passer ratings.
Sure he may have rushed himself back too quickly, but he was still outstanding in 2018. The stats back it up.
But he favors Zach Ertz way too much! Foles distributed the ball more! Well..
Debunking the "favoritism" myth
Everyone likes to say that Wentz threw the ball to tight end Zach Ertz way too much. SO take a look at this:
https://twitter.com/EliotShorrParks/status/1087376563505635328
Ertz tied a season-high of targets with 16 when they played the Texans in week 16, with Foles at quarterback. Next closest? Nelson Agholor with seven.
But Alshon Jeffery played SO MUCH better with Foles!
Sure that might look true to you, but the targets were still there for Jeffery when Wentz was the quarterback.
With Wentz at quarterback, Jeffery was targeted 7.4 times per game. With Foles? Seven times.
Golden Tate was a no show with Wentz! Foles got him the ball more!
Tate's targets with Wentz: six
Tate's targets with Foles: 5.4
There is absolutely no denying what Foles has done for the franchise. The first Super Bowl win in franchise history, and a very improbable run in this year's playoffs to try and repeat.
But to say that this franchise is going in the wrong direction with Wentz at quarterback is to completely disregard all the facts that have been laid out in front of you. Wentz is a special talent and we are in phenomenal hands with him under center.
The future is bright Eagles fans, and make sure you don't jump off the Wentz Wagon. Here are some more notes* on him:
The only quarterback in NFL history to have 70 or more touchdowns and less than 30 interceptions through the first three years of a career. He is at 70 touchdowns and 28 interceptions.
He is one of nine quarterbacks to have 70 or more touchdowns in their first three seasons. He is one of two (Russell Wilson) quarterbacks to have less than 30 interceptions in that same span.
He had a streak of 21 straight games of a passer rating of 83 or more, which ended against New Orleans this year. Only other players to have more: Peyton Manning and Phillip Rivers.
After the Jaguars game, he became the second quarterback in NFL history to have four straight games of a passer rating of 115 or more with 30 or more passing attempts, joining Peyton Manning.
Wentz started this season with seven straight games of one or more touchdowns and one or zero interceptions. Only Drew Brees has ever had such a streak.
I could keep going with these remarkable stats, but there shouldn't be any more need to. Carson Wentz is and will be the Eagles starting quarterback for 2019 and years to come.
*Stats obtained from Pro-Football-Reference
Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sport
