The Mechanics of Carson Wentz: Week 6 vs Houston Texans
The Indianapolis Colts had some fun this past Sunday, blowing out the Houston Texans 31-3 at home. While the Colts still have a long ways to go to salvage the season, this was a step in the right direction.
The team was propelled by the play of their quarterback in this one. Carson Wentz finished the day completing 11 of 20 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
With Wentz continuing his recent play, I dove back into the film to see how his mechanics held up against the putrid Houston Texans.
If you are interested in reading back on the offseason series, click this link here.
Improved Lower Body Mechanics
If you read my offseason articles on Wentz's mechanics, the common theme was his lower half mechanics. While there has still been a few issues here and there, Wentz has appeared to have calmed down his lower half in 2021.
This throw is a good example. Notice how Wentz does start to hop a little bit in the pocket. Some people may point to this as "happy feet" but I would argue the other way with it. Wentz is staying balanced throughout these movements and staying set throughout each smaller hop.
When it comes time to throw, he quiets his lower half and steps into the pass for a strike.
Another consistent issue in his film from last season was how he reacted to pressure in the pocket. He would often times look to turn and run for his life rather than move his feet and create throwing windows for himself.
This throw to Mo Alie-Cox is a great example of his improvements in this department. Wentz feels the pressure in front of him after the play-action to the running back. Instead of abandoning the pocket, he slides to his left to create a better window to throw.
Once he creates that window, he is able to drive into this deep corner route to Alie-Cox. Wentz stays calm in the pocket, keeps his eyes down the field, and the result is a big touchdown.
Growing Confidence
The biggest theme in this outing was just how confident and comfortable Wentz looked. He was delivering some absolutely gorgeous passes down the field, and the offense had its most explosive outing of the season as a result.
One of the more aggressive throws in football is what we call a hole shot. A hole shot is throwing a vertical route into the space (against zone) between the cornerback and the safety. These are extremely dangerous throws that have to be on time and accurate to work.
Wentz was able to throw a beautiful hole shot in this game to Michael Pittman Jr. Wentz gets the pre-snap read that the defense is going to be in cover-two zone. Seeing this, he knows that all he has to do is look off the deep safety for a second and the hole shot opportunity will be there along the sideline for Pittman Jr.
Wentz starts inside and then quickly fires a rifle outside the numbers to Pittman Jr for the big gain.
The deep completion to T.Y Hilton may be the best throw from a Colts' quarterback since Andrew Luck back in 2018. Wentz only has to read the safety to his right in this cover-two look.
Once he sees that safety jump up on the underneath route, Wentz knows he has an open window to Hilton down the field. He has time, is perfectly aligned/synced up, and delivers a perfect pass down the field.
Just Has to Clean Up the Little Things
Wentz is currently in the middle of his best three-game stretch in years (maybe in his career). Despite his recent success, there is still room to improve. In every one of these games, he has had a few throws where he is either lazy with his footwork or rushes his process needlessly.
These mistakes don't take away from what he is doing, but they are problem areas. The throw to Alie-Cox on third down late in the first half is a good example.
Wentz is late working back to the crosser over the middle, and the result is an off-platform throw that is well behind his intended target. This is a miss that loses yardage and takes the offense off of the field.
Are these mistakes easier to hide when the deep ball is hitting? Absolutely. We are getting to the point of the year, though, where there are a few misses like this in every single game. It may just be a little bit of volatility that the team is going to have to live with.
Final Thoughts
I have been very impressed with the growth that Wentz has shown in these past few games. It looked like his mechanics were bound to derail after his disastrous performance against Tennessee in week three, but he appears to have rebounded well.
Do I think that he is completely back to his peak play in Philadelphia? No, I don't. However, I do think that he is rebounding well from the train wreck of last season and showing positive progression in 2021.
Time will tell if he can continue this play, but I have been very impressed by his performances in recent weeks.
Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.
