The Mechanics of Carson Wentz: Week 5 vs Baltimore Ravens

The Indianapolis Colts have returned to the loss column, falling to the Baltimore Ravens 31-25 in overtime on Monday Night Football. The Colts' defense completely collapsed late in this one, as Lamar Jackson had one of the best games of his career.

On the bright side, quarterback Carson Wentz had his best game of the season. He finished the day completing 25 of 35 passes for 402 yards and two touchdowns.

With Wentz continuing his recent play, I dove back into the film to see how his mechanics held up against a good Ravens' defense.

If you are interested in reading back on the offseason series, click this link here.

Improvement on the RPO

Wentz's worst throw against the Miami Dolphins came off of a RPO-pass to Michael Pittman Jr in the redzone. Wentz sailed a throw to a wide-open target, which effectively took points off of the board for the team.

He showed noticeable improvement in this area against the Ravens, however. The clip below first shows his poor footwork against the Dolphins and then shows how he corrected the issue against the Ravens.

He certainly made a point to get his footwork right on these throws on Monday. That leads me to believe that either he or his quarterback coach, Scott Milanovich, saw the issue on film and worked on it in practice.

Regardless of how this issue was addressed, it is always promising to see a noticeable issue look much improved in the following week.

Improved Alignment Outside the Hashes

Throughout the offseason, I mentioned how Wentz struggled to properly align his throws outside the numbers with the Philadelphia Eagles last year. This footwork issue caused him to miss plenty of outside throws.

When he was kept clean on Monday, which was the case for most of the night, he did a good job of properly aligning himself to his targets. This clip below is the best example of that because he starts with his feet aligned down the middle of the field.

When Wentz quickly snaps his feet back to the outside, he aligns them perfectly with his target. The result is a perfectly sequenced, and accurate, throw outside the hashes. This is a great sign, and it is more of what we need to see from Wentz going forward.

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Anticipation Throws

Through the first couple games of the season, Wentz has been a bit late on some throws. One of the reasons for this, from what I've seen, is that he has been waiting for his receivers to uncover rather than throwing players open with anticipation.

While I still think he has more steps to take in this area, he did show the ability to anticipate routes on his first read on Monday. This curl route to Parris Campbell is a great example.

Wentz recognizes that he has Campbell running a favorable route against a corner in off-man coverage. He also recognizes the gameplan (which was essentially go after Anthony Averett all game long) and knows he has a good match-up to the outside.

The video pauses when Wentz begins the process of his throw. He anticipates Campbell working open, and the result is a nice completion outside the numbers.

Finally Uncorked One

When the Colts traded for Carson Wentz this offseason, we all expected less in the short/intermediate game (in comparison to Philip Rivers) and more downfield shots. The result has been Wentz boasting a low average depth of target and a lot of underneath passes.

On Monday night, though, Wentz finally threw one up for his receiver to make a play. On the second play of the second half, Wentz climbed the pocket (while under-pressure) and threw one up for Michael Pittman Jr.

Was it a great throw? Absolutely not. However, Wentz reacted well to the pressure and threw the ball to a player that had a favorable match-up down the field. The result was a huge touchdown to start the second half for the Colts.

Confidence is Building

Wentz just kept up the aggression down the field in the second half, and it was great to see those plays rewarded for him. He looked comfortable in the pocket for most of the game, and he didn't look like he had to think about his mechanics much in the second half.

This throw to Mo Alie-Cox may be his best pass of the season. It is a simple high-low concept with Nyheim Hines sitting in the flats and Alie-Cox running a corner route behind the cornerback. Wentz's only read on this play is the cornerback playing in the flats.

If the cornerback gets depth, he should hit the flat. If the cornerback sits/breaks on the flat, he should hit Alie-Cox over the top. Wentz notices the cornerback slow up just a bit in his drop, and he wastes no time firing a perfect pass to the sideline for the completion.

Everything about this play is what you want to see out of Wentz. Excellent read, aggressive hole shot, clean mechanics, and a perfect pass down the field.

Breaking Down the High Misses

The only negatives I have for this week are that Wentz needs to clean up his footwork on a couple throws each game. I don't think it is as prevalent of an issue as last year, but Wentz does have a few throws a week with lazy footwork.

He knows what he is supposed to do on these passes, but he just trusts his arm just a bit too much and resorts to bad tendencies. On the first pass, he fails to get his back foot all the way aligned with his target to the right. The result is a major lack in hip movement and the ball sails high.

In the second clip, it is just lazy footwork. Wentz rushes his process for no reason and doesn't set his feet prior to the throw. This results in an off-balance throw that sails high over the flats.

These misses happen for NFL quarterbacks, so it isn't something to be too concerned about. Just a couple misses that he needs to clean up mechanically.

Final Thoughts

This may have been Carson Wentz's best game since 2019, and it came against a good defense on Monday Night Football. He looked confident and poised in the pocket, and he made a lot of aggressive throws down the field.

Does he still need to improve going forward? Absolutely. He is still a good ways away from playing like the 2017/2018 versions of himself. The Wentz that showed up on Monday, though, is a quarterback that the Colts can win with.

The key for Wentz is to continue this type of play and begin to build upon it. He is starting to loosen up and play confidently in this offense, which is a great sign for future games on the schedule.

Follow Zach on Twitter @ZachHicks2.

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