Carson Wentz Believes Offense will Improve
Carson Wentz is feeling the heat this week, probably more so than he ever has in his four years as the Eagles’ quarterback.
Wentz struggled mightily in a 17-10 loss to the New England Patriots, especially with his accuracy. He completed just 50 percent of his 40 throws. He failed to lead an offense to any second-half points despite an Eagles defense that forced the Patriots to punt on 10 consecutive possessions after New England took a seven-point lead early in the second half.
“There are always, shoot, every game you come back and watch tape and there are plays you missed, whether you missed the throw or you didn’t see them and went somewhere else with the football,” said Wentz on Wednesday. “That always happens. Obviously, you want to get some of that fixed. You want to be on top of that stuff. But that stuff happens within each game and it’s something I have to keep learning from.”
Earlier in the week, head coach Doug Pederson said that perhaps Wentz had tried to do too much and maybe pressed too hard late in the loss against t New England.
“You kind of have to when you’re down and you gotta have a two-minute drive or something like that,” said Wentz. “Pressing is maybe not the right word. We have a lot of trust, a lot of confidence that we can get it done.
"Unfortunately, we haven’t in late situations like that this year. But that’s something we work on in the spring, in training camp, throughout the year, that two-minute offense. We have a lot of trust, a lot of faith that we’re going to be able to execute that at a high level.
Wentz’s next chance to prove he learned something important from the Patriots loss comes Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, who are 8-2 and will have not played for nearly two weeks when they line up at Lincoln Financial Field.
It won’t be an easy task. The Eagles haven’t beaten the Seahawks in Philadelphia since 1989 when receiver Mike Quick, now the Eagles color commentary radio voice, had 140 yards and a touchdown.
Nor have the Eagles ever beaten Seattle with Russell Wilson playing quarterback. They are 0-3 against Wilson, who is having one of the best seasons of his career and an MVP frontrunner.
“I think just watching him as a player and his ability to create is something that I really admire,” said Wentz. “His athleticism is something I tried to implement in my game a little bit. But at the same time, we’re different players. He’s way quicker than I am, way faster than I am, but a lot of respect for how he can improvise and make plays.”
For the first time in a long while, Wentz failed to do those very same things against the Patriots. They are traits that he possesses, too, except New England remained disciplined in how they chose to play Wentz.
The Seahawks are also a very disciplined defense, and that could make life difficult again for Wentz on Sunday.
