Wentz Won't Be Stationary Target This Time

NASHVILLE – Same guy. Different player.

Carson Wentz will be the Indianapolis Colts quarterback Sunday when they host the Tennessee Titans just as he was when the teams met in Week 3 at Nissan Stadium. This time, though, he won’t be limited by two sprained ankles.

“It’s definitely different for us,” Colts offensive coordinator Marcus Brady this week. “Schematically I assume it’s probably going to be very similar. I mean they are going to have their wrinkles obviously because it’s the second time we’re playing them.

“But it was different for us game plan-wise [the first time]. We were trying to get the ball out of Carson’s hands as quickly as possible. He was limited as far as movements and things like that. It will change.”

The second overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Wentz has played (and started) 75 games in his NFL career. The Titans’ 25-16 triumph on Spt. 26 was one of two in which he did not have a single rushing attempt. Tennessee’s defense sacked him just twice in that one, but Wentz completed 51.4 percent of his throws, averaged 5.24 yards per attempt and had a 66.7 passer rating – all season-lows.

In a Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, Wentz sprained his left ankle in the third quarter. With roughly eight minutes to go in the fourth, he did the same to the right – only worse – and spent the rest of the time on the sideline. He did not practice until Friday before the game against Tennessee, and his status remained undetermined until shortly before kickoff.

As a result, Wentz and his health were the top storylines ahead of that game. That is not the case this time.

The Colts (3-4) come into the game with one of the league’s top 10 rushing offenses, and Wentz has contributed 97 yards on 22 carries (60 yards on nine carries before he was injured). His 17-yard scramble in the fourth quarter Sunday at San Francisco, during which he passed on opportunities to give himself up, was clear evidence that he no longer is a stationary target in the pocket.

“Wentz has been really good since the last time we played them,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. “They have a physical offensive line so it is going to be – again, something that we always take about is now you are focusing on the Colts and their personnel and what their style is and how they want to play the football game as, opposed to maybe the past two teams that we have played.”

Patrick Mahomes was Kansas City’s leading rusher with 35 yards on six carries last Sunday against Tennessee, but most of those were scrambles against a defense that sacked him four times and hit him nine times. A week earlier, Buffalo’s Josh Allen ran it a team-high nine times for 26 yards, but the Titans stopped him for no gain on the decisive play in the final minute.

Those two currently rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in rushing yards by a quarterback. Wentz is 14th on that list but figures to move up – now that he is healthy, of course. He averaged better than five yards per carry each of the first two games before he was injured and got returned to that level Sunday for the first time since the ankle issues.

The Colts’ hope is that his ability to make plays with his feet will provide them a leg up this time, and throw them back into the thick of the race for first place in the AFC South, where they currently trail the Titans by to games.

“When there are plays there to be made – improvising or scrambling, running, or whatever that is – I’m not going to shy away from it,” Wentz said. “We’re going to try and make those plays. Still be smart, protect myself, all those things but that’s the type of player I am and the competitor I am.

“… I mean there were still some plays we made in that [Week 3] game from the pocket and plays that I definitely want back. A handful of times that I was like, yeah, I’m stuck in mud out there. [I am] definitely in a much better place now.”

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