Stats: 19/33 156 yards, 3 INTs, 31.9 QB rating
The Bad:
Everything
You could see from start that he was off.
2nd/11 Golden Tate was open, but the throw just didn’t have enough on it and was tipped falling incomplete. It was all downhill from that moment.
-Turnovers
-Decision making
-Accuracy
-Zip on his passes
-Trying to do too much
You name it, it was bad.
Wentz is picked off by Marshon Lattimore! #PHIvsNO https://t.co/SdyMVyQ8bc
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 18, 2018
Wentz throws his second INT of the day – easy money for @Chris1Banjo 💰#PHIvsNO https://t.co/iQew619Tmd
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 19, 2018
The Good:
Nothing
This was the worst performance of Wentz’s career. I was going to put “humbling experience” in this column, but was this really a humbling experience? Or was it more of a confidence killing experience?
Carson Wentz
“This is one of the worst losses Ive ever been a part of”
“We just didnt show up early today”
“I gotta be better”
“We’re going to see what we’re made of” pic.twitter.com/uNxOs6avEk
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) November 19, 2018
Final thoughts
After watching this performance, I came away with a lot of questions..
-Is Wentz all the way back?
-Is he feeling the pressure of not being the guy who won the team the Super Bowl?
-How important were Frank Reich and John Defilippo to Wentz’s development?
-Are Wentz and Mike Groh/Press Taylor on the same page?
Something was off yesterday. But if we’re being truly honest, something has been off all season, and it finally caught up with them in New Orleans.
It’s easy to pile on Wentz today.
In today's FMIA column at @NBCSports, I write about an evening embedded with the Saints. You'll read about:
• Sean Payton, football coder
• Austin Carr, pianist
• Sidney Jones, never saw it coming
• The Ritz ain't war
• A No-QB formation
• MORE: https://t.co/QXevlyGxqY pic.twitter.com/zkRIHXRsp5— Peter King (@peter_king) November 19, 2018
Here’s Peter King piling on……
“And then, a bit of a surprise. “We want to put the game on [Eagles quarterback Carson] Wentz,” Payton said. Payton likes Wentz as a player, but his player-personnel analyst, Ryan Herman, gives him trends and numbers every week, and Payton tells the group two interesting ones about Wentz, from Herman: The Eagles are 1-11 when Wentz plays and they allow more than 26 points. And he’s 0-9 when he passes for between 308 and 364 yards, the point being if he does that, the Eagles likely won’t be running the ball well, and the Saints feel they can beat a one-dimensional offense.”
That’s a lot easier to say when you already know that the Eagles have a one dimensional offense. They don’t have Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram in the backfield.
7 of the 11 losses where Wentz plays and the Eagles allow more than 26 points were from his rookie season.
The Eagles only gave up more than 26 points twice last season while Wentz was on the field… Week 2 @ KC 20-27 loss, and @ the Rams 43-35 win. In case you forgot, that was the game where Wentz threw a TD pass to take the lead 31-28 with a torn ACL.
The other two games were last week vs Dallas, and yesterday vs the Saints.
The Wentz hate/haters will be out in full force this week. Like I said, It’s easy to pile on.
Here comes my positive spin….
As bad as yesterday was, IT’S ONLY YEAR THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again, it’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.
You saw the graphic that Fox showed during the game of Wentz’s first 36 games vs Brees’ first 36 games. I also wrote about year three Wentz vs year three Brees in the preview.
’03 Brees: 205/356 (57.6 %) 2,108 yards, 11 TDs, 15 INTs, 67.5 QB rating (11 games, 2-9 record)
Wentz: 210/302, (69.5 %) 2,304 yards 15 TDs, 6 INTs, 100.1 QB rating (8 games)
I also compare year three Brady to year three Wentz each week..
’02 Brady: 261/400, (65 %) 2,644 yards, 21 TDs, 10 INTs, (10 games)
(The 2002 Brady led Patriots missed the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl the year before.)
Becoming a Brees, Rodgers, Brady just doesn’t happen overnight. There is ups and downs. Unfortunately this guy is going to have bad games. Hopefully this will be as bad as those get.
I’m not going to lie, the clutch gene is a little bit of a concern. Peyton Manning dealt with the same questions as Wentz is dealing with now. Like Manning eventually did, Wentz has to prove that he can be a closer and can lead the Eagles from behind.
But let’s not get too carried away…. this guy is a very good quarterback. There will certainly be better days ahead for Carson Wentz.
However, there is no excuse for a performance like yesterday. He was terrible from start to finish.
Sure, there are plenty of other factors for why the Eagles lost this game, and yes the questions I have are legitimate, but Wentz has the talent to rise above these surrounding issues, but he didn’t.
Grade: F
Update league ranks
Yards: 22nd (2,304)
Yards-per-game: 9th (288)
Yards per-attempt: 14th (7.63)
TDs: 18th (15)
Completion %: 5th (69.5)
QB Rating : 11th (100.1)