Adrian Fedkiw
Carson Wentz hasn’t been perfect so far. Sometimes his passes wobble, he doesn’t always make the right decision, his feet aren’t always set, but Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson isn’t really worried.
He opened up about his rookie quarterback during Tuesday’s press conference.
While admitting that there is a little bit of a wobble when the ball comes out of Wentz’s hand, Pederson is not concerned.
“A lot of those situations, a lot of those throws from a young quarterback come from learning your system,” he said. “Meaning, you’re a little late here, you’re a little late there, you’re trying to anticipate that throw, you’re a little off here.”
Pederson continued.
“You’re processing all the information so fast, the last thing that goes is the throw. The actual physical nature of the throw,” he said. “Mechanically, when his feet are right, and for any quarterback, Sam (Bradford) and Chase (Daniel) included, when their feet are right, the ball comes out of their hand nicely and we’ve seen that from Carson as well.”
Wentz believes his wobbly passes should subside after taking more practice reps.
“I’ve had a little bit of that over my collegiate career,” he said of the wobbles. “That’s something I think that more reps that I get with being more comfortable, just continuing to work on my mechanics and everything, that’ll go away … Timing and accuracy what matters at the end of the day.”
Wentz has been taking more shots down the field than Bradford and Daniel in practice so far. Pederson loves the aggression, but admitted Wentz hasn’t always made the right decision.
“There are a couple decisions that he’s made that we’ve corrected based on some of the throws he’s made deep,” he said. “He has a natural ability to throw the ball down the field and that’s what you like. You love the aggression, you want to push it down the field. Some of it is by play design, some of it is by sheer mistake. I love seeing the ball go over the top at times.”
Wentz gave his perspective on his aggressive nature.
“There’s a time to be aggressive and that’s something I like to bring. I like to push the ball down the field when it’s there. There’s also a time to take the underneath one and that also comes with learning,” he said.
Pederson also broke down Wentz’s biggest strengths and weaknesses he’s seen.
“The biggest is his understanding of what we’re doing offensively, the terminology, the scheme,” he said. “Where he needs to improve is a little in his fundamentals, his lower body, his footwork, he gets a little long in his stride. Just understanding why certain plays are called.”
Check out the entire press conferences of Pederson, Bradford and Wentz below.