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Tim Couch Syndrome: Your In-Depth Eagles vs. Browns Week 1 Recap

Adrian Fedkiw|

Carson Wentz might not be a top 20 quarterback right now, but he’d already crack the top three of the lumps of trash the Cleveland Browns have trotted out on the field since 1999.

Wentz tossed a pair of touchdown passes in his NFL debut, completing 22-of-37 of his tosses for 278 yards, and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cleveland Browns 29-10 on Sunday afternoon.

Head coach Doug Pederson said it was “not surprising” to see Wentz do what he did.

“It’s not surprising, because of us and myself being around him for so long now, and just knowing the maturity level that he has and the things that I was trying to get across to the fans, to the media: This is who he is. This is his DNA. And he really handled himself great all week long. He prepared like he was a five-, six-year veteran and obviously he played that way. Just so happy for him and his family and then the team. They are so excited to get this first win but again with Carson, how he handled himself with the maturity level was outstanding,” he said.

Now, I know Pederson is a disciple of Andy Reid, but Wentz threw the ball 37 times. He showcased complete confidence in him. And those Wentz touchdowns were dimes in tight coverage, showcasing pristine accuracy and touch on the 19-yard touchdown to Jordan Matthews and 35-yard score to Nelson Agholor.

You know what else I loved, Pederson going for it on 4th down and having confidence in Wentz after Matthews dropped the ball on third down, but Zach Ertz had his back on fourth down. Matthews caught seven balls for 114 yards, while Ertz added six receptions for 58 yards.

This was Pederson’s reasoning behind going for it.

“You know, when you do — when you sit down and look at a lot of the math involved with the field position, the score, the time of the game, I mean, all the math just indicates that when you’re around that 30-yard line, you’re right on the cusp of a long field goal; if you miss it, they get the ball at the 48-ish. Even if you don’t get it, now your defense is still on the field around that 25-, 26-, 27-yard line if you don’t get it. And then if you do, man, that’s great. You’re rolling. And we were so fortunate, you know, Carson and [TE] Zach [Ertz] made a great play. So for me, it was just a great opportunity to just keep our drive going,” he said.

He discussed the quick cohesion Wentz and Matthews are growing.

“The one thing that Carson and Jordan did, even while they were sort of down in preseason is they worked together. They threw routes together. They worked out together. So they maintained that chemistry that they needed. Jordan had a great week of practice. They really connected well all week long and it was great to see Jordan out there doing the things that he’s very capable of doing. And Carson feels very comfortable throwing him the football. A couple of things were by design to get Jordan the ball, and again, credit the offensive line for giving him some protection and allowing him to do that,” Pederson said.

And how about letting Wentz audible?

“You know, again, it’s by design. We give him in the play call, we’ll give him, for instance, a run right, run left, for instance and he uses his cadence to see what the defense is going to do and from there, it’s either we leave the original play on or we check it or kill it to the other play. It’s just things that most teams do nowadays. You get so many multiple looks on defenses that you’ve got to put your quarterback and your offense in those positions and he handled those very well,” Pederson said.

Wentz’s first NFL completion was a thing of beauty, with Ertz making an insane one-handed snag.

Wentz looked calm and composed throughout the afternoon, audibling multiple times and showing off his arm strength.

The second toss here shows how easy his velocity is on the boundary throws.

On the defensive side of the ball, safety Rodney McLeod had a stellar debut in Eagles green. He had a diving interception off a tip drill.

Jalen Mills stepped up after cornerback Leodis McKelvin after he left with a hamstring injury. He had a pair of bruising hits, including one which injured Robert Griffin III’s shoulder. 

The Browns were within 13-10 early in the third quarter until the real Browns showed up. A snap over the head of Griffin resulted into two points for the Eagles and Philly scored the final 16 points of the game.

The running game was solid, Ryan Mathews garnered 77 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown. But it was the blocking of Brandon Brooks which stood out to me.

Let’s remember, it’s the Browns, but still an impressive debut by Wentz. It’s one of 16 games and they’re going to get tougher from here on out. It was encouraging, however, how much confidence Pederson showed in him and even on the touchdowns, the accuracy was impeccable. The coverage on Cleveland’s end was good, but Wentz’s throws were great.

Considering Wentz is the first rookie to start the season opener since Davey O’Brien since 1939, you couldn’t have asked for more.

He was impressive.

 

2 Comments

  2. crappy site

    “but he’d already in the top three of that lump of trash the Cleveland Browns have trotted out since 1999.”

    Do you bother to read your stuff before hitting “post”?

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