Philadelphia Eagles: Reviewing Wentz’s 4 TD’s against Denver
By John Vogel
Eagles Head coach Doug Pederson is scheming his offense brilliantly, and Carson Wentz is flying high because of it.
The talent of Carson Wentz is truly unbelievable sometimes. While he is still being criticized by some members of the national media, most notably FS1’s Skip Bayless on Undisputed, it’s truly marvelous to look and behold upon the work that the young MVP candidate is putting up for the Philadelphia Eagles. Why don’t we take a second to hyperbole on his talent a little bit? With the performances he keep’s stringing together, it might actually be closer to the truth.
Wentz threw for 199 yards and four touchdowns against the Denver Broncos last Sunday. We took an in-depth look at each touchdown throw. Searching for similarities in the playcalling, formations, and the defensive sets along with Wentz’s form to try and see what exactly the formula for success was that head coach Doug Pederson had dialed up. Trust me, it isn’t going to be anything you would think it will be.
Strikes one and two:
Wentz’s first touchdown strike of the day was a run/pass option to Alshon Jeffrey for 32 yards. Wentz faked the handoff inside to Corey Clement. He rolled out of the pocket and found an unblocked Von Miller rushing into his face threatening to sack him. Carson didn’t panic, or throw the ball out of bounds. Instead, he floated a fifteen-yard pass out to Jeffrey, who had hesitated starting his route on the line of scrimmage to sell the play action fake. Jeffrey had raced past Broncos cornerback, Aqib Talib, and Wentz put the ball on a dime in front of his receiver. Jeffrey never broke stride. He was off to the races, untouched.
The Eagles offensive line purposely left Miller unblocked and forced him to make a decision on the play action. Miller hesitated, taking himself out of the play. That bought Wentz just the amount of time he needed to make the throw.
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Wentz’s second touchdown throw of the day was a 15-yard screen pass to Clement in the first quarter. This time, the Eagles lined up in a strong side formation, with Clement as the halfback. Again, the offensive line didn’t block Miller and allowed him a free release into the backfield where Clement chipped him as he ran his route. Wentz quickly fired it to Clement who followed his blockers and scampered into the end zone. This time, Miller’s aggressiveness took him out of the play. Clement got by and Denver got burned again.
Three and Four:
Wentz’s third touchdown strike of the day was a 27-yard pass to tight end, Trey Burton. He took the snap out of the shotgun and was given a very clean pocket to throw out of until Broncos pass rusher Shane Ray started to press into Wentz’s blind side. Wentz felt the heat and lofted a touch pass to the end zone. He found Burton in the bottom corner at the pylon. This time, Wentz beat the pass rush by throwing a touch ball instead of a bullet. That gave his receiver a chance to make a great play on it. For the record, NFL.com ranked it as the sixth-best play of week nine.
His fourth and final touchdown throw was a 4-yard pass once again to Jeffrey in the back of the end zone. Wentz was under center this time and rolled to his right waiting for the play to develop. Jeffrey was the only receiver who lined up wide, on the left side of the formation, and was covered by Talib. Jeffrey ran a drag route and quickly beat Talib while going inside. Wentz found Miller, yet again, getting into his face. He calmly allowed his tight end, Brent Celek, to chip Miller and make the throw to a wide open Jeffrey in the end zone.
Analyzing the situations:
So what exactly did every play have in common, besides the fact that the Eagles scored six? Carson Wentz had pressure coming into the pocket from two of the most elite pass rushers in Miller, and Rey. He made every throw with a hand in his face. Calmly and cool. This is what Wentz has been doing every single game. He stays cool when everything breaks down and simply delivers a perfectly thrown ball to his receiver. This is exactly what all of the great quarterbacks do when the pressure is on.
The scheme that that Coach Pederson has put together is simply brilliant. He knows how to gameplan and take out even the greatest defensive players by forcing them to do things they normally don’t do. When you leave a great pass rusher unblocked, he generally panics for a split second. Great pass rushers aren’t used to being unblocked and having the quarterback roll out towards them. That’s exactly why Miller got burned by Wentz to Jeffrey on the first touchdown. He was simply surprised.
Pederson knows not to stick with the same game plan here. It’s almost as if he can read the opposing defenders minds. All because Miller hesitated on the first touchdown, he knew he would come back on the next drive quite aggressively, and what do you know? That’s exactly what happened. Miller got burned on the second touchdown because he came after Wentz, aggressively, and Wentz made him pay for it by throwing it to the very guy who had just blocked him on a screen pass.
The Results:
This is why the Eagles are 8-1 and flying high. When you have a quarterback who can stay calm and collected when under pressure, improvise on the field, and make every throw look like its a piece of cake, you’re going to be a great team with outstanding potential. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the best example. He won five of the eight Super Bowls that he appeared in using the same formula.
Next: Heroes and Zeros from dominant Week 9 win
Now that Philadelphia heads into a bye week, Pederson can prepare like his mentor and channel his inner Andy Reid to get ready for a huge game against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 10. In case you were unaware, Reid is historically excellent when coaching a team after the bye week. With the way that Pederson has schemed this offense there is no doubt that the he too can put a lot of something together for that big game.