7 Reasons Philadelphia Eagles benching Carson Wentz isn’t a wise move

3. Doug Pederson is not helping Carson Wentz or the Philadelphia Eagles.

Wentz holding onto the ball too long is an issue but there’s reason to believe Doug Pederson plays a big part in that. First, obviously, Wentz is holding onto the ball because most of the time no one is schemed open. That’s not always the case but it tends to be a recurring problem.

Oftentimes, Pederson expects his receivers to win one-on-one rather than scheming them open. Even when there are bunch formations, tight formations, or stacked receivers, defenses don’t struggle to navigate through the traffic and make plays. Even when Wentz is throwing the ball to the right read, the defense reads Pederson’s play easily. That’s one of the reasons why Wentz has been forcing the ball into tight windows.

Also, while Wentz does need to take the check down more often, there are plenty of times where there isn’t a check down built into the play. Doug often wants the big play and doesn’t have any second option to fall back on. When these long-developing routes aren’t working against specific coverage schemes, Wentz has to improvise and play hero ball.

When Wentz plays conservative as he did versus the New York Giants in Week 11, this team doesn’t have much of a chance to win. A lot of Doug’s scheme is reliant upon Wentz playing hero ball and improvising. Calling plays with long-developing routes isn’t the best idea when there’s a different offensive line every week. It’d be crazy to believe that Sua Opeta and Matt Pryor can hold up for more than two seconds in pass protection. Opeta literally tripped Wentz on a third and four at the moment the ball was snapped.