Carson Wentz must hold Eagles offense together if Alshon Jeffery remains out
The Philadelphia Eagles bounced back with a win against the Indianapolis Colts in their first game with Carson Wentz back under center, and they need their young quarterback to hold this offense together if Alshon Jeffery fails to play in Week 4.
After getting lit up by Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, the Philadelphia Eagles needed to outduel Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts in Week 3. With Carson Wentz back under center after last season’s ACL tear, the Eagles took care of business on a rainy day at Lincoln Financial Field.
Wentz completed 25 of 37 passes for 255 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and an average of 6.9 yards per pass attempt. It wasn’t exactly an MVP-level performance from Wentz, who posted a dominant 33 touchdowns to seven interceptions in 2017, but it was enough to get the job done in a 20-16 victory.
On the other side of the field, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck couldn’t scrape by his opponent this week. Luck averaged a meager 4.1 yards per pass attempt with well under 200 passing yards, and he continues to find it difficult to hook up with his receivers beyond star man TY Hilton.
Meanwhile, Wentz didn’t have his star receivers available for his first start of the 2018 season. Mike Wallace hit the injured reserve last week, and the Eagles will hope that the likes of Kamar Aiken and the recently reunited Jordan Matthews can fill that void. But the more important absence was Jeffery’s, as the touchdown-scoring machine has yet to feature in a 2018 game due to a shoulder injury.
Jeffery’s timetable to return remains cloudy, so if he is unable to play in Week 4 when the Eagles take on a surprisingly strong Tennessee Titans defense, Wentz must hold this offense together. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but he’ll need to do what he did today against Indianapolis. That means being accurate, avoiding big mistakes, and doing just enough to pick up a win over a decent team.
Jay Ajayi was also absent at the running back position, and the Eagles couldn’t lean on Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement at running back either. Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz made some plays in the passing game, but wide receivers Nelson Agholor and Matthews were essentially non-factors for Wentz.
As he showed today, though, Wentz can play at a high level in difficult weather conditions against an over-achieving defense that managed to sack him five times. Wentz hung in there and got the W, in spite of the below-average showings from the wide receivers.
Heading into Week 4 against Tennessee, Jeffery’s status must be monitored closely, but if he is unable to play, the Eagles are still the heavy favorites due to Wentz’s composure at quarterback. The organization is in safe hands with him under center, because he brings consistency and resolve that few other 25-year-old signal-callers are capable of bringing.
After all, it’s telling that Wentz’s first drive went for a touchdown, just as it is telling that the vibe of the stadium was chill-inducing when he first took the field upon his return. Eagles fans know how special Wentz is, and part of that is because he can avoid letdown performances even in unfavorable circumstances.
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The Eagles may need him to pull out that gift next week against Tennessee potentially sans Jeffery, judging by the Titans ugly 9-6 win over Blake Bortles’s Jacksonville Jaguars. Bortles couldn’t avoid a letdown game one week after lighting up the New England Patriots defense, and the expectation is that Wentz won’t replicate Bortles’s struggles against a smashmouth defense.