Eagles Down Vikings, Yet We Can't Have Nice Things!

WR/KR Josh Huff Flipping into the Endzone at conclusion of game-changing 98 Yard Kickoff Return TD.  Image Courtesy of CSNPhilly.com

First Off, if you know me and even if you don't...DON'T SLEEP ON JOSH HUFF!!!

That is all.

Anyway...

• On Sunday, The Philadelphia Eagles beat the formerly undefeated Minnesota Vikings 21-10 as the Birds defensive unit shined, ruining Former Eagles now Minnesota Viking Quarterback Sam Bradford's return to his old nest...So cliche, right?  Anyway (again), the 1st quarter itself saw 5 turnovers between the two teams(at one point 3 straight plays changing possession) and 8 total for the game(4 each).  Eagles Rookie Quarterback Carson Wentz did not look great as he had a sub-par game going 16-28 for 138 yards, 1 TD and 2 INTs, but I will discuss more about Carson below.  For the most part the Eagles offense will rise and fall based on the play of Carson Wentz as they also did not have a great day, but in total the unit did just enough to win the game.  On the other side of the ball the Eagles defense maybe had their best overall game causing 4 turnovers as well as sacking former Eagles Quarterback Sam Bradford 6 times.  

• Notes To Take Away From Game
• WR Dorial Green-Beckham caught his first Touchdown of the season in the Redzone on a bullet from Carson Wentz.  Even though DGB only caught 2 passes on Sunday he has been getting more opportunities, which to me is inspiring.  He has definitely made bone-head plays as he may not be the smartest player on the field but my unpopular opinion and hope is that by the end of the season the Eagles coaches are able to teach him into be a solid wide receiver with raw talent and athleticism.
• WR/KR Josh Huff returned a 98 Yard Kickoff return touchdown swinging the momentum in the Eagles favor as they never looked back the rest of the game.  In general Special Teams may not get as much credit as they deserve at times but good teams usually have good special teams and this is the 2nd week in a row the Eagles have taken a kick return to the house.  Also in regards to Huff, this new coaching staff has finally learned how to use Huff on offense as he caught 4 passes for 39 yards with most of those plays creating first downs.  Huff is not your prototypical wide receiver, as was the case when he played his college ball in Oregon, he was used as a Running Back/Wide Receiver hybrid, look for more of this play design as the season goes on and the team needs to get creative on offense.
• The Eagles Defense lit up the stat sheet on Sunday completely disrupting Vikings QB Sam Bradford, which was the biggest reason for the Birds win.  LB Jordan Hicks had quite the bounce-back game as he recorded 11 Tackles(8 Solo) 2 Tackles For Loss (1 Sack) and 2 Pass Deflections.  FS Rodney McLeod may have had an even better game than Hicks, making 7 Solo Tackles (1 Sack), grabbing his 3rd interception of the season as well forcing one of Bradford's 2 lost fumbles.  I can keep going down the list but one more defender that stood out on Sunday was DE Brandon Graham who piled on the pressure for Bradford as he recorded as sack and hit Bradford a team-high 6 times, as Bradford played under duress all afternoon in South Philadelphia.
• One glaringly negative aspect of Sunday's game for the Eagles was RB Ryan Mathews' play.  He rushed the ball 14 times for 56 yards which isn't terrible, but he fumbled the ball for the 2nd time in 3 weeks when the Eagles were trying to close out a game, running out the clock.  Mathews had a couple good runs on the afternoon creating a first down or two, but his "fumblitis" in closing out games may have the coaching staff looking to their younger backs such as rookie RB Wendell Smallwood in the near future as trust has been lost with Mathews.

• Here is why the city of Philadelphia Can't Have Nice Things: Carson Wentz
• The growing narrative in Philly has been that the Eagles rookie signal caller needs to lose his gun-slinger tendencies because he is costing the Eagles football games.  Local writers such as Jeff McLane, Zach Berman, and Les Bowen have written pieces saying his play is ill-advised and detrimental to the team.  To me there are many, many, many, many, many things wrong with this narrative, so I will go though them.  Don't get me wrong, Wentz's play of the past 3 weeks has not been as good as it was the first three weeks of the season, but that is normal, did we really expect Wentz to stay perfect?  Has he sailed balls over receivers heads at times?  Has he made decisions that may not have been the best possible? Sure he has, but the level of play has been better and he has learn to become resilient and has corrected some mistakes from early on in the season.
• But before I get into those reasons, I want to establish how frustrated I am with people who can not see the forest through the trees.  We live in a society in which you can have information on anything in seconds by way of a smartphone, which is great, but it debilitates seeing something for what it is in full because we need one answer right now!  This is why I suggest more people read my blogs because there is no agenda on my end and that I will be as objective as I possibly can be.
• Reasons Why Carson Should Continue To Play His Way:
• Average to Sub-par O-Line: RT Lane Johnson serving 10-game suspension for PED's(stupidity), C Jason Kelce has been a shell of himself for 2 seasons now and is too small to play as a "West Coast Offense" offensive lineman.  The line in general is not giving Wentz enough time in pocket to survey the field and make accurate passes.  Wentz is one of the best QB's in the league against the blitz, just imagine if he got used to having time in the pocket.
• Lack of Skill Position Talent: Pretty self explanatory.  WR Jordan Matthews is Wentz's best target yet is wildly inconsistent.  TE Zach Ertz has not been the player that we thought we were getting when being drafted.  This team is plagued with drops, which is an issue that still needs to be worked on.  I believe the Eagles should throw bukku money at Chicago Bears WR Alshon Jeffrey this upcoming off-season as he is a big-time consistent play-making receiver, when he has a QB that has a good head on his shoulders and can throw the ball farther than 20 yards.
• He's a Rookie: Before Sam Bradford was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, Wentz was listed as the 3rd QB on the Eagles depth chart who was coming off of an injury and wasn't even going to dress this season.  A rookie needs to make mistakes so he can learn how to avoid them in the future.
• Very High Football I.Q. and willingness to learn: In the beginning of the season when he was doing well he was doing one thing very poorly and has since corrected this issue.  The issue was putting himself in harms way, running around carelessly on the field.  These same writers who are saying he needs to be more cautious are not saying how he has not put himself in harms way the past three games.  The offensive coaches told him he needs to improve in that area of his game and so far he has not put himself in harms way.  Me personally I have not had any heart palpitations over the past couple of weeks!!!
• Teams have more game tape on Wentz: Let's be honest, teams are going to learn a QB's tendencies when watching more and more game tape.  Oh! And the Eagles on Sunday were playing the best defense in the NFL on Sunday against the Vikings...COME ON!
•  Most Successful QB's in NFL take chances: The last time I checked, most of the most successful QB's in the NFL made their way in the league by taking chances, doing things that most other QB's could not do. 
• Wentz Emulated his game after Brett Favre: Former NFL QB Brett Favre, who spent most of his illustrious Hall of Fame career as the signal-caller of the Green Bay Packers, was best known for his Gun-slinger attitude on the football field.  So I ask you, Brett Favre was one of the best to ever do it, wouldn't you want the second-coming of him?  I know I sure as hell do!  Also, The Eagles organization took a chance in trading up to draft Wentz because of the way he played in college, Gun-slinging.  Why would the Eagles take the Gun-slinger out of a guy who was successful being one?
• Wentz is the future of this team: We came into this season not expecting much and so far the team and Wentz has been out-performing expectations.  I want to see this team do well this year, but I know this team getting to the Super Bowl and winning is near impossible.  With that being said, I want to see Wentz grow the best way he can as his track record leading to the NFL speaks to himself and I want to see the Eagles build the rest of this team up to match the play and talent of Carson Wentz.  So if his Gun-slinger mentality brings mistakes this year its not the end of the world because he will fix them and he will grow into a Franchise NFL Quarterback leading this team into many victories in the future!