SUNBURY-ON-THAMES, England — It’s impossible for Eagles fans to forget that fateful 3rd-and-2 last Sunday.
Imagine how Carson Wentz feels.
That was the play in the final minutes against the Panthers where Wentz threw incomplete to Alshon Jeffery in double coverage in the end zone when he had Wendell Smallwood wide open for a first down in the left flat.
A play later, Wentz fumbled and instead of four shots from inside the 10-yard line, the Eagles had a crushing 21-17 loss to the Panthers.
If he had it to do all over again?
“It’s hard to say,” Wentz said. “It’s obviously easy to look back and say by the time I got back there, Wendell was wide open. But … I wanted to give Alshon a chance. But obviously easy in hindsight to say I should have hit Smallwood in the flat.”
Wentz was as dejected as we’ve ever seen him after that loss.
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Not only did the Eagles blow a 17-point fourth-quarter lead and fall a game under .500 at 3-4, but Wentz was also terrible at the end of the game after a brilliant first three quarters.
“Very frustrated after last game but that’s the great part about the NFL, you’re right back up the next week,” he said.
“It’s a fast turnaround. Practice has been great all week, energy’s been great, guys are hungry to turn it around, really everyone on that field today knows that’s not how we finish, that’s not what we do, so everyone’s hungry to get back out there."
Wentz’s numbers this year since he replaced Nick Foles are absurdly great.
He’s thrown 10 touchdowns to one interception and is completing 71 percent of his passes with a 108.1 passer rating.
But after winning 11 of his 13 starts last year, he’s won only two of five starts this year, and he’s been oddly ineffective late in games.
Over the first three quarters this year, he’s got a 114.9 rating, third-highest in the league behind only Philip Rivers (124.1) and Drew Brees (119.0).
In the fourth quarter? He’s got the 23rd-highest passer rating in the league at 88.7.
“I definitely at the end of the game want the ball in my hands,” Wentz said after practice Friday at the Hazelwood rugby fields. “I’m confident in my ability and really the guys around me. I’m confident in every guy out there.
“We do it in practice, we’ve done it in games before, we just have to finish better. Some of that’s just communication, better communication. Some of that is just taking what’s there, not forcing things.
“I think we’ve done a good of that at times, but sometimes, all of us get ahead of ourselves. There’s definitely stuff to learn from last week and grow from.”
Wentz didn’t say “I” there, but he didn’t have to. It’s clear sometimes he tries to do too much and carry the team on his shoulders.
Which really is a trait you want your quarterback to have. He just sometimes needs to be a tad smarter about forcing throws at key moments.
And he knows it.
Sunday is huge for the Eagles, and it’s huge for Wentz.
If they’re going to salvage anything of this season, he has to be effective not just for 45 minutes or 50 minutes but for 60.
Especially the last few.
“As a quarterback and the leaders, in general, it’s really on a lot of us to get everyone going again,” he said.
“Record doesn’t matter. The goal is to go 1-0 every week, and the division we’re in is really wide open. We’re not where we want to be but there’s a lot left to play.”
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