This time, Doug Pederson didn’t hold back when asked about Carson Wentz.
“We’ve got to fix it,” Pederson said. “We’ve got to fix it in a hurry.”
Pederson said he never considered benching Wentz during his brutal four-turnover outing against the Cowboys Sunday night.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
But after the game he was as pointed in his criticism as he’s been in their five years together.
“We've got to get better,” he said. “We’ve got a chance to sit back and look at the first eight games and evaluate and try to come away with some 'whys.' But we just can't keep turning the ball over and shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Wentz threw two more interceptions and fumbled twice in the Eagles’ 23-9 win at the Linc.
He completed just 15 of 27 passes for a career-low 123 yards and hit on just one pass of 20 yards.
NFL
Travis Fulgham was the only Eagle with more than 16 receiving yards.
But it was the turnovers that made this such a miserable night. And they came against a team that had just three takeaways in seven games all year and was allowing an NFL-high 35 points per game.
“We understand we can't turn the ball over, bottom line,” Pederson said. “We can't turn the ball (over). We're too good. We have got too much responsibility for everybody, me included, that we've just got to take ownership of it. We can't do the things that we're doing in order to really survive in this league.”
Wentz reverted to early season Carson Sunday night, holding onto the ball too long and throwing into double coverage.
It was the second four-turnover game of Wentz's career. He also had two INTs and two lost fumbles in the regular-season Seahawks game last November.
Wentz now has an NFL-high 55 fumbles since he entered the league and an NFL-high 23 lost fumbles. Jameis Winston is second with 44 and 21.
He leads the NFL with 12 interceptions, and that's the most by an Eagles QB through eight games since Ron Jaworski had 16 in 1977.
Pederson was asked what he said to Wentz after his second interception – his fourth turnover.
“The conversation was explaining that just, ‘Hey, we can't do that,' he said. "We're in a position to put points on the board and continue a drive if we just throw the ball away and that's something that we've got to learn from.”
It feels like Wentz is just trying to do too much, and it's felt like that most of this year.
He takes risks when there's no reason to take risks. He tries to hit a grand slam when a sac fly will win the game.
“I think there's times he probably feels that way,” he said. “Probably a better question for Carson. But we also continue to coach and [say], ‘Hey, you've got to trust the guys around you. Just execute the offense,’ and all that. But I do feel like at times there might be some opportunities where he feels like he's got to take it upon himself. And that's just who he is. That's the aggressive nature and his demeanor and I love having the ball in his hands. He's also a great playmaker for us, and I never want to pull that ball out of his hand.”
Maybe he needs to start.
Subscribe to the Eagle Eye podcast:
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube