With Carson Wentz sidelined with a broken right finger, Taylor Heinicke led the Command Team to a 3-1 record. When Wentz ready to come backWashington will have a decision on who will start in QB for the rest of 2022. Washington coach Ron Rivera has yet to get his hands on the QB call.
This begs the question: What happened to Wentz?
Rewind 2017. At this point in the season, NFL’s Favorite MVP Not Tom Brady. That’s not Aaron Rodgers. It was the second year of the Philadelphia second draft master’s start from the State of North Dakota. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl that season when Wentz was sidelined with an ACL injury, and suddenly things started to change.
His rapid rise since then has been rivaled by a sluggish decline.
To get to the bottom of Wentz’s downfall, we can’t just look at statistics because they show that nothing is wrong.
Set aside Wentz’s final season in Philadelphia, After a season behind injured attack, he has been one of the more productive QBs in the last five years. His interception rate is in the top 10 in the NFL in 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017. His QBR has long been in the top half of the league. While that mark doesn’t return to his MVP caliber self, it’s not the bottom of the barrel either.
What plagues Wentz is not the aggregate statistical picture. Nor is there a lack of physical tools. In fact, the Eagles went ahead to get Wentz in the 2016 NFL Draft precisely because of his strength, size, and running ability.
Instead, two major issues became the focus of Wentz’s critics.
The first is decision making in times of crisis. The numbers can signal a great career or a great season, even a great game without showing critical interception, poor clock management or a lack of game awareness. .
Wentz has struggled with these issues throughout his career. Despite his strong 2021 season statistically in Indianapolis, Wentz’s tenure is marked by a decisive play-off loss to the unlucky Jacksonville Jaguars in the last game of the season.
Another big problem for Wentz is organizing the dressing room together—an issue that fans can’t see on the pitch. report in Philadelphia and Indianapolis at the time of Wentz departure respectively shows how he lost his dressing room and argued with the main office.
In season, Colts owner Jimmy Irsay can’t wait to get rid of the team by Wentz, whom Washington acquired for the 2022 second and third round selections and the 2023 conditional third round selections.
There’s been little to suggest that Wentz is a problem in the Commanders’ locker room, but with Heinicke now in the driver’s seat and the team on the verge of a crucial win over the Eagles, his role has may be fired.
If he’s a beloved comrade, a necessary leader for the future of the Commanders, there’s no doubting his return.
The bottom line: The Commanders could be Wentz’s last chance to prove he’s the NFL’s starting quarterback, and recent developments once again put that in jeopardy.
