There's something special going on around here, and Carson Wentz isn't afraid to say it.
"We're made different this year," Wentz said after practice Thursday. "We have a different character make-up in that locker room, and nobody's going to ever settle for anything less than greatness. So we're going to go out there every day and attack it."
The Eagles, 5-1, go for their fifth straight win Monday night against the Redskins, who they beat on opening day at FedEx Field.
Wentz, in only his second season, has elbowed his way into the NFL MVP conversation. His emergence as the unquestioned leader of this team has mirrored the team's emergence as one of the NFL's elite teams.
Wentz spoke Thursday about how he sensed something different, something special, as far back as spring workouts.
"You could just see it, even going back to OTAs," he said. "You could see the competitive nature, even in practice. You couldn't wear pads. You couldn't even press cover outside. You could just see the competitive nature.
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"And then through training camp, it just kept getting elevated even more. You could just see it from the leadership on down. We're just wired different this year."
When Wentz tells his teammates to strive for greatness, they listen, because here's a kid who in just 22 career games has established himself as one of the NFL's best young quarterbacks. He has 13 touchdowns and just three interceptions this year and has posted a passer rating of 90 or higher in five of six games.
"It's something that we always strive for," Wentz said. "And really, in everything we do in life, you strive for greatness.
"When we're sitting where we're at right now, we can just never let that slip. We can never let that slip from our preparation in the film room, the meeting room, the weight room, in practice, so that's just something I feel like we have to always keep focusing on.
"Never settle, never settle, and just keep striving for that greatness."
Wentz said he didn't feel anything lacking last year, when the Eagles went 7-9 and missed the playoffs for a third straight year.
It's just that head coach Doug Pederson is in Year 2, coordinators Frank Reich and Jim Schwartz are in Year 2 and Wentz is in Year 2.
The whole program is in Year 2 and there's a confidence, an attitude, a swagger that was nowhere to be found last year or really the last few years.
"I think it was just a natural growth," Wentz said. "You go back and look at last season again. We were so close in so many of those ballgames but [it's] just the natural growth that's taken place both from coach and just really all of us being in this together and having a year under our belt."
