As Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo approached the off-white plastic table on the green turf in the bubble at the NovaCare Complex for his bye week media availability, the crowd started to gather.
By the time DeFilippo turned around to take a seat in the folding chair behind the table, there were about a dozen microphones in front of him and about half a dozen TV cameras pointed at his face.
"Our QB must be playing pretty good," DeFilippo said.
Yup. Pretty good.
As the Eagles sit at 8-1 during their bye week, Carson Wentz has been tremendous. He has taken a monumental jump from Year 1 to Year 2 and is now the favorite to win the NFL's MVP award.
It's not necessarily Wentz's success that seems so surprising to so many. It's that he's finding it this soon into his career. If Wentz was playing at an MVP level in Year 5, it wouldn't be as much of a shock. But to be here already?
DeFilippo claims that, for the most part, he expected this so soon because he expects their quarterbacks to play well.
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For the most part.
"Now, to make some of the plays he's made," DeFilippo said, "there aren't a lot of quarterbacks that can make some of the plays he's made. Like the play to Corey Clement two weeks ago on Monday night on the wheel route in the end zone. I mean, there's not a lot of guys in this world that can make that play.
"To say that I was expecting that, you never know. But that he's been playing at a high level, sure, that's what we expect."
When asked what led to the difference in Wentz, DeFilippo had a few reasons. First, Wentz has simply played in more games and experience always has a way of helping. Then, there are the new pieces the Eagles added in the offense. Having Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Mack Hollins has helped and Wentz has been building chemistry with all of them.
And one area where DeFilippo has seen a ton of growth from Wentz is as a leader. Sure, he was a leader as a rookie because he was the quarterback, but now things seem different. Wentz is showing those leadership characteristics that helped the Eagles fall in love with him before the 2016 draft.
The Eagles have seven games left in their regular season and all eyes are going to be on Wentz. DeFilippo knows this but doesn't seem concerned about his quarterback losing focus. He said they aim to keep things light in the quarterback and keep everyone humble.
"If we feel like if anyone is getting too ahead of themselves, we call each other out on that," he said.
Maybe that's a part of the reason DeFilippo isn't surprised by any of Wentz's success so far. He sees it being created.
"Carson is one of those guys that nothing really surprises you with the way he prepares, the way he conducts himself on a day-to-day basis, interacts with his teammates, works, is detail oriented," DeFilippo said. "So really, nothing really surprises me with Carson. He's just that big athletic guy that makes a lot of plays for us."
