Everything came so easily for Carson Wentz the first few weeks of the season. Lately, every week has been a struggle.
Wentz’s numbers continued to decline in the Eagles' loss to the Packers Monday night, when he had a passer rating below 80 for the fifth time in the last seven games.
Since his hot first month, Wentz is the lowest-rated quarterback in the NFL.
After throwing seven TDs and one interception the first four games, Wentz has four touchdowns and seven interceptions in the last seven games.
“Physically, mentally, I feel great,” the rookie from North Dakota State said. “I feel I’m at a good spot. I’m very thankful to be healthy, for sure, and mentally, I feel confident with where I’m at.
“As a team, obviously, the record, the performances individually, it’s never perfect. But I feel like I’m getting better mentally. Things are slowing down. I’m playing a lot more confidently. Record-wise, we’d like to be better, but I feel like we’re on the right track.”
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In a way, it’s difficult to evaluate Wentz, considering how bad his receivers are, how inconsistent Doug Pederson’s play-calling has been, how up-and-down the offensive line and running game have been.
But the numbers do show quite a drop-off. Wentz's passer ratings by month are 103.8 in September, 83.3 in October and 70.9 in November.
Nonetheless, Wentz said he feels like he’s getting better, growing more comfortable and learning every week.
“A lot of it is probably things you don’t see,” he said. “Just mentally grasping the concepts and progressions and different things like that. Protection-wise, I feel very confident. I think it’s just the mental side of things and playing faster and faster.
“I think that comes with just understanding the mental side of things, understanding how defenses play you, understanding where your guys are at. A lot of it is just playing more confident.”
Overall, Wentz has been fairly careful with the football. His interception percentage (one every 49.0 attempts) is seventh-best in NFL history by a rookie and second-best by an Eagle, behind Nick Foles in 2012.
But after throwing just one INT in his first five games, he has seven in the last six.
“They’re all kind of a different story,” Wentz said. “Sometimes they’re poor decisions, sometimes I just missed the throw. But I think the biggest thing is that you’ve just got to be precise. Small misses in this league lead to turnovers, and those things happen.
“That’s the nature of this game, the nature of this league. There’s going to be mistakes, things are going to happen. Sometimes you’re forcing it downfield, sometimes you’ve got to make those throws.”
Five of the eight interceptions have come on deep balls down the middle of the field and all have been underthrown or thrown into traffic.
Over the last seven weeks, Wentz has more interceptions (seven) than completions over 30 yards (five).
“Our offense is to take what they give you,” Wentz said. “There’s times to take those shots. I know those interceptions, when those things happen, they’re not going to scare me away. Those things happen, you’ve just got to be precise with the football.”
This being Philly, expectations are astronomical, even for a rookie. And even though Wentz already has the most wins in franchise history by a rookie quarterback, the recent 2-6 stretch and Wentz’s declining numbers have ended the honeymoon for some fans.
Wentz said he feels the external pressure but doesn’t believe he’s affected by it.
"You definitely feel that, without a doubt," he said. "But at the same time, you don’t let the circumstances, you don’t let those expectations and the so-called pressure — for me, anyway — I don’t let it impact the way I approach the game. I just enjoy it.
"Some days are going to go well and (other) days aren’t. That’s just the nature of the game."
Wentz is five starts away from becoming the first Eagles quarterback to start and finish 16 games since Donovan McNabb in 2003. He'd also be only the 16th rookie QB in NFL history to make 16 starts.
Considering that eight days before the season opener he was the Eagles’ third stringer, it’s been quite an auspicious season for Wentz, despite what the recent numbers say.
“I know, for sure, I wouldn’t trade what’s happened for the world,” Wentz said. “I’m very excited I got that opportunity from Game 1. I’ve always believed there was a plan in place.
“Obviously, before the season, we didn’t know when my time would come, but I knew it was just a matter of time, and looking back I’m really happy and excited I got these opportunities and it’s only going to help me the rest of the season and in the future.”
