Doug Pederson's message to Carson Wentz boils down to this: Work within the offense.
It's been nine months since Wentz last played in a game, but he's also entering Year 4 in Pederson's offense. His understanding of that offense and how it is meant to operate, should be extremely high. Sure, Wentz has immense physical gifts, but he just needs to be one piece of the puzzle.
Here was Pederson's full message:
My message to him, and really to the team, is let the offense work for you, let the team work for you. You don't feel like you have to do things yourself. … You just gotta let those guys work. Same on defense. Let the defense, sometimes let the scheme take over where you don't feel like you have to do everything yourself.
"Make the plays when they come to you. Don't go searching for them. That's when you get out of alignment, that's when you miss an assignment when you line up wrong. When they come, you make them. That's all it is with Carson. Even though he touches the ball every down, just make the plays when they come and use the guys around you. Don't feel like you have to do it yourself.
So how has Wentz received that message?
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Well, during the preseason, it was one of the areas where Pederson praised his franchise quarterback, saying, "I see him really opening himself up to the offense." That quote, more than any other, stood out to me this summer.
Wentz said it's about knowing when to be aggressive with shots down the field and knowing when to "fight another down."
On Wednesday, Wentz was asked if, when he watches film, he has seen himself try to do too much.
"It's always a fine line," he said. "I've looked at that quite a bit. It's one of those things that ever since I came into the league, I always viewed myself as an aggressive style player. That's something that's never going to change. It's just knowing that fine line.
"What's the fine line of being aggressive, pushing the ball downfield and taking underneath? It's always going to be a fine line. Just trying to balance that and get the ball to these playmakers is something I'm always going to be trying to do."
It's almost impossible to talk about Wentz without bringing up Nick Foles, but it actually makes sense in this context. Foles clearly doesn't have the same physical attributes as Wentz, but he was still able to operate Pederson's offense at a high level. As has already become a cliche, Foles let the offense work for him.
That's one of the big lessons Wentz could (and should) take from his time with Foles. Because if he can learn how to run Pederson's offense while still utilizing his unique physical gifts, there's still plenty of room for improvement.
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