I’ve avoided all takes and analysis of the Eagles’ first preseason game for fear of being tainted by general idiocy. If you’ll recall, last year Sam Bradford looked like a prized cock, pecking the Packers apart in the third preseason game while the Eagles’ offense looked like it could be among the best ever. We know how that turned out.

So, without overreacting, there are a few high-levels takeaways we can… um… take away from last night. Let’s just try to keep it all in perspective….

WOOOOOOO SUPER BOWL, BABY!

I’m kidding.

Carson Wentz looked… promising. He was 12-for-24 for 89 yards and one interception. It’s obvious he possesses abilities that we haven’t seen from an Eagles quarterback since ex-con Donovan McNabb (I don’t count fellow ex-con Michael Vick, because while fast, he largely sucked). Here’s every throw– note the run-outs at 16 and 30 seconds:


For a big guy, his speed is impressive. There were a handful of plays or pressure escapes that Sam Bradford, Nick Foles and Mark Sanchez simply weren’t able to make over the past few years. Wentz was Aaron Rodgers-esque, with his size and speed, in escaping a collapsing pocket  His arm is just fine, as the ball comes out of his hand with plenty of zip, and he seems to have no issue hanging in there in the face of pressure and taking the big hit to complete a pass.

Now, the not-so-good. Many of his throws were high. I don’t believe Mike Mayock attributed this to Wentz being amped up (or maybe I missed it), but that’s the likely reason here– there’s nothing to worry about long-term. He made some bad decisions, including a horrible throw in the red zone that was picked. And he’ll have to quickly learn that he needs to avoid the big hit outside of the pocket, even if it means giving up on a play or two. Because this can’t happen:

His mental lapses and a few bad throws can easily be attributed to rookie mistakes, however. He’s a touch raw, but that’s to be expected, especially for a guy coming from 1-AA. Overall, he looked better than I thought he would.

Other things:

The wide receivers are terrible. Wentz had no less than three of his highly-thrown lasers (all catchable) dropped by receivers during his first two drives. We knew this was an issue, but Nelson Agholor and Josh Huff did nothing last night to alleviate concerns. In fact, they exacerbated them.

The offensive line depth should scare you, and it should scare Carson, too. [Actually, it should scare Chase Daniel, who is apparently here just to be the sacrificed in order to save Wentz, when Sam Bradford gets hurt.] Once the first team got off the field – which was after an abbreviated drive – the second-string line looked absolutely terrible. The Eagles have virtually no depth here, and the problem will be exacerbated if Lane Johnson is suspended.

The defense looked decent. Far from perfect – with some poor play from Leodis McKelvin and Jalen Mills – but they were about what we expected.

That’s it. Just about anything else – including assessments of Doug Pederson (other than his silver sheen blending perfectly with the bill of the visor) – is just fluff or nonsense.