Carson Wentz!

Nick Foles!

I’m right! You’re wrong! Blah blah blah!

Twitter really is insufferable on the Monday following an Eagles loss, so let’s go to the head ball coach and see what he has to say about the quarterback. Doug Pederson did Cataldi’s show on 94 WIP this morning, then spoke to the media at noon.

Here’s what he told that Angelo on WIP:

“After he watches (the film), he’ll say it wasn’t his best performance and he can get better. We can all better, obviously, and it starts with me, number one. It starts there. But I think with Carson, he’ll look at this and go yeah, ‘I can play a little better,’ not only in the passing game. Now listen, he made some great runs. He had some tough scrambles, he took some shots in the pocket again and stood tough and did deliver the football, and did some nice things that way too. But he’ll look at it, he’ll get better, and move on from that.

Sometimes, too, I think you press just a little bit. You just don’t, you’re trying to make a play, and I think that’s how the second half of this game went. You could kind of see how we were kind of pressing just a little bit and trying to make a play, and it doesn’t come off natural and it doesn’t come off smooth.”

Key word: “pressing.” That means you’re trying too hard. You are forcing things.

And here’s what he told the scribes at NovaCare:

“I think when he looks at this game, and I’m sure he already has, that there were opportunities. There were opportunities in the passing game to make some plays. I think he would agree with that. Then just really, he doesn’t have to feel like he has to make all of the plays. Even though he touches the ball and he is a quarterback and we ask him to do a lot, just let the offense kind of work and let the guys around you make the plays. I think that’s a takeaway. Maybe as the game progressed we all felt like there was a kind of pressing going on, like we were trying to make that play against a great defense. You really don’t have to do that, just let things unfold.

Here’s the interpretation, based on what I’ve seen with my eyes and considering those two quotes from Doug:

  1. the receivers STINK
  2. Wentz tries to overcompensate by extending plays with his legs, which results in him holding the ball for too long
  3. he then makes mistakes (taking bad sacks, missing throws)
  4. the Eagles find themselves behind the chains and can’t run the ball effectively
  5. you punt

More or less. He also missed some throws he should have made last night, but the list above is the macro-level problem. I’m not a pro-Wentz or anti-Wentz guy, I just try to look at it pragmatically. It feels very much like 2016 Wentz, who was trying too hard because the talent was just not there at the skill positions and along the offensive line.

Doug’s presser video: