Eagles

This is Not the Biggest Game of Carson Wentz’s Career

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 19th, 2019 · 2:20 PM EST

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Eagles vs. Cowboys Sunday with the division title on the line.

You read some of the stuff out there. You hear the ‘narrative’ about Carson Wentz needing to prove himself and win a big game against a good team late in the season, to lead his squad to the playoffs.

That’s all good and well, but he already did that. He did it two years ago when the Eagles knocked off the Rams in Los Angeles to improve to 11-2, clinch a playoff berth, and take a huge step in locking up the #1 seed in the NFC.

That game was played on December 10th, week 14. The Eagles were coming off a 24-10 loss in Seattle and you were hearing the same things then you’re hearing now, stuff like, ‘well the Birds haven’t really beaten anybody yet,’ or ‘they need a statement win.’ There were a lot of weird questions being asked of that team despite the fact that they beat a good Carolina squad on the road and blasted Dallas at Jerry World. People were hung up on the fact that the Redskins/49ers/Broncos/Bears stretch seemed like cupcake city.

But the Los Angeles game was bigger than Sunday’s game. The Eagles went into the Coliseum 10-2 and LA was 9-3. This was a defining game for playoff seeding, not a battle of mediocre and underachieving 7-7 squads. Beating the Rams out there after losing to Russell Wilson one week prior would be the defining win of the season and tell us whether or not Carson Wentz and the Eagles were for real.

Wentz stepped up to the challenge without the injured Zach Ertz, Jason Peters, Darren Sproles, and Stefen Wisniewski, going 23-41 for 291 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, which took place on the first drive of the game. He was excellent from that point on, and he left the field after tossing his franchise-record 33rd touchdown pass of the season on a torn-up knee, a knee that he injured diving into the end zone for a score that was called back for holding. Yet he stayed in the game and found Alshon Jeffery for the touchdown that capped off a 15-play, 75-yard drive and gave the Eagles a 31-28 lead with 2:20 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

After that moment, I didn’t need to see anything more from Carson Wentz, ever. That was the statement win, the big road performance, and he capped off what would have been an MVP season by tossing a touchdown pass on a torn ACL.

For whatever reason, whenever this game is brought up, Nick Foles fans come out and say “yeah well Nick closed the Rams game out” or however the narrative is being phrased these days.

The problem I have with that viewpoint is that it diminishes Wentz’s performance in LA, as if to suggest he couldn’t get the job done, or something like that. But the truth is that both quarterbacks did a fantastic job out there. Foles came in cold and led a couple of clutch field goal drives while the defense made big 4th quarter plays. Nick absolutely got it done in a tough spot, but don’t let that overshadow what Carson did in the three quarters prior. It’s not like Nick came and cleaned up Carson’s problems, he just finished what Wentz started, and therefore both guys should get a ton of credit for what they did.

Anyway, don’t listen to anybody who tells you this is the biggest game of Carson’s career, a game in which he’ll be throwing to a practice squad receiver, a rookie, some tight ends, and maybe an injured Nelson Agholor, if we’re lucky. No, he hasn’t had an amazing season, and while some of the criticism is certainly warranted, there’s no referendum on Wentz come Sunday evening, because he proved to everybody that he’s the real deal on December 10th, 2017 in Los Angeles. What he did in the regular season that year was absolutely crucial in earning the Eagles the #1 overall seed.

Here’s Carson Wentz full highlights vs. the Rams, 2017.

291 yds, 4 TDs in not even 3 full quarters.

The stage, the opponent, the guts to stay in with a torn ACL to give the Eagles the lead in a game to clinch the division.

QB performance doesn’t get much better than this: pic.twitter.com/WQSEzYlCIG

— Eagles Fan Central (@EagleFanCentral) July 17, 2019