Big Day For Wentz

You never want to make too much of one practice, good or bad. Carson Wentz was erratic early in the spring. He played better in the last few spring practices. He wasn’t a bust because of the bad days or headed to the Hall of Fame because of the way he finished. Wentz is a young player and there will be ups and downs.

Good players are consistent. Coaches don’t want erratic players. They want guys who can perform at a consistent level.

Wentz has been good so far in Training Camp, with Saturday being his best showing of the summer. Everyone at practiced raved about his performance.

15/15 for Wentz by my count https://t.co/QyqxeHJ2lk

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) July 29, 2017

PE.com has the details.

1. During the final 7-on-7 period, Carson Wentz was a perfect 15-for-15. Here’s a breakdown of those 15 plays.

A. Wentz completes a quick 5-yard pass to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.

B. Wentz connects with Ertz, who caught the ball 16 yards down the field.

C. Ertz is the target again on a short crossing route.

D. Tight end Trey Burton gets in on the fun with a quick out and a gain of 5 yards.

E. Wentz throws a perfect touch pass for a gain of 30 yards to wide receiver Jordan Matthews. Wentz had the ball in the air as soon as Matthews passed linebacker Najee Goode, but it was placed in an ideal spot where neither safety Rodney McLeod nor safety Jaylen Watkins could get it.

F. Wide receiver Torrey Smith catches a 10-yard pass from Wentz.

G. Wentz goes to Burton, the underneath option, for 6 yards.

H. The play of the day. Wentz hits Ertz with a back shoulder throw along the right sideline for 29 yards. Ertz caught the ball and got both feet in as he was falling to the ground. Watkins had good coverage on the play. Amazing anticipation throw. Note that wide receiver Nelson Agholor was creating confusion for the defense running a go route.

I. A quick pass to Matthews in the flat.

J. A dig route by Smith goes for 20 yards.

K. Wide receiver Marcus Johnson turned cornerback Patrick Robinson around faking in before going out for a 17-yard gain.

L. Ertz was the recipient on a shallow cross.

M. Agholor caught the ball on a quick out route.

N. A hitch route by Smith gained 13 yards, although cornerback Jalen Mills read the route and had good position.

O. Burton finishes off the drill with an out route for a short gain.

Wow. That is an impressive performance. The Eagles secondary isn’t great by any stretch, but that was a mixture of throws to a variety of receivers and spots. It wasn’t Wentz picking on one guy or area. 

Going 15 for 15 in that setting is great for a couple of reasons. First, Wentz made good reads and accurate throws. Sometimes he hit open guys. Other times he gave his receivers a chance to make a play. The other reason that 15 for 15 is so good is that the receivers caught the ball. No drops. They mixed in a couple of tough grabs. Frank Reich said after practice that was the best the passing game has looked since he got here.

Great to see Wentz and his receivers playing so well together.

The DBs did have some good moments.

B. On the very first rep of the period, Agholor lined up against Mills on the far right side. Mills got a good jam at the line of scrimmage, but Nelson released outside and was off to the races. Mills stayed hip to hip (or, “in-phase”) with Agholor, got his eyes on the football, and climbed the ladder to make a picture-perfect pass breakup to get the ball on the ground. It was a great way to start the drill for the defense, and it was one of two breakups for Mills in the drill that I saw.

It sounds like Mills is the best CB right now. That’s good and bad. You want a young player like Mills to play well and show improvement from last year. At the same time, Mills is not exactly a shutdown CB. If he’s playing the best of the group, that doesn’t say a lot about the other guys.

Fran Duffy also had a good note on new DT Tim Jernigan.

B. Tim Jernigan has a quick first step, and when you see him in person you can see why he’s so tough to move in the run game, but he hit Seumalo with good ol’ hump move patented by Reggie White on his first rep, winning the play by ripping through the second-year guard’s inside shoulder. On his next rep (and the last that I watched of the drill), Jernigan used a bull rush to punch Chance Warmack in the chest before ripping inside against the former first-round pick.

Jernigan is going to be a key player for the Eagles this year. Jim Schwartz pointed out the other day that Fletcher Cox got a lot of attention and the DT playing beside him didn’t make enough plays last year. That was true whether Bennie Logan, Beau Allen or Destiny Vaeao. Jernigan will be the man next to Cox most of this year and that will pose a problem for offenses. Jernigan has the ability to rush the passer (13 sacks in 3 years). He can win with quickness, power or skill.

*****

Jimmy Bama has some good notes. Another day, another WR stands out.

• One of Wentz’s more common targets was Marcus Johnson, who made a boatload of catches at every level of the defense. The hype is legit, as he has done a good job not only catching the ball, but consistently gaining good separation.

Dave Spadaro mentioned Johnson back in the spring as a receiver who had impressed so this isn’t just one good day. How funny is it that last year the Eagles were desperate for a WR to step up and no one did. This year you have Jeffery and Smith playing at a high level. Nelson Agholor is playing well. Rookies Mack Hollins and Greg Ward are opening eyes. And Johnson is doing everything he can to get people’s attention. Good problem for the Eagles to have.

Now for some OL/DL talk.

• Halapoulivaati Vaitai got owned on consecutive plays during 11-on-11’s. Playing LT, Vaitai got blown up by Vinny Curry on a run play, leading to a 3-4 yard loss. On the next play, after moving over to RT, he got beaten around the edge by Brandon Graham for what would have been a sack.

1. Derek Barnett did not have a good session. He was easily handled on consecutive rushes by Matt Tobin and Dillon Gordon, though I wouldn’t make too much of that.
2. Jason Kelce had a bad snap that the QB (an Eagles quality control coach) could not handle.
3. Rookie DT Elijah Qualls had a really rough moment. He went down in pain on one rep, and then proceeded to get reamed out by defensive line coach Chris Wilson. “You get beat every f****** time, and now you’re hurt!” Wilson screamed. Qualls remained on the ground sort of in the field on play about 5-10 yards from where the rest of the linemen were conducting the drill, and trainers came over to look at him while the drill continued. Qualls was eventually helped off and into the locker room. Yikes.
4. While Vaitai didn’t light it up in 11-on-11’s, he did a better job in 1-on-1’s against Graham stoning him in his tracks on one rep.

The Eagles are giving Vaitai some reps at LT. They want to cross-train as many O-linemen as possible. Vaitai played LT as a Senior at TCU and looked good, but he focused on RT last year. Vaitai showed good potential as a rookie. As with any young player, there are going to be growing pains, especially when you try to expand what they do.

It may sound like DL coach Chris Wilson was being a jerk to Elijah Qualls. And maybe he was. DL coaches are supposed to be tough, though. DTs have to be pushed relentlessly. That’s not a position for the feint of heart. DL coaches are rarely soft-spoken, lovable types. They come across more like drill sergeants. Qualls said in the locker room that he’s fine. We’ll have to wait and see if he misses any time.

Jimmy makes a great point about TE Billy Brown.

• One undrafted rookie who has looked good catching the football so far has been tight end Billy Brown. However, if Brown is going to make the team, he is also going to have to show that he can play special teams. Coming from a tiny school in West Virginia, Brown was the guy in his offense, so he didn’t play special teams at all. I watched him for a while in special teams drills today, and he was getting beaten regularly. While Brown has some skills to be excited about, his special teams play is going to have to improve drastically to be anything more than a practice squad guy.

I have focused on Brown’s need to show he can be an effective blocker. Jimmy is right that Brown also must show he can contribute on STs. I don’t see Brown as likely to push for a roster spot this season, but he still needs to show enough that the coaches want to keep him around for the future.

The easiest way for a rookie to impress the coaches is to play well on STs.

*****

Chance Warmack getting some reps at first team left guard.

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) July 29, 2017

Nick Foles dealing with elbow soreness, out here but won't be practicing.

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) July 29, 2017

Jim Schwartz just used the F word five times in a single sentence. That's a Georgetown education for ya.

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) July 29, 2017

Alex McCalister has a hamstring injury.

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) July 29, 2017

*****

Next up is Jeff McLane. Interesting note here about CB C.J. Smith.

1. Najee Goode continued to take most of Jordan Hicks’ reps at middle linebacker, but Hicks (hand injury) was inserted during this period. Wentz then started to air it out. He hit a wide-open Johnson, who had slipped cornerback C.J. Smith, for a 20-plus-yard gain. Jalen Mills and Patrick Robinson have played most of the first team snaps at outside cornerback, but Smith has been the first “reserve” to get plays with that unit. He seems to be ahead of rookie Rasul Douglas at this point. On second down and 4, Wentz had the offense quick snap out of the huddle. The pace caught the defense, and Smallwood ran through Jernigan for a “first down.”

Someone else noted Smith looking good recently. He played very well last summer and earned a roster spot. Smith will have a tougher time of making the team this year, but it sounds like the coaches are giving him plenty of reps and have him in a good spot on the depth chart. The Eagles don’t have great CBs right now, but there seems to be good competition.

1. The second team matchup featured a fair share of split zone runs in which a tight end will whammy block the opposite defensive end. Chris Long jacked up Anthony Denham despite the tight end’s head start on one such run. But Denham would later get the better of rookie end Derek Barnett, who was blocked to his knee. Denham, a second-year player who spent most of last season on the practice squad, had earned a low five from Brent Celek when he returned to the tight end circle. Wendell Smallwood and Donnel Pumphrey took most of the handoffs with the second unit. There appeared to be a lot of space for the tailbacks to run, which later drew a rebuke from Schwartz. I can’t print most of what the quotable coordinator said, but it could have passed for dialogue from a Quentin Tarantino film.

Denham is another young TE trying to impress the coaches. Blocking a rookie like Barnett is going to be easier than blocking Long, who knows what wham blocks are and how to handle them.

Can Smallwood and Pumphrey both be active on gamedays? Those two aren’t fighting for a roster spot, but could be battling to see who gets to play in games.

*****

Now for Brandon Lee Gowton. Real good notes from him today.

Torrey Smith has a real knack for finding soft spots in coverage. Seems to get open when things break down and Wentz needs someone open.

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) July 29, 2017

• Torrey Smith looked good in practice on Friday. He dropped a contested catch today but was otherwise good again. His ability to get open when a play breaks down stands out to me. Last year the Eagles did not have receivers who could do that. That’s a big help for Wentz.

Excellent point from BLG. The QB and WRs need to be on the same page about what to do when things break down. Randall Cunningham did a great job of letting his guys know what he wanted and that led to big plays to Cris Carter, Fred Barnett, Calvin Williams, Mike Quick, Victor Bailey, etc.

Wentz and the receivers did a poor job last year of taking advantage of broken plays. Part of that was due to experience, but also the fact the WRs were such limited players. Smith is a talented veteran and knows what to do when things break down. Can’t wait to see Wentz find him during games when things go a bit haywire.

• Ward and Chris Maragos had some good battles during a special teams drill where one player had to block another trying to run down the field. The two players consistently got real physical with each other. Maragos first got the best of Ward. Then the rookie got nasty back with the veteran on their next matchup. ST coordinator Dave Fipp really liked it and yelled “Oooh, what goes around comes around!”

• Joe Walker and Don Cherry also earned praise from Fipp.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that Ward is embracing STs. This kid just feels like someone who will do whatever it takes to make the team and help them win. I don’t know if Ward will be good enough to make the roster this year, but I guarantee you that cutting him won’t be easy.

Bryan Braman is gone so the Eagles need LBs to step up on STs. Walker and Cherry are both getting a lot of STs reps. We knew Walker had a good chance to make the roster. Sounds like Cherry will be given a legit chance as well.

• Jason Peters spent time mentoring Dillon Gordon, the team’s second string left tackle, during offensive line drills. Peters was also working with Barnett on the rookie’s spin move after practice. It’s stuff like this that goes unseen to a number of fans and leads me to believe JP is underappreciated. He’s not just here for himself. He cares about his teammates, even the young guys.

Peters gets it. He’s helping young guys, but is also helping himself. He knows the young players might help him get to the postseason. Love it when a veteran goes out of his way to help those around him.

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