Credibility

Quarterbacks need to have credibility with their teammates. That sounds simple and obvious, but there are different kinds of credibility.

The first is purely talent based. Does the QB make the team better and give them a chance to win? Carson Wentz had that from day one. Teammates could see how talented he was. After playing with Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez in 2015, Wentz was a major upgrade. He was big, strong and athletic. He could make all the throws. Wentz could make basic plays, but also had the ability to create when things broke down.

The next kind of credibility is more leadership based. Go back to 1995. Randall Cunningham was the starting QB. He had to learn Jon Gruden’s West Coast Offense and buy in to Gruden’s tough brand of coaching. Cunningham did neither and the team started 1-3. He was benched in favor of Rodney Peete, a player who didn’t have half of Cunningham’s ability. Peete went 9-3 as the starter. He brought a toughness and winning mentality to the field. Peete did what the coaches wanted. He was focused on winning, not doing things his way.

I think Wentz has shown that he is coachable and will put in the work to be successful. He’s not off dating playmates or trying to be a celebrity. He gets together with his receivers in the offseason. He shows up for every minicamp and offseason activity. He’s played hurt and done everything possible to stay on the field.

Another kind of credibility is late game heroics. This is an area where Wentz was lacking. He’s had plenty of chances to win games on fourth quarter drives in the past couple of years, but something always went wrong. Until Monday night. Wentz led the Eagles back from a 14-point deficit. The game-tying TD came with less than two minutes left. Wentz then led the team on the winning drive in overtime.

Teammates now know Wentz can lead them to a late-game TD to tie or win. That doesn’t mean it will happen every time the Eagles are trailing, but the players now will have confidence that they can win these games. And Wentz will have that confidence himself. That means a lot.

Nelson Agholor had a chance to catch a TD in the Atlanta game that would have given the Eagles a late lead. Mack Hollins and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside had chances to make late catches in the Detroit game that could have helped the Eagles win. Wentz can make the throws, but can’t make the catches. Not all past failures were his fault. Still, until you get the job done, there will always be a stigma. QBs get credit when things work and blame when they don’t.

Wentz now knows he can get the job done. His teammates know as well.

*****

Eagles WR Alshon Jeffery (foot) to miss rest of the season. (via @MikeGarafolo) pic.twitter.com/J6Sh5j7t8E

— NFL (@NFL) December 10, 2019

Oh great, another WR gone.

The Eagles have Greg Ward and JJAW for now. Nelson Agholor is dealing with a knee injury. The team hopes to have him for Sunday, but there are no guarantees right now.

The team will put Jeffery on IR at some point this week and promote someone from the practice squad. There aren’t good free agent options and they need someone who knows the playbook. The player must be able to contribute right away.

The options are:

Robert Davis
Marcus Green
Marken Michel

None of the guys is an ideal option. Davis would be my preference. He has a bit of NFL experience. He is 6-3, 210. Davis runs 4.44 and has a 41-inch vertical jump.

Josh Perkins played some WR on Monday night and did a good job. The Eagles will have him ready for more of that if Agholor can’t go.

Life isn’t going to be easy down the stretch.

I do think there is something to be said for having young, hungry guys out there. They will play with an edge and some energy. We saw that on Monday night. If they can bring that to the rest of the season, it will help to make up for the lack of experience and top-level talent.

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