Tough Love

The Carson Wentz saga isn’t over. In some ways, it may just be beginning. When you’re a 28-year old quarterback with big time talent, one bad season isn’t the end. It just changes the narrative and starts the clock on when your career will end.

Wentz could play another 10 years. He’s smart, experienced, mobile and has a big arm. He can still make crazy plays and incredible throws. He still has the potential to be an outstanding QB.

But…read this story from Jeff McLane and you can see some fatal flaws as well.

Wentz’s Type-A personality could be credited just as much for his past success. Many top quarterbacks share the same trait. But the 28-year-old had increasingly rebuffed advice, defied criticism, and clashed with former coach Doug Pederson last season, Eagles sources said.

“Every great quarterback wants to be coached and they want to be coached hard and by the best, and it doesn’t seem like [Wentz] wants that,” one source said. “It’s kind of like whoever’s coaching him is working for him. But it can’t be that way.”

And…

In the quarterback room, when his errors were pointed out, Wentz would sometimes make irrelevant excuses and Taylor wouldn’t correct him. For instance, there would be a play when he didn’t throw to an open receiver. The read was drawn up as designed, the coverage played out as expected, and he would be asked why he didn’t pull the trigger.

And Wentz would say the look wasn’t there, or he would overemphasize the pass rush, and when it was suggested the play be run again in practice as to get it right, he would object.

Things were different in 2016 and 2017. Frank Reich and John DeFilippo were harder on Wentz. He handled that better and the results speak for themselves.

Both the Eagles and Wentz share blame for things going in the wrong direction. The Eagles made Press Taylor the QBs coach after the Super Bowl and that hasn’t worked so well. He is a young coach and has a friendly relationship with Wentz. That created an awkward dynamic. Taylor wasn’t able to be tough on Wentz and Wentz didn’t seem to accept what criticism Taylor tried to give him.

Friends or not, Wentz should have taken the criticism and learned from it. Part of his job is to accept coaching and work on his deficiencies. That didn’t happen.

Players have to embrace criticism and tough coaching to meet their full potential. If you want someone to focus on what you’re doing right, you aren’t going to improve. You need someone to point out what is wrong and then how to fix it.

That wasn’t happening with Wentz the past couple of years. So what is tough coaching?

There is a famous Bill Walsh story I’ve told before. Sometime in the mid 1980’s he was watching practice. Joe Montana, winner of two Super Bowls, threw a slant pass to Jerry Rice. The ball was on Rice’s back hip, but he adjusted and caught it and ran up the field. Mike Holmgren was the offensive coordinator and saw the play, but didn’t say anything. Walsh went to Holmgren and angrily told them to run that again. The ball needed to be out in front so that Rice could catch it in stride and really burst up the field.

Don’t just run the play. Don’t just complete the pass. Do it exactly right or do it again. As the saying goes, excellence is not an act, but a habit. Walsh, Montana and Rice are all amongst the best in NFL history and that’s not an accident. Walsh had a gifted offensive mind, but he also was demanding and pushed his players to be excellent.

Bill Parcells has a saying that I love. “Don’t let ‘good enough’ be good enough.”

Simple, but brilliant. Push for excellence. Always try to be better. Don’t settle. That litte phrase says so much. He stressed this with his QBs.

Bill Parcells and Phil Simms had a complicated professional relationship, one that included a great mutual respect and a fierce desire to win. It could also be contentious, because Parcells constantly pressured Simms.

“Every practice was the end of the world,” Simms said. “Today has got to be a great day. If it’s not the greatest day, oh my gosh.”

QB is the most important position in football. Coaches have to be demanding in order to push them and get the best out of them.

When Jon Gruden came to Philly in 1995, he studied the 1994 game tape to get a feel for Randall Cunningham and the other holdover players. Gruden became really concerned about Cunningham taking sacks. He made a tape of all the 1994 sacks and showed it to Cunningham, focusing on the need to throw checkdowns or just to throw the ball away. Gruden wanted to stress avoiding sacks.

Cunningham was shocked at this discussion. He wanted to talk about the playbook or anything else. A lecture on avoiding sacks? That was a waste of time to him.

The Eagles started the 1995 season 1-3. Sacks were a major issue and Cunningham lost his job. The team went 9-3 after he was benched. Rodney Peete was no great talent, but he listened to the coaches and did the little things it took to win.

Look what Troy Aikman said in regard to Jimmy Johnson.

“We had a rough start, went through some difficult times, had stretches when we didn’t speak. What I’ve learned though in life is we remember those who make us better. Jimmy made me better, but more importantly, he made the Dallas Cowboys better.”

Tough coaching isn’t fun. It isn’t easy. It can strain relationships and lead to some really challenging times. But it also can be hugely important in developing players and teams.

Carson Wentz can still have a good career, but he must embrace tough coaching. Wentz is driven and hard working, but effort doesn’t lead to greatness. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect, as a more accurate version of the saying goes. Wentz needs someone to push him and he has to realize that is the best thing for him.

Tough coaching can save Wentz, but only if he lets it. If Wentz resists criticism and focuses on excuses, he will be gone sooner than he should have and his career will be disappointing.

Wentz has the talent, but not the answers. If the Eagles find the right coach and if Wentz truly buys in, there could be a bright future for everyone involved.

If…

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