More on the Fargo Trip
Posted: July 12th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 29 Comments »
Robert Griffin III had one of the great rookie seasons ever by a QB. He had a passer rating of over 100, ran for 815 yards and led the Skins to a division title. He got hurt late in the year. RGIII spent the offseason rehabbing. And also trying to market himself. He turned his rehab effort into a marketing campaign. He wanted to be a star on the field and a celebrity off it.
Cade McNown did not have nearly as much success as a rookie. He struggled for the Bears in 1999, but did start six games and showed some promise. He should have spent the offseason honing his game and focusing on football. Instead, he spent too much time at the Playboy Mansion. He dated Brande Roderick and then tried to steal Heather Kozar from another rookie QB, Tim Couch. McNown was so obsessive with his behavior that Hugh Hefner banned him from the mansion.
Johnny Manziel. (Do I even need to say anything?)
Young QBs come and go for a variety of reasons. Some get hurt. Some play in terrible circumstances. Some just aren’t that good. But too many fail because of dumb actions off the field. Geno Smith had his career sidetracked after being punched by a teammate and having his jaw broken (over a money issue). Mark Sanchez found himself more interested in going to Broadway shows and dating hot chicks than being able to throw a corner route. JaMarcus Russell was a complete mess. Matt Leinart was another guy who seemed more focused on dating than QB’ing.
I mention all of this because we need to remember that succeeding in the NFL is hard. You need a lot of things to go right in order to have the career you want. Players don’t control what goes on around them, but they do control their attitude and their actions.
Carson Wentz might not have as many air yards as some analyst prefers. He might not have great mechanics. He might throw more wobbly passes than you would ideally like.
But Wentz does have the right attitude and he is truly dedicated to the game of football.
That doesn’t guarantee success. Kevin Kolb and Nick Foles were dedicated. They did what they could to become good starting QBs, but that didn’t happen. They didn’t have the ability to play at a high level on a consistent basis. Wentz is more physically gifted than them and that gives him a big advantage.
Part of being a good QB is accepting everything that position brings with it. You are instantly a team leader. You become the face of the team. You live under a microscope, especially in a football-mad town like Philly.
Wentz gets that.
You could see his leadership skills at the Senior Bowl. You watched him spend time with 90 of the top draft prospects in the nation and he was the guy that had the presence about him. He was the alpha dog, but not in a fake or overly-macho way. It came naturally to him and you could see that with the Eagles as well. Wentz gave credit when things went well and took the blame when they went badly. He seemed comfortable and natural being the face of the team, whether in the locker room or at the podium.
He says and does the right things off the field. That may make him boring, but that’s good. You want a boring QB. Do you get the feeling that Tom Brady or Peyton Manning are great guys to hang out with? You want a QB who takes football very seriously. You want a player who will do everything he can to win.
Think about what Wentz has done this offseason. He spent his personal time with a QB tutor. In the old days, he would have been working with Eagles coaches, but that is prohibited by the CBA. Wentz found someone to help with his mechanics. He then attended all the OTAs and minicamp. Now he’s in Fargo working out with the Eagles receivers.
No stops at the Playboy Mansion.
No marketing campaigns to boost his image.
Just football.
If Wentz does fail, it won’t be for lack of effort or focus. He is doing everything he can to improve as a player and to help his team. That’s exactly what you want from the guy you made the center of your franchise.
*****
PFT has a story about Wentz launching a charity foundation.
I didn’t write this post to try and turn Wentz into a saint. He seems like a good guy, but plenty of athletes do before things come crumbling down. I hope he’s a legitimately good guy and can help some people.
For now, I’m being completely shallow and focusing on his effort to be a better football player.
_
I got a chuckle out of RGMe working on his brand, rather than his game. Another thing working against him was that NFL DCs tend to catch up to gimmicks pretty quick.
And if Cade McNown and Tim Couch are hanging at the Playboy Mansion, it might have meant that it was time to shut down the playboy mansion.
I love the idea that Heff had to ban McNown from the mansion. How much of a weirdo do you have to be to get banned from there?
Probably a fetish for PBR’s and Megan Fox
Not as hard as you would think nowadays.
Apparently, “your twice their age, married, and nobody here knows you” is three strikes and you are out.
Amen on Wentz, hopefully he will develop into a legit stud QB and help lead the team to their first SB win. He checks a lot of the necessary boxes, but it takes a team, an organization and a unified culture around him to make it happen. Hopefully, we have those facets improving as well and it will all gel together.
It’s really exciting to have Wentz as the Eagles qb. You’re right, though, about the other factors necessary for success, and I’ll bet McNabb would agree.
I’m on the Wentz train and pulling the chord to sound the steam horn. Way too many people are over analyzing him right now(including me). Give the young lad some time.
……
I’m glad he’s working with this WR’s. I’d probably prefer him to be working more with mechanics. Maybe he is and we’re just not hearing about it. Without question – there needs to be some ‘connection’ with QB’s and WR’s – however, if you’re over throwing them in critical times during the games — summer in Fargo land won’t mean a thing. Again, I’m a gazillion miles away from Wentz – maybe he is working on those things.
……
Loved they moved up to get him. Glad he’s here.
I am on the Wentz train too. Could I maybe get a turn at sounding the horn?
I wasn’t sold on Wentz until we got to see him play for us.
He wasn’t throwing 7 TD’s in one game, but what he did last season, was pretty impressive considering he was listed as our 3rd QB coming out of camp.
I think he had something like one week to prepare to be our starting QB after the Bradford trade.
He played with a calm cool and collective demeanor that I would guess is kind of rare for a rookie QB and showed everyone the NFL was not too big a stage for him.
I predict he will help our team get to double digit wins this season.
Health will play a major role of course, but barring any serious injuries at any position, we should expect big things from this team this season IMO.
I like your optimism. I very much agree that Wentz was impressive. For a guy to step up from a small college background and qb3 during training camp, he sure stood tall in the spotlight. I am confident he has the character traits to be successful. We’ll hopefully see clear indicators this season that he has the skill sets.
Good news is we also have the guy who throws 7 TDs a game.
And two gingers on the team.
Championship!
In the doldrums of summer, I’ve been watching some games on NFL Rewind while the subscription is still good (great investment, BTW).
The Giants game (first one) showed me that he’s tough, and that this team has (had) resilience; same with Wentz. The full “rookie QB” was on display, but if he build on the good and begin to minimize some of the bad, we have a potentially great player on our hands.
As Tommy pointed out- a lot has to go right for a player to have a chance, and there’s no guarantee of that happening; but Wentz has special talent, and with 3 QB guru’s on staff, as well as a stronger supporting cast- he should show vast improvement this year.
(OT)
I never thought I’d be such a fan of D’Angelo Williams the person but…
(on schefter’s podcast, talking about which teams he’d automatically cross-off as far as signing as FA)
“My fandom for the team I was raised as will not allow me to go to the Cowboys,” Williams told Schefter. “I’m an ’80s baby … and the 49ers ruled the ’80s. The Cowboys somewhat did something in the ’90s; I even refuse to give them that. …
“The Cowboys, they win. They just don’t ever show up during the playoffs. They always disappear in the playoffs. I’ve got a great depiction of the Cowboys’ fan base. During the regular season last year, they were on cloud nine. You couldn’t tell them anything because they were going to win the ‘ship — that’s all they said. Fans just got extremely super annoying. Then, the minute they lose, they either got cheated, somebody was hurt — the excuses start flowing. It’s just amazing to me. That fan base just in general can’t handle defeat. Still to this day, they say that the Dez Bryant catch against the Green Bay Packers was a catch!”
Williams understands if NFL fans are caught off guard by his blinding loyalty to his favorite team growing up.
“I’m a true fan, and I totally get it,” Williams said. “And some would be like, ‘You’re stupid, you’re crazy.’ And then the fan base of the [Cowboys] is going be absolutely livid, but who cares? That’s why we’re fans.”
Learning what we’ve known for a long time.
Wins everyone with “That’s why we’re fans”
Brilliant.
Very off topic but please stop trying to repeal net neutrality you god damn greedy corrupt corporate bastards.
/rant of the day
Barely off topic because this is a website that we all enjoy. And Bravo.
The reality of it is that they’ll put it up for a vote every year until it’s passed. The fact that those interest groups can afford to do this indefinitely shows just how much they stand to make from fucking up the status quo.
玉不琢不成器，人不学不知道，拜读了！
BTW we have the most insanely perfect intern working for us this summer. . And guess whats even more Insane … her twin sister ..anyone work at a bank in nyc ??? Ill send her on an errand ..
Yea, but are they Eagles fans?
https://twitter.com/LesBowen/status/885282364485763072
Is Cian Fahey the biggest d bag in football? He’s trying to claim that people didn’t like Mariota going into that draft. I’m pretty sure was universally seen as the #2 overall pick and we were speculating on how the Eagles could move up to get him.
Yes, yes he is.
Les is flat out wearing him out. It is almost as good as when Kempski humbled that Chris Albright bum.
As he should. Actually if i remember right, I think i saw Kempski own fahey recently too. Its one thing to be an esp or an agitator trying to play on some fan ignorance, but the faheys of the world should realize that there are intelligent seasoned professionals out there reading stuff too.
I was just watching some Eagles videos and came across this beauty.
After visiting Tommy’s place earlier today, I remembered this great line:
“Part of being a good QB is accepting everything that position brings
with it. You are instantly a team leader. You become the face of the
team. You live under a microscope, especially in a football-mad town
like Philly.
Wentz gets that.”
I thought it fit in nicely.
Try to hang on until the end because there’s a cool interview.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQPr0F1oNo
Be, Be, Benny and the jets,
One of my friends has been working at the NFLPA for a long time now. Deals with players all the time and their agents/assistants/ect… typically always the top drafted rookies every year coming in.
You hear all the time how guys work so hard, it’s all they think about, it’s all business for them, they’re football guys, ect.. everyone uses the buzzwords to describe players.
I was told when Wentz came in last year he only wanted to focus on football, he didn’t want to do the cameo’s or anything like that. And in the year that has passed he’s exactly the same. I was told just 2 weeks ago that he’s still the hardest guy to get in touch with and to get him to come in to do any promo’s or anything that isn’t directly football related (in the sense of playing). Agreed, he was super nice down to earth guy but he absolutely only cared about football and it doesn’t happen nearly as often with these guys as some “reports” would say.
This guy isn’t going to fail for a lack of effort or focus on his craft.