Carson Wentz has a long way to go before he’s worth the trade the Philadelphia Eagles made to acquire him at No. 2 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft -- and he’ll face tougher defenses than the Cleveland Browns -- but for now the Eagles can feel really good about the decision to take the North Dakota State star.
Eagles QB Carson Wentz lives up to his draft hype with 29-10 win in debut vs. Browns
Wentz avoided mistakes and had two beautiful touchdown passes in his NFL debut.
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Wentz wasn’t perfect in a 29-10 win, but he was as good as anybody could’ve hoped for a rookie, let alone one making the jump from the FCS to the NFL after missing most of the preseason.
Wentz finished 22-of-37 passing for 278 yards with two touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions. On the first drive of the game, he dropped a perfect pass into the arms of Jordan Matthews for a 19-yard touchdown.
In the third quarter, Wentz had an even more impressive 35-yard bomb down the right sideline to Nelson Agholor:
The Philadelphia offense stalled a few times against the Browns, but Wentz managed to finish the game without any turnovers, something rookie quarterbacks often struggle with. Meanwhile, Cleveland’s mistake-filled game left the door open for the Eagles to get out to an early lead and pull away in the second half.
Cleveland took 17 minutes to get a first down, dropped three passes in the first quarter, snapped a ball through the end zone for a safety and ran an absurdly bad fake punt attempt.
Instead, it was Wentz who led the Eagles with poise and calm.
The Eagles made a significant investment in Wentz and traded away Sam Bradford before the season to throw the rookie in the fire right away. After one game, Philadelphia has plenty of reason to feel good about the decision.
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