By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The million-dollar question coming into the Eagles season opener on Sunday was if Carson Wentz was ready after limited action in the preseason. On his first drive, he went 4-for-5 for 57 yards, capped with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews.
For head coach Doug Pederson, who is now 1-0 in regular-season play after the Eagles 29-10 win over the Browns, nothing was surprising about the rookie's debut.
"It's not surprising, just knowing the maturity level that he has," Pederson said. "This is who he is. This is his DNA. He really handled himself great all week long. He prepared like he was a five or six-year veteran and he played that way."
"It was huge. It gave me a lot of confidence," Wentz said. "Going down, moving the ball, getting the touchdown right away was huge for my confidence, huge for this team's confidence. I know the people here were rocking. It was a great start to the year."
It seemed the more the game went on, the more Pederson put Wentz to the test and into the fire to be aggressive. In the third quarter, with the Eagles facing a 4th and 4, Pederson kept the offense on the field. Wentz completed a five-yard pass to Zach Ertz. His next pass was a 35-yard strike to Nelson Agholor for a touchdown.
"When you look at some of the math involved with the field position, the score, the time of the game, we were fortunate Carson and Zach made a great play," Pederson said. "For me, it was a great opportunity to keep out drive going.
"I wanted to stay aggressive with Carson and the guys and just dialed it up the next play. Nelson had a great release off the ball on a great corner and Carson put it right where it needed to be."
Matthews caught seven passes for 114 yards and Wentz's first touchdown. The third-year receiver was also not surprised by Wentz's performance given his maturity.
"Carson's biggest asset is the way he competes against himself," Matthews said. "I think some of the best quarterbacks in this league have a chip on their shoulder, so when they go out and play the game, it's game reps for him. He has a maturity about him that even if it's not crunch time, he's always treating it like it is."
"The one thing that Carson and Jordan did is they worked together, so they maintained that chemistry they needed," Pederson said. "Jordan had a great week of practice. They really connected well all week long. It was great to see Jordan out there doing the things that he's very capable of doing."
The Eagles receivers have been the subject of scrutiny in years past for struggles on offense. There were mistakes still in this Week 1 win, as there were drops, miscommunications and the typical little flaws that were to be expected. But Wentz also did a good job of spreading the ball around to several receivers, something that didn't go unnoticed by Pederson.
"It was a great performance by our receivers. They worked hard," Pederson said. "They've been beat up enough to know what they need to do. You guys have definitely let them know what's going on. But I have trust and confidence in them, I see them work every day and it just goes to show that you just put the hard work in, it's going to pay off on Sunday."
"I'm not about to talk about the previous seasons. I will talk about today," Matthews said. "Carson came out and put the ball in a lot of great places where he had to. Specifically, my touchdown catch and Nelson's, you can't throw those any better. He's putting those right where they need to be, he's waiting until you break leverage on the guy. That's all about timing, accuracy and poise."
In his first game, were there any nerves for the rookie? Absolutely not.
"I wasn't really nervous. I really don't get nervous," Wentz said. "I like to listen to worship music to calm my nerves and just go out and have fun. It's a game and I try to enjoy and I had a lot of fun today."
It showed too. For a rookie quarterback, who made many plays with a poise and calmness of a veteran, it didn't look like a debut at all. That said, Wentz had his moment before the game, that welcome to the NFL moment.
"I came out early when there were no fans out there and just took it all in," Wentz said. "I realized how truly blessed I am to have this opportunity and to make the most of it and to remember it's just a game. I came out here and had fun today and it was a great team win."
While Wentz's own stats in his debut were impressive, the one that stayed with the rookie the most was the end result, the 29-10 score.
"At the end of the day, we won," Wentz said. "That was the goal today and we came out and got a great team win. I think it will hit me now after the game, I've been dreaming about this since I was a kid. It's just the first of many."
