Constructive on Carson: Turnover, Sacks Doom Wentz late

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor  

After an inconsistently impressive performance in the team's Week 1 win over the Washington Redskins, Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles traveled to Kansas City to play a well-rested Chiefs team. 

Here are my in-game notes on Wentz's performance in the team's second game of the season:

First Quarter

Drive One

• Wentz and the Eagles opened their first drive, down 3-0, on the 27. 
• He hit Alshon Jeffery for the first play for a 12-yard gain. It took them until the fifth drive to connect last week. 
• After a Darren Sproles first down run, Wentz hit a wide open Torrey Smith across the middle for a 22-yard gain. Had he not slipped attempting to turn, this would have gone for an even larger gain. 
• On third-and-seven, Wentz hit an open Jeffery on a nice rub play. Trey Burton sold it well. Well designed play. 
• On a first-and-10, Wentz took a shot to the endzone for Torrey Smith on the back shoulder. Smith wasn't able to haul it in, but it was a nice throw to the back shoulder, where Smith very easily could have come down with. 
• The drive ended after Allen Bailey nearly got to Wentz on third-and-seven, forcing him to attempt to dump it off to Wendell Smallwood, who wasn't able to make the catch. 
• The Eagles didn't score on the first drive, but Wentz was impressive. Pederson did a good job to get Jeffery, Smith and Sproles involved early. 

Drive Two

• After a touchback on a punt, Wentz and the Eagles opened their second drive on the 20-yard-line. 
• Wentz showed great pocket awareness on the first play of this drive, which ended up being the final play of the first quarter. He avoided pressure in the pocket, stepped up and ran for a five-yard gain. 

Second Quarter

Drive Two (continued)

•  The second quarter opened with Wentz hitting Sproles in motion. This pass easily could have been picked off, luckily Sproles ran quickly enough and Wentz made a perfect throw. It was still too obvious that the ball was going to Sproles, though. 
• Wentz got Ertz involved on the third play of the drive, hitting him for a first down. 
• On a first-and-10 from the 41, Wentz had the ball stripped from him on a sack. I feel like I say this every week, but sometimes Wentz needs to know when to say when. Even if he broke out of the sack, he had nothing on the play. There's nothing wrong with sometimes living to see another play, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning made pretty good careers out of doing it. 

Drive Three

• Wentz did a nice pump-fake on the second play of the drive, avoided a defender and gave Smith another chance to come down with the ball. He thrives on these type of plays. 
• On third down, Wentz hit Ertz, who made a nice catch despite the throw being behind him. 
• Dee Ford took down Wentz, who again, probably should have taken the sack sooner given the circumstances, to end the drive. 

Drive Four

• After a Darren Sproles first down run, Carson Wentz overthrew Ertz deep, on a ball that probably should have been picked to end the half. Instead, the ball bounced off of Eric Murray and into the hands of Ertz, who almost took it to the endzone. (Naturally, the chip-shot field goal was then missed.)

The 🏈 bounces off the DB.
And right into @ZERTZ_86's hands.

Unreal! #PHIvsKC #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/u8xQeOBQj7

— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2017

Third Quarter

Drive Five

• Wentz opened up the second half with a six-yard completion to Smith. 
• His second pass of the drive was tipped by former Eagle Bennie Logan, giving the Chiefs a chance to pick the ball off. 
• On third down, Wentz found Smith for a 24-yard gain. 
• The drive ended after Wentz was not able to hook-up with Jeffery, who was smothered by Marcus Peters. 

Drive Six

• Wentz found Jeffery for an 18-yard pitch-and-catch to open the sixth drive of the game. These two work well together. 
• On the next play, Wentz hit Mack Hollins for another first down – it was the first catch of Hollins' career. 
• Completely appearing to have abandoned the run, Wentz hit Ertz across the middle for the third consecutive first down. 
• Looking to continue the momentum, Wentz dumped the ball off to Sproles on the next place, who got an escort for the first down. 
• The next two plays were runs, with Smallwood and Sproles combining for a first down. 
• The drive, which was the nicest of the season, ended in a touchdown pass to Jeffery, after the team used Smith as a decoy. Great play, best drive of the young season. 

.@TheWorldof_AJ's first TD in an #Eagles' uniform. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/nXwKe0rU52

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 17, 2017

Drive Seven

• The seventh drive picked up where the sixth one left off, with Wentz hitting Jeffery for a first down. 
• On the next play, Wentz had the ball knocked loose, but was able to recover it. He needs to eliminate the 50/50 turnover chances. 

Fourth Quarter

Drive Seven (continued)

• On third-and-13, Wentz tucked the ball and ran for a first down. Great vision and dive to get the first down. 
• Wentz did a nice job on second-and-five of sensing pressure in the pocket, sliding to the left and waiting for Hollins to get open for another first. He hit Hollins for an eight-yard gain on the following play as well. 
• After Phillip Gaines shut down Jeffery on third-and-seven, the Eagles were forced to settle for a field goal to end the drive. Elliott then connected on a 40-yard field goal to tie the game. 

Drive Eight

• Wentz opened the eighth drive by running for a first down after getting great pass protection from his line. 
• The drive ended when Wentz attempted to dump the ball off to Sproles on third-and-long, but instead hit the ball off of Justin Houston's helmet, setting Chris Jones up to pick the ball off. 

FAT GUY CHRIS JONES pic.twitter.com/rSWD5zb2nM

— Clay Wendler (@ClayWendler) September 17, 2017

Drive Nine

• Wentz got sacked trying to escape pressure to open the ninth drive, with the Eagles down 20-13. 
• This drive was a three-and-out. 

Drive 10

• Chris Jones sacked Wentz on the first play of drive 10, his third of the game. Wentz displayed excellent hand strength there to not have the ball stripped, but it was another turnover opportunity. 
• Wentz had a 24-yard run on this drive, which as pointed out on the broadcast, was the longest run of his career. 
• Wentz did hit Agholor with less than 10 seconds left for a touchdown, it was the first time the former first-round pick had a catch in the game. 

Drive 11

• After Trey Burton helped the Eagles to recover an onside kick attempt, the Eagles took a shot deep on a Hail Mary as the clock expired. Unfortunately, the Eagles weren't able to pull it down. 

Week 2 Takeaways

• Wentz was 9-15 in the first half for 134 yards. The 53-yard reception by Ertz at the end of the first half was a gift – one that probably should have been picked – but for a defensive game, Wentz played well in the first half. 
• In my Week 1 notes, I wrote that while Wentz only threw one interception, he probably had three or four balls that could have been intercepted. He managed to get lucky on the Ertz ball at the end of the first half, but the Chiefs defensive line began to tip his passes more consistently in the fourth quarter. He also fumbled twice, although he did recover those. Wentz largely played well today, but he can't keep giving teams so many chances to create turnovers. 
• LeGarrette Blount had one rush for no yards in this afternoon's game. You don't have to even be high on Blount (no pun intended, really) to understand that this doesn't make sense. Smallwood had just three carries, while a 33-year-old Sproles led the team with 10 carries. It wasn't like the Eagles were down in this game, they simply didn't commit to the run. They have to figure out some sort of running game to help their second year quarterback. 
• The Eagles weren't able to bring down the Hail Mary attempt as time expired, which was rather deflating. You do get the feeling that Wentz will complete a Haily Mary at some point in his career, but that point wasn't today.