Constructive on Carson: Wentz helps Eagles to sixth straight win

By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor

After delivering an MVP-caliber performance on Monday Night Football,  Carson Wentz had a quick turnaround, as the Philadelphia Eagles welcomed the San Francisco 49ers to Lincoln Financial Field Sunday afternoon. 

Here are my in-game notes on Wentz's performance against what was the 29th-ranked defensive unit entering Week 8:

First Quarter

Drive One

• After the 49ers failed to score on the opening drive of the game, Wentz and the Eagles started their first drive of the game on their own 20. 
• The first three plays of the offensive possession were runs by LeGarrette Blount, which netted a first down. Wentz's first pass of the game came on the following play, as he hit Nelson Agholor coming out of the slot for a 17-yard gain. 
• With the Eagles continuing their up-tempo pace from Monday, Wentz hit Agholor again for a four-yard gain on the first down. He wasn't able to connect with Torrey Smith on the following play. 
• Facing a third-and-six, Wentz attempted to get the 49ers with a hard-count. Instead, Lane Johnson false started, pushing them to third-and-11. Even though he avoided being sacked, Wentz was ultimately taken down after a one-yard rush, ending the drive. 

Drive Two

• Following a 49ers three-and-out, Wentz and the Eagles got the ball back on their own 27-yard line. 
• Wentz led Alshon Jeffery into coverage on the first play of the drive, and Dante Johnson broke it up. 
• Doug Pederson drew up a designed quarterback run on the next play, one that netted a short gain. Wentz would have been able to push the Eagles closer to a first down had Zach Ertz made a more serious attempt on a lead block. Perhaps Brent Celek should have been in for that play. 
• On third-and-four, Ertz redeemed himself, as he hauled in his first catch of the day for a first down. 
• Wentz hit Barner behind the line of scrimmage on the next play, before he ran for a seven-yard gain. 
• On the following play, Wentz drew the 49ers offsides, one of his more underappreciated skills. 
• On third-and-five, Wentz hit the forgotten man in the Eagles offense, Trey Burton. The offense has been special on third down this year. 
• On second-and-13, Wentz hit an in-motion Agholor coming out of the backfield. Though the play looked potentially dangerous, it only went for a five-yard gain. 
• On third-and-eight, Jeffery was open heading to the endzone. Had Wentz been able to step into his throw, it would have been an easy touchdown. Instead, as Charles Davis pointed out on the telecast, Soloman Thomas kept Wentz from being able to step up in the pocket and he overthrow Jeffery. Though there was pressure, the throw wasn't even close. There has to be a sense of frustration from Jeffery in the amount of big plays that Wentz hasn't been able to connect with him on this year. If these two are able to click at some point, it will be special. But it's Week 8, and that is yet to consistently happen. 
• Instead of a touchdown, the Eagles ended this drive with a field goal. Against the 49ers, you can get away with this. In the postseason, it probably won't fly. 

Drive Three

• After a seven-yard gain on a Blount run on first down, the 49ers brought pressure and took down Wentz on second down. There should have been a facemask called, but Blount also missed a block. 
• With the pocket again collapsing on third down, Wentz was able to step up and throw it in Jeffery's direction. While it was impressive that he was able to get rid of it, he really had no chance to actually complete the pass and his underthrow could have led to a turnover:

Eagles OL struggling to keep Carson Wentz upright so far pic.twitter.com/569KANhYdv

— The Bitter Birds (@AdrianFedkiw) October 29, 2017

Second Quarter

Drive Four

• Wentz and the Eagles started their fourth drive inside their own three. After a Blount run went nowhere on first down, Wentz rolled out and hit Jeffery for a nine-yard gain on second down. 
• An illegal formation penalty was negated on third-and-short, as the Eagles offensive line collapsed and Blount lost yards on third down. The Eagles went three-and-out. 

Drive Five

• Wentz was taken down on first down by DeForest Buckner, who many thought the Eagles may draft before they traded up to take Wentz. 
• On third-and-16, Wentz hit Barner on a screen pass, but it only went for a short gain. This was their third straight three-and-out. The weather conditions obviously were less than ideal, but playing against the 49ers, there shouldn't be a point where the team with the best record in the NFL fails to record a first down for three straight drives. 

Drive Six

• Wentz hit Mack Hollins over the middle for a seven-yard gain to open the drive, which he followed up by hitting Burton for a first down. 
• Wentz then found Hollins again for a 24-yard gain. He may have usurped Smith as the primary deep option on the offense. 
• With a ton of momentum, Halapoulivaati Vaitai was beaten by Leger Douzable, leading to a sack of Wentz. That was the final play before the two-minute warning. 
• On third-and-15, Wentz took a shot to Smith in the endzone. The two weren't able to connect, but a pass interference penalty gave the Eagles the ball on the one-yard line. 
• From the one, the Eagles elected not to bring Blount into the game. Instead, Clement was in the game. He lined up in the backfield, but was almost immediately put into motion to the right side by Wentz. Wentz then snapped the ball, rolled right and hit a WIDE open Ertz for his NFL-leading sixth touchdown of the season. This was a quickly-executed, well-designed play.
• After his sixth touchdown of the season, Ertz handed the ball to Mike Trout, who probably will never play a game for the Phillies: 

Lucky kid in the front row got the ball from Zach Ertz’s TD! pic.twitter.com/cFYpHD5IEO

— Dan Levy (@DanLevyThinks) October 29, 2017

• After a poor snap, Elliott missed the extra point. The Eagles were able to get the point back shortly after, as Wentz connected with Jeffery for a two-point conversion following a Jalen Mills pick-six. 

Third Quarter

Drive Seven

• The Eagles opened the second half on the 25, with Wentz connecting with Blount for a four-yard gain. 
• On a second-and-16, Wentz connected with Smallwood for a nine-yard gain out of the backfield. 
• Wentz and the Eagles couldn't convert on the third down, as Wentz wasn't able to connect with any of his receivers as the pocket collapsed. An early touchdown in the second half would have put the 49ers away. Instead, the Eagles weren't able to get much started. 

Drive Eight

• On second down, Wentz had to do his best Nick Foles impression, as he needed to backpedal away from defensive pressure until he could get rid of the ball. 
• With a 17-point lead and the 49ers offense looking increasingly incompetent, the Eagles just ran the ball on third-and-long, bringing a quick to end to their eighth drive of the game. 

Drive Nine

• To open the ninth drive, Wentz took a shot deep to Ertz, who had created a cushion for Wentz to throw into. 
• On the next play, Wentz was able to connect with Ertz, as he hit him over the middle of the field for a first down. 
• Two plays later, on second-and-six, Wentz attempted to hook up with Smith. 
• The third down play was a designed rollout to the right, but the 49ers defensive pressure, which got past Ertz and Vatai on the left side, would have forced him to roll that way anyway. Wentz, rather impressively, was able to avoid a snap and make a throw on the sideline that Jeffery at least had an outside chance to make a catch on. 

Drive 10 

• After Blount lost four yards on the first play of the drive, Wentz was unable to hit Jeffery on the second play of the drive. 
• Looking to make something happen on third-and-long, Wentz threw an interception directly into the arms of Ahkello Witherspoon. As pointed out on the broadcast, it did appear that Wentz thought Hollins was going to run into the space that Witherspoon ended up in. The offense had also struggled to get anything going to this point in the second half, so Wentz may have been trying to force something that wasn't there. 

Drive 11

• Following a 49ers touchdown and a touchback, Wentz attempted to set up a screen pass to Clement to open the drive. He threw it into the ground, which may have been by design as Clement would have been hit in the backfield for a loss. This may have been an example of Wentz living to see another play, as Clement had an explosive 22-yard run on the next play. Or it may just have been an example of a time where Wentz was lucky to make a bad pass. 
• Wentz not hooking up with Clement on a screen pass that would have gone for a loss or could have even caused a turnover loomed even larger on the next play, as Wentz threw a 50/50 ball that Jeffery stopped his route to haul in and then ran into the endzone for a 53-yard touchdown: 

Jeffery went up ant GOT IT! 🙌🏈 pic.twitter.com/hL7djBwzgz

— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) October 29, 2017

Fourth Quarter

Drive 12

• Following Derek Barnett blocking a 49ers field-goal attempt, Wentz and the Eagles started their first drive of the fourth quarter, on their 48-yard line. Wentz rolled to the right to open the drive and connected with his security blanked, Ertz, for a seven-yard gain. 
• Following a Blount first-down run, Wentz rolled to the left and had a wide-open Ertz for another first down. Unfortunately, he threw the ball behind Ertz and despite an adjustment, the ball fell out of Ertz's hands. 
• Not to be outdone by his brother, Celek got into the action on the next play, making a first-down reception. 
• On the next play, Wentz had Celek over the middle, for what potentially could have been a touchdown. He threw the ball too high, though, and Celek wasn't able to haul it in. The ball nearly was deflected to Marcus Johnson in the endzone, but it was not an impressive play from Wentz. 
• Fortunately for Wentz, you get second and third chances against a team like the 49ers, who will have a top-five pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. After he missed Celek, Blount put together consecutive impressive runs, including a 12-yard touchdown rush. 
• Wentz exited the game after this, with Nick Foles coming in on mop-up duty. 

Week 8 Takeaways

• Wentz finished the day 18/32 with two touchdowns and one pick, while throwing for 211 yards. His play dipped a bit this afternoon, although given the weather conditions and the loss of Jason Peters, that was maybe a little bit predictable. Against better teams than the 49ers, he won't be able to get away with some of the throws that he missed Sunday, however. 
• If there's another game in the season where the Eagles play in rain or snow – which there probably will be – it will be interesting to see whether Wentz elects to wear gloves on both hands, on just his non-throwing hand or on neither hand. 
• The Eagles are now 7-1 without Wentz and Jeffery really consistently clicking. While it feels like quite a bit has gone better for Wentz and the Eagles than anyone could have possibly imagined, the team's marquee offseason pickup hasn't exploded yet. I would say his presence on the offense alone has helped reduce the pressure on players like Agholor, but if he is able to individually have a big second half, the Eagles offense may still get better. 
• It wasn't exactly an impressive showing for Pennsylvania offensive lines this weekend. After Penn State failed to protect Trace McSorely in Saturday's crushing loss to Ohio State, the Eagles offensive line wasn't inspiring in their first game without Peters. We'll see if the Eagles make any moves in an attempt to improve their offense line prior to Tuesday's trade deadline. They may at least want to give themselves a fall-back if Vatai implodes. 
• Ertz has been the best pass-catching tight-end in the NFL this year, which has come at the expense of Celek and Burton in terms of snaps. While Ertz again had a big day as a pass-catcher, it remains evident that he isn't able to block in the same way that Celek is. That was fine with Peters playing. But if the Eagles aren't able to get some more stability on their offense line, I wonder whether Celek will cut into some of Ertz's snaps.
• Regardless of any perceived issues, after eight games, the Eagles are 7-1 and Wentz has thrown 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions. There's no one with the Eagles that wouldn't have signed up for that at the beginning of the year.