Is Carson Wentz Legit?

Carson Wentz has been the big talk for Washington Commanders fans. With Chase Young being injured, fans have lost a lot of hope for the Commanders’ defense. The offense on the other hand has instilled hope into the fans, with the receiver core (new receiver Jahan Dotson, star receiver Terry McLaurin, and Curtis Samuel) and running back Antonio Gibson being a highlight. It seemed like the only thing missing from the offense (next to a better offensive line) was a good quarterback. Carson Wentz might just be the answer. 

The Commanders have played three regular season games and Carson Wentz started in all of them. In the week 1 game, Carson Wentz led the Commanders to their first win of the season with a pretty decent performance. He threw three touchdown passes and got 313 total yards. He did manage to throw 2 interceptions though, both coming in the 4th quarter. The first interception was due to good zone coverage. Wentz saw Dotson open on his route, but the ball just didn’t get to him quick enough. Can’t really say anything too bad about Wentz on that play. The second interception was from bad decision making. They ran a play action and Wentz got blitzed by the Jaguars defense.  

Wentz made up for his interceptions the next drive though with an amazing 50-yard throw to Terry McLaurin down the sideline for a touchdown, bringing the Commanders back into the game (now only down by 2). The next and final drive, Carson Wentz throws an almost perfect throw to Dotson in the corner of the end zone. He also gets the 2-point conversion pass completed to get the Commanders up by 6. The game ended with a score of 22-28, Commanders win. Outside of the 2 interceptions, Wentz performed well. The main thing that he lacks so far is speed. 

In the week 2 game against the Lions, Wentz didn’t perform nearly as well as expected. Although he threw for more yards, it doesn’t accurately represent his poor performance. He had 30 completions out of 46 attempts, but there were many opportunities to get better passes that he missed. His situational awareness also seemed off throughout the game. It was noticeable when he allowed the Lions to get a safety. Instead of getting out of the endzone or throwing the ball away sooner, he waited in there knowing that there’s not a lot of time to do that when playing from the endzone. He got sacked the next drive which was partly due to himself. The Commander’s offensive line is not that good at all. With that in mind, Wentz should be playing with some sense of urgency. Instead of doing that though, he takes his time in the pocket which causes the defense to get to him easily. Wentz also threw an interception in the second half. He threw the ball a little too high and the receiver couldn’t make the play on it. Wentz could’ve had a better placement so that interception was on him mostly.

In the week 3 game against the Eagles, Wentz, once again, struggled to get into a good rhythm. He stayed in the pocket way too long causing him to get sacked 9 times by the eagles defense. He doesn’t seem to be able to read the defense well or move out of the pocket efficiently. Toward the end of the game he seemed to get his throws together a couple times. He threw near perfect passes to his receivers two times. But both receivers dropped the pass. Those incompletions threw the whole offense off rhythm and the Commanders ended up losing 24-8 with only one touchdown.

Right now Wentz isn’t looking like much of a threat in any aspect. He has a decent arm with decent accuracy, but he hasn’t really proven that he could be the saving grace that the Commanders need. He might not be used to the Commanders offense yet since it’s their first few games together, but if the Commanders want to have a chance at least winning their division, he’s going to need to play better in the next games to come.