Ron Rivera: Carson Wentz will 'bounce back'
Carson Wentz's first game against his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, marked a disastrous reunion for the Commanders' starting quarterback. But head coach Ron Rivera believes that last Sunday was just a hiccup despite two-plus years of evidence that the former MVP-frontrunner's best days are behind him.
Rivera told NBC Sports Commanders he firmly believes that Wentz will "bounce back" from the nightmarish performance in Week 3.
Against the Eagles, Wentz completed passes on just 45% of his drop-backs, per Pro Football Focus. The nine sacks he took in the game were a huge contributor to his inefficient performance and were the most taken by any quarterback in a game this season.
Despite the setback, Rivera still likes what he sees out of Wentz. "He's a very resilient young man," Rivera said in that same interview. But unless that resiliency begins to translate to Wentz consistently leading this team to victory, he could quickly squander his last chance at being a starter in the NFL.
Because while Rivera remains steadfast in his commitment to Wentz on the field, the Commanders can cut ties with Wentz in the offseason without incurring a dead cap hit, per The Sporting News.
And the Commanders have a reason to keep Wentz on a short leash. The Indianapolis Star reminds us of an important stipulation in the Commanders' offseason trade with the Colts to bring Wentz to D.C. According to Scott Horner, "if Wentz plays 70% of the Commanders' snaps, a 2023 third-round pick becomes a second-rounder."
Per Pro Football Reference, during last year's first 17-game season, NFL teams averaged 1076.5 offensive plays over the course of the season, an average of 63.3 plays per game. Using last year's team averages, to reach that 70% threshold Wentz would need to be the team's quarterback for 754 plays. Based on the 63.3 plays per game average, Wentz would reach that total after 12 games.
But to get there, Wentz will need to show more of what was on display in their Week 1 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Wentz began the season with back-to-back 300-yard passing games, averaging over seven yards per pass attempt. But he crashed back to Earth against the Eagles, throwing for just 211 yards and an average of 4.91 yards per attempt. During the team's two-game losing streak, Wentz has been sacked 14 times.
Since the beginning of the 2020 season, Wentz is 13-18-1 (.406) as a starter.
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