As the Browns prepare to face rookie quarterback Carson Wentz in Sunday’s regular-season opener on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles, they’re well aware of the threat the second overall pick in this year’s draft poses as a runner.
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He called that injury a fluke play and said on Monday that “it won’t happen again”. “I think he’s going to be a good player”. I knew I was taking the mental reps being out the last couple of weeks. “I felt like I’ve developed at a fast pace”.
Now he’s the starter in Philadelphia for Week 1 and fate has decided the opponent is the team that didn’t want him. He had, however, sat out of live drills and game action for three weeks after he suffered a hairline fracture in his ribs during the August 11 preseason opener. It’s really about our football team. The optimism continued throughout training camp to the point that Pederson was comfortable trading Bradford one week before the season. We’re not giving him the whole thing yet.
“Would the ideal situation be later than sooner?”
The Eagles have no running game, receivers who can’t get open or catch the ball and a rookie quarterback from an FCS school.
After winning the Heisman Trophy, the former Texas Christian University star got off to a rough start in the NFL. Paxton Lynch, the third quarterback taken in the first round, attempted 1,205. They were going to start veteran Sam Bradford.
Neither can Wentz’s teammates.
“Really the entire staff and everybody feels like this is this kids ready to go”. “There’s nothing different that I’ve got to do now. It’s still football, still be the same guy”.
Wentz seemed undaunted by any additional pressure that might come his way.
If Wentz can do that and grow into the quarterback Eagles executives envision, perhaps his weekend hunting trip will go down in Philadelphia lore as the birth of a successful era.
Suffice it to say that if Wentz puts up those numbers this season, the Eagles will be looking for a new quarterback.
Pederson said he would have been content to let Wentz spend the season watching and learning behind Sam Bradford.
Chase Daniel will be the backup.
For all the disappointment of last season, the Eagles were still a 7-9 team, and won 10 games in back-to-back seasons before that.”There’s a fine line”, said Pederson of trying to win now while also building for the future. “But believe me, it’s not going to get in the way of my preparation”. It’s not going to hinder me in any way moving forward. Carson is ready for this. We’re excited for him, I’m excited to go out and play with him. Wentz’s new National Football League team was quick to pounce by editing this clip of him at an Eagles practice together with some of that old wastebasket footage.
And yet, he somehow convinced the Eagles that he’s ready to be the team’s first rookie quarterback to start on opening day since Davey O’Brien in 1939.
Doug Pederson first arrived in Philadelphia 17 years ago, brought in by a first-time head coach charged with rebuilding a franchise that had sunk to the bottom of the NFL. That process still occurs now that Wentz is the starter.
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Right guard Brandon Brooks said Wentz knows the offense very well and he’s a fiery leader. He instills confidence in me. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed or anything.
