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Cleveland Browns at Philadelphia Eagles preview

Wentz is still adjusting to the sudden change in his rookie season, but is confident he will be ready when the Browns come to town on Sunday.

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That was about the only thing that wasn’t good.

With a hairline fracture of the rib, Wentz might not run as much as he would normally, Nassib said.

While we’re not scolding anyone for being honest – the comments from Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta and Nassib are refreshing and honest evaluations, which we rarely see anymore – the pair had better hope they are right.

The Cleveland Browns will face a rookie first-round quarterback for the sixth consecutive season on Sunday in Carson Wentz.

That’s the challenge of running an National Football League team.

He completed 12 of 24 passes for 84 yards with one interception and zero touchdowns against the Buccaneers that game. Seven of those 16 losses have come by five points or less, and includes a 17-16 defeat against the Eagles in 2012.

“We just felt so comfortable at the Eagles to make the moves to go get Carson Wentz and felt very strong about the way we evaluated, just looking at everything and exhausting everything”. I was like, ‘Whoa, it’s like 11 o’clock, I’m not ready for this. I knew as I was taking the mental reps, being out the last couple of weeks. Despite not playing much during the preseason, the Inquirer’s Jeff McLane says the team has been very impressed with Wentz. He instills confidence in me. The biggest task is getting rookie quarterback Carson Wentz up to speed.

“Nothing surprises me anymore”, tight end Zach Ertz said. “We worked him out”, Eagles first-year head coach Doug Pederson said of landing Wentz.

“It was right for this football team”, Pederson said of the blockbuster trade. It’s something that we believe in.

“We went in another direction”, he said. Sure. But right now, where we are, we got a good football team around him, great defense, special teams. “All the pieces are here for him to be successful and for us to win some games”.

Wentz’s teammates said they believe this as well. “They brought me here for a reason so I need to get the job done”. So mentally, he’s there. Daniel had been the backup quarterback in Kansas City the last three seasons while Pederson was the offensive coordinator there. The Eagles wouldn’t have mortgaged a bevy of draft picks to trade up to No. 2 if that wasn’t the case. McNabb didn’t become a starter until Week 10, while Pederson led the Eagles to a 2-7 start.

Pederson said Daniel has the type of temperament to handle the situation. It was just announced that Carson Wentz would be the Eagles starter week 1.

“I don’t want to harness that aggression”, Pederson said. “This is what, as an organization, we believe in”. It’s going to be about us.

The Wisniewski-vs. -Seumalo question is the dilemma of a team trying to be competitive while clearly building for the future: Do the Eagles start the experienced veteran, or the rookie who could be a long-term starter?

Those veterans are still convinced the Eagles can win with a rookie quarterback whose preseason consisted of just 39 snaps and 24 passes, all of them coming almost four weeks ago. “We quickly cleaned up and got out of there”. “It’s about our focus and our preparation and how we go through our process during the week to get ready to play”.

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“You inherit the pressure”. I’ll be really excited. It wasn’t pretty by any means, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed or anything.

NFL 2016: Eagles go all in on Carson Wentz from the start