This makes Wentz the first rookie quarterback in Eagles history to start in the team’s season opener. 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.
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Some people seemed confused what the Eagles were doing, but it seemed obvious: They wanted Bradford – a competent if unspectacular starter – to play this season (and possibly next) to give the team a fighting chance in what looks like a weak NFC East. Daniel would serve as his backup, while also helping teach the rest of the players the offense. That made it pretty clear that the North Dakota State boy was going to be the starter. “I’m already excited. I’m trying to control a little bit and focus in all week”. Sure. But right now where we are, we’ve got a good football team around him, got a great defense, special teams, offensive line, good runners.
“I think any competitor would be a little disappointed”, Daniel said.
Wentz said two his keys to succeed in his new situation will be to emerge as a team leader and bounce back from any mistakes, qualities that are obvious to spout at a news conference but hard to display when things turn sour on the field.
“We have to make judgments on the individual players and we’re not always going to be right”, told Grossi “But in this particular case, we just didn’t feel it was necessarily the right bet to make for us at this time”. The 49ers got a second-round pick for Alex Smith in 2013, and I’d much rather have Smith than Bradford.
“It’s just human nature”, Pederson said. He thanked Bradford, who Wentz said had been a mentor, and exchanged pleasantries. Even going into the first preseason game I felt like I was very confident, felt like I’d developed at a fast pace. Carson Wentz is learning to adjust to the National Football League and Eagles fans will witness his first mistakes in doing so. “We’ve got to be smart in how we handle it but at the same time fully expect him to perform how he’s capable of performing in what we’ve seen throughout OTAs and training camp”. “To me, this is just the beginning of the new normal”.
Obviously Carson Wentz is believed to be the quarterback for the future in Philadelphia.
Pederson was prepared to have Wentz spend at least the first half of the season on the bench, watching and learning, before taking over next season or – if Bradford had an outstanding season as some (mainly me) were predicting – 2018.
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“If we didn’t have the confidence in how our team was playing and how we’ve structured the team, and the quarterbacks that are on the roster, we couldn’t do this”. It was right for this football team. I can’t get caught up in the speculation game. According to Browns’ chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, it was because they simply did not think he was that good. We can’t go out there and tell Carson to win this game. Given his struggles in his limited preseason action, that’s a viable opinion. “So Carson’s been exposed to everything in our game plan that we put into today, what we’ll put in tomorrow and on Friday”, he said. “When you lose your quarterback with Sam, it can be mixed emotions, but guys were 100 percent behind Carson”. That’s fine. We’re going to get behind that and roll with it.
