Wentz-O-Meter: Week 2 Preseason

[Boone]

Chime in. Where should our Wentz-O-Meter rating land on Varson’s 2nd Preseason performance. Our BGO supercomputer is crunching the data but what say you BGO?

Stats: 6/9 for 69 yds, 0 TDs, 0 INTs

************************************************

The official Wentz-O-Meter for Week 2 of the 2022 Preseason is 6.25, down from 7.5 last week. Wentz had a smaller sample size and though he threw some nice passes, he was penalized for taking a sack on a critical play (although his teammates contributed mightily to that negative play.

On to next week!

 

[Skinsfan1311]

I thought that he did okay. I would've loved to see a larger sample size.

 

[MikefromOH]

I voted 4. While he didn't directly turn the ball over, he also failed to lead us to a TD. The KC defense is not a very strong one, and we got 0 points under him.

 

[Canadian Hog]

I have him a 6. I feel there are several talented playmakers on this team and Carson's primary job this year is to be decisive and get the ball in those guys' hands and let them do the rest of the work with their feet. Don't overthink it or try to do too much! For the most part, we saw some evidence of that vs. KC, so I was fairly pleased. The one play that was ugly was the sack he took in the second quarter when he was scrambling around and on the verge of trying to play hero ball. He held the ball for six seconds and I believe he may have had Gibson open on a checkdown that would have netted some good yardage. As long as he plays within the structure of the offense, I think he will be a solid QB option for us early on. With time and chemistry, I think you will eventually see some of those big plays develop too.

 

[Primus Porcus]

woulda been an 8 had he not taken the sack to take us out of FG range. The live bullets aren't flying yet so it didnt cost us in the standings, but ya gotta practice good habits. To this point, he hadn't done anything obvious 'off script.'

I'm ok with off script, in fact i applaud it... but it can't be at the cost of points. Do that on 3rrd and 8 at your own 40, where losing 6 just gives Way more room... not where you find yourself out of FG range in a game against a team, where you have to score points on every drive or you get left behind.

It was his worst rep of the preseason... but it was 1 bad rep. He reacted as he was walking off the field like he knew he made the wrong decision. I don't think it's enough to get really upset about, but the preseason would have felt a bit different had it not happened...

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Wentz still slipping into hero ball is in fact concerning because he's been stuck in that habit for years and ironically helped us win the division with boneheaded picks on opening day two years ago.

 

[Boone]

The official Wentz-O-Meter Week 2 Preseason score has been calculated. See updated first post.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Hmm...
well
69, baby, sixty-nine.

What a statline.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

Wentz still slipping into hero ball is in fact concerning because he's been stuck in that habit for years and ironically helped us win the division with boneheaded picks on opening day two years ago.

I remember that game. Wentz was horrible. If he repeats that performance here, then he won't be the starter very long. I already think Heinicke is better than Wentz, anyway.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

I remember that game. Wentz was horrible. If he repeats that performance here, then he won't be the starter very long. I already think Heinicke is better than Wentz, anyway.

He may very well suck but still remain the starter if Irsay got Snyder with the proverbial gun to Snyder's head. Snyder's penance of sorts for making the other owners pull strings. The trade itself screamed bailout for Indy. Gilmore being able to go there was precisely thanks to our generosity.

 

[Primus Porcus]

Something that's not really talked about is that Indy's defense gave up 4th quarter leads in 3 games last year.. vs Tampa Bay (lost 38-31), @ Ravens (lost 31-25), and vs Raiders (lost 23-20). They had double digit leads against ALL 3 of these teams at one point in the game... and everyone talks about Carson in that Raiders game, but they were up 10 points entering the 4th quarter, and allowed a HUGE play late in that game to Renfrow that ultimately allowed a game winning FG as time expired.

If we're going to hold the the whole season against Wentz, we have to hold it against everyone.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I watched this last night and it’s a good assessment of Wentz so far this season. He talks about the good and the bad. Where he can improve and where he’s doing well. He also questioned some of the play design. It’s just one guys opinion, but I thought it was a good breakdown.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

I watched this last night and it’s a good assessment of Wentz so far this season. He talks about the good and the bad. Where he can improve and where he’s doing well. He also questioned some of the play design. It’s just one guys opinion, but I thought it was a good breakdown.

That was a really good video. You can see why Kurt Warner was such a great QB. He has a really high football IQ. Definitely better than Wentz's.

 

[Om]

Definitely worth the watch. My two takeaways ...

1. Carson sees/processes pretty well given these are his first live-fire plays in a new offense with new personnel. Not unreasonable to expect that both he and his receivers will sync up better the longer they play together.

2. The man's mechanics are a concern given he makes the same footwork errors on a lot of throws. His front foot flares left as he begins his throwing motion almost every time, opening up his body to the target line and making him use primarily arm to make throws instead of stepping into the target line. It looks like the main reason for the inaccuracy problem we've been hearing about. His arm in strong enough for him to get away with it generally, but it does lead to throws that are just enough off line to limit the receiver's chances to catch in stride and go after YAC. To still have such a basic mechanics flaw at this stage of his career is a legit concern. One wonders how much attention this is getting in the QB room during film breakdown and what the staff is trying to do about it ...

 

[Boone]

He’s got a 62.6 career completion % though and if you don’t factor in his last season in Philly which was by far his worst season it’s almost 64%. That compares to 66% career-wise for Patrick Mahommes. Wentz’s INT % is also, like Mahommes, very low.

That doesn’t make him Mahommes by a long shot but I would just argue he is neither especially inaccurate nor a high turnover QB.

Maybe I am, but I’m not trying to be argumentative or homeristic.

I just continue to struggle to correlate some of the labels I see applied to Wentz with the actual numbers. I know stats don’t ever tell the whole story but they do represent his general body of work and capabilities. I hope they are working on his mechanics but as you said Mark it’s unlikely they will dramatically improve in year 7.

Then again, maybe some of sloppiness and poor mechanics are what’s kept him from moving beyond being a ‘serviceable’ to ‘good’ QB to a very good or dominant one, and perhaps have led to more breakdowns at key career moments?

 

[Om]

... maybe some of sloppiness and poor mechanics are what’s kept him from moving beyond being a ‘serviceable’ to ‘good’ QB to a very good or dominant one, and perhaps have led to more breakdowns at key career moments?

I think this is where I was going with my take above. No argument from me that Wentz looks like a pretty serviceable NFL QB, it just seems to me from some observation of actual game action and film analysis by people like Warner who know what they're talking about, that with better mechanics he might have become (could still become?) an elite QB.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

Definitely worth the watch. My two takeaways ...

1. Carson sees/processes pretty well given these are his first live-fire plays in a new offense with new personnel. Not unreasonable to expect that both he and his receivers will sync up better the longer they play together.

2. The man's mechanics are a concern given he makes the same footwork errors on a lot of throws. His front foot flares left as he begins his throwing motion almost every time, opening up his body to the target line and making him use primarily arm to make throws instead of stepping into the target line. It looks like the main reason for the inaccuracy problem we've been hearing about. His arm in strong enough for him to get away with it generally, but it does lead to throws that are just enough off line to limit the receiver's chances to catch in stride and go after YAC. To still have such a basic mechanics flaw at this stage of his career is a legit concern. One wonders how much attention this is getting in the QB room during film breakdown and what the staff is trying to do about it ...

These were my two takeaways as well. He’s doing a good job processing the plays and making the right decisions. And then on the bad end, the footwork.

Maybe this organization has trouble identifying QBs with good footwork, but it seems like every QB that has been in DC the past 15 years has struggle with footwork. Brunnel may have been the last guy we didn’t hear that about, but he was at the end of his career. Everyone else it seems like it comes down to their footwork. Tons of arm talent, makes throws that other guys can’t, struggles with consistency due to poor footwork. I just described 90% of the recent QBs that have been on this roster.