Wentz-O-Meter: Week 5 vs. Titans

[Boone]

This week our BGO Supercomputer had a tough task - balancing what was really a very good performance from Carson Wentz with late failure in the form of a game-ending Wentz INT.

In the end, our Wentz-O-Meter landed on a very solid 8.5.

Some will argue that score is much too high but our computer is not clouded by emotion or the disappointment in Sunday's ultimate outcome. It looks solely at QB performance - and this week's performance was quite good. Wentz finished just shy of completing 66% of his passes, going 25 of 38 for 359 yards, 2 TDs, and of course the final lone interception. Wentz had a number of very accurate passes dropped by Washington WRs. Wentz was sacked 3 times but could've taken a number of other sacks but utilized his feet and good pocket manuevering to avoice several more. Unlike previous weeks, Wentz did not look skittish or gun-shy in the pocket but was far more decisive.

In addition to using his feet to elude the rush when necessary, Wentz fielded a number of poor snaps from Nick Martin, including recovering several of them that would've been turnovers had it not been for heads-up play by the QB. Wentz hit a number of big downfield plays including an electric 70+ yard TD, the first of Dyami Brown's career and one of two on the day. It should be noted that the Commanders were absolutely inept on 3rd down converting just once in 12 attempts. That they were in this game at the end is a minor miracle but their 3rd down woes were largely the result of bad playcalling, and Turner's bizarre decision to hand over the ground duties to a rookie coming off gunshot wounds in his first ever NFL game, instead of a top 10 RB in Antonio Gibson who barely touched the ball Sunday.

On the final drive to end the game, from his own 11 yd line Wentz engineered an 18 play, 4 min 40 second drive all the way down to the Titans goalline. After squandering a timeout on a desperation challenge he clearly had no chance of winning, Washington probably couldn't risk running the ball. The resultant play ended the game and probably relegated the Commanders to the bleachers come playoff time. Again.

On to Week 6.

 

[Chris]

Taylor would have earned an 11 and cured cancer during halftime.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Wentz gets a 7.

To me, 5 is Wentz's average. His average is his ability to make big plays but also colossal mistakes.

This game, some of his flaws were not present. He did use his checkdowns, did protect the ball for the most part.

His strengths of being able to hit big plays accurate was much more evident today.

He still missed some balls high...this is probably chronic and uncurable.

The last meaningful play was not a bright moment for two reasons. His eyes telegraphed the throw and he had one more down to play, and that final down would have opened up the threat of run or pass because...it would have been the last meaningful play. Instead, the hero ball Wentz had to manifest himself along with eye telegrapher Wentz, allowing the LB to make the break on the ball and get the game-ending INT.

 

[Boone]

All fair SCP. I do think the playcall set him up for failure. With an extremely short field and not having to worry about the run at all, the endzone and goalline are awash with max coverage. It's very difficult for anyone to get open and it's going to be a very brief window. If you're going to drop straight back, it's got to be an immediate bang-bang perfect ball.

Not a fan of what we did there.

 

[Boone]

I could see someone rating him anywhere from a 6 upwards for Sunday's performance. I think 8.5 is the ceiling but takes into account several dropped passes and penalties and also the fact that there were numerous plays that should have been negative ones (low snaps, protection breakdowns, miscues) where Wentz was decisive and made something out of nothing, or plain averted disaster with heads-up plays.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

All fair SCP. I do think the playcall set him up for failure. With an extremely short field and not having to worry about the run at all, the endzone and goalline are awash with max coverage. It's very difficult for anyone to get open and it's going to be a very brief window. If you're going to drop straight back, it's got to be an immediate bang-bang perfect ball.

Not a fan of what we did there.

I'm not sure what the intended progressions are but Bates on the out on the opposite side would have been the most sensible choice. Just a quick turn to the other side before the defender could react and it's either incomplete or a possible TD. The pocket was actually pretty good too. As a veteran, the QB should know the D players are taught to read the eyes. Carson is confident, but in this case, it was overconfidence.

They playcall was not good because everyone was covered, but it wasn't the final down available and the QB should behave accordingly.

The possible 4th down play that never happened would have had a run threat for the Titans to consider.

 

[Theismann To HOF]

I gave Wentz a 7. He played pretty solid, both TD passes were nice throws. Most of his throws were pretty accurate, except for maybe 1 or 2 exceptions. The INT at the end of the game was obviously a killer, but I can't fully blame that on Wentz. It was a bang/bang play and the defender did a good job making the INT. Those INTs are often dropped.

The Titans did not have much of a pass rush yesterday, and that helped Wentz a lot. We've seen how badly Wentz struggles against teams with a good pass rush, such as the Eagles and Cowboys. Again, this is why the Eagles and Colts had enough of him.

 

[Boone]

I would've been okay with running on 3rd down. Probably would've taken them by surprise. Agree on your comments.

 

[Neophyte]

Having watched all of Wentz's pass plays, I gave him a 7.

There was a drop or two that wasn't on him, and he bailed the team out of at least 3 bad shotgun snaps by either recovering the ball or handling the bad snap outright.

It would have been an 8 (or maybe even a 9) had he managed to get the ball in the Endzone on that last drive.