Carson Wentz Is Back and So Are the Eagles as Super Bowl Contenders

The main things that people are talking about from Thursday night’s Eagles shellacking of the Giants are that Eli Manning is washed up and Odell Beckham Jr. remains combustible, but it warrants mentioning that Carson Wentz played a superb game and that if he continues to play like he did in that game the Eagles are back to being Super Bowl contenders.

This was Wentz’s fourth game back from the ACL tear he suffered towards the end of last season, and it was the game in which he had his highest completion percentage (72.2), threw the most touchdowns (3), and took the least sacks (1).

This touchdown throw to Alshon Jeffery was when I, and presumably a lot of other people, said to myself, Okay, he’s back. Wentz escaped pressure and threw an absolute dart across his body:

The one concerning aspect from last night was the Eagles’ offensive line. The unit was ranked no. 1 in the league by Pro Football Focus coming into the season, but every time you looked up Carson Wentz was under heavy pressure. He has an escapability and a strong pocket awareness such that he can get rid of the ball quickly in the face of pressure, but it goes without saying that if he gets roughed up too much and has to miss time the Eagles’ chances to repeat decrease considerably, even with how great Nick Foles played in last year’s run.

As I mentioned on Monday when I wrote that the Eagles were a great buy low candidate, there is no reason they shouldn’t be favored to win the NFC East. Since then, Washington got exposed in New Orleans and the Eagles offense was humming against the Giants. Philadelphia still has five games remaining in the division.