Stat Nerds Having Field Day Belittling Carson Wentz

If you're an old-school believer in the eye test, you know Carson Wentz has failed miserably this year. If you're a modern-day stat truther, you know it's much worse than that.

Carson Wentz is the worst quarterback in the NFL right now.

So far this season, Wentz is No. 32 out of 32 eligible quarterbacks in: Total QBR, Quarterback Rating, adjusted yards gained per pass attempt, adjusted net yards per pass attempt, and yards lost due to sacks. He's No. 31 in interception percentage and net yards gained per pass attempt and also ranks among the bottom in other stats like touchdown percentage and yards gained per pass attempt.

If some of those stats seem made up or unimportant, let's go back to the eye test and see how he's done throwing the ball in a clean pocket.

Yeah, that's a major issue pointed out by ESPN stat guru Paul "Hembo" Hembekides. But he's hardly the only stat truther to jump on the Carson-Wentz-has-regressed bandwagon.

OK, I threw another Hembekides tweet in there, but you get the point. Carson Wentz has regressed and the stats back it up.

Beyond his rank among peers, so far Wentz is on pace to throw 24 interceptions and 16 touchdowns, which would be his highest career interception total and lowest touchdown total since he was a rookie. His interception percentage is currently twice as high as the worst of his career, his Total QBR is likewise 50% worse than his rookie year and his completion percentage, yards gained per pass, sack percentage and most other stats that matter are also at a career-worst mark.

Now, you can say it's too early in the season to jump to conclusions. You can also point out the Eagles' injuries on the offensive line and mention their lack of elite talent at wide receiver as reasons to remain optimistic about Wentz. That's fair. That's fine. The issue for me there is he's also failing the eye test.

In Week 1 against the Washington Football Team, both of Wentz's interceptions were thrown late and behind the receiver. Against the Rams it was the same thing with Wentz under throwing a late pass into double coverage that was intercepted in the third quarter. His second came on a lazy sidearm throw late in the fourth quarter. Generally speaking, Wentz has had some wild overthrows to open receivers this year and is holding onto the ball too long in certain situations.

Wentz is in his fifth year in the league and has dealt with several injuries that likely delayed some of the progression he was making. However, since that season, he hasn't been the same elite player in the stat books or based on the eye test. If he can't take a step forward this year, or worse still if he continues performing like he has the first two weeks of the season, there will be no debate between statheads or old school scouts anymore. Wentz will be known as a bad quarterback across the board.