Through three weeks, Carson Wentz has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. That’s hard to argue.
Kyle Shanahan just doesn’t expect that to continue.
The 49ers head coach, on a conference call with Philadelphia reporters, said he fully expects Wentz to rebound from his forgettable start in 2020.
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“He’s an unbelievable player and he still is,” Shanahan said. “I don’t see anything that’s changed. It’s a matter of time before he plays at a high level. He’s too good not to.”
That’s the kind of optimism Eagles fans have been losing weekly during the 2020 season. With each passing performance, viewpoints in Philly have shifted from thinking Wentz had a bad game or two to a possible regression from which he won't recover.
Maybe Eagles fans are too close to the situation.
Maybe Shanahan isn’t close enough.
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Because through three games, Wentz has completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 737 yards, 3 TDs, 6 INTs and a dismal passer rating of 63.9. He has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL through three weeks.
Wentz says he knows he isn’t playing well enough and he thinks he knows what he needs to do to correct his problems. But it hasn’t happened yet.
On Wednesday, Wentz said the Eagles offense isn’t far off. And it seems like Shanahan agrees with him.
“He looks like Carson Wentz,” Shanahan said. “The guy is a helluva competitor, can make a ton of plays, has a big arm and is extremely hard to take down. Just said in our own press conference, he was the best player in the NFL the year you guys won the Super Bowl and he had that unfortunate injury. But he’s come back and fought from that.
“And I think anytime when you are that good of a player and you are on a good team like the Eagles are and your guys numbers aren’t the best and stuff like that, people are always going to look at the quarterback. That’s the pressure that goes with that position."
This is the part of the Wentz situation that has so many flummoxed. We’ve seen Wentz play at a high level plenty of times before. Heck, the last quarter of the 2019 season was some of his best work ever.
So how does he lose it that quickly?
Shanahan doesn’t think he has. Right now, many Eagles fans might not believe him, but they’re hoping he’s right.