Carson Wentz's Toughness Cannot Be Questioned

The Eagles QB took a beating at the hands of the Ravens' defense, but he hit back, leading a fourth-quarter charge that came up just short

PHILADELPHIA – His resume may show otherwise, but an injury-prone quarterback doesn’t keep getting up the way Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz did on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Ravens threw everything they could at Wentz, and a lot of times, the stuff they were throwing found their mark.

Wentz was hit 16 times, sacked six times, and roughed illegally twice.

Each time he got up. If showing toughness like that isn’t leading by example, then what is?

While he didn’t lead the Eagles to victory - they fell to 1-4-1 after dropping a 30-28 decision – Wentz’s toughness and determination cannot be overlooked.

“Pain and soreness, bumps and bruises, that’s part of football,” he said. “Every guy out there is feeling something along those lines. Within a game, you don't notice those things. Obviously, you wake up the next morning, you’re going to be a little sore.

“That’s part of football, that’s part of life. I’ll be fine. I came out just fine. Obviously for me and a lot of these guys we have a quick turnaround, we have a Thursday night football game (against the New York Giants) which is even harder on your body so we have to do the right thing so we’re ready to go full speed Thursday night.”

If the accumulation of those hits took their toll against the Ravens, Wentz never showed it.

Maybe his body will tell a different story, with different shades of purple, blue, and yellow some areas of it may turn over the course of the week and beyond, but Wentz didn’t take the beatings he absorbed in stride.

He hit back, stinging the Ravens with 22 points in the fourth quarter. Baltimore had only given up 23 points in the final quarter in their five previous games.

The Eagles quarterback threw two touchdowns, ran for another, had a 40-yard run, and completed 10 passes for 93 yards. All in the fourth quarter.

“Carson played a heck of a football game,” said head coach Doug Pederson. “He played tough. Played smart. Resilient guy, resilient group. Rallied his troops. Made some tough throws against a really, really good defense. Proud of him for hanging in there amidst, again, some of the injuries we had.”

Oh, there were plenty of those. Again.

Wentz didn’t have Miles Sanders in the fourth quarter and both tight end Zach Ertz right tackle Jack Driscoll limped off in the final quarter, too.

The Eagles had to dip into the deep reserve at the tackle position and summon Brett Toth into the game when Driscoll went out. Toth was signed just last week and only recently passed all the COVID-19 protocols to even enter the team’s facility.

Somehow Wentz survived and thrived.

“Carson doesn’t need to show me anything,” said center Jason Kelce. “I know who he is. I know who he has been since he has been here. He did an unbelievable job all year really of fighting through a lot of hits.”

Wentz finished with 49 yards rushing on five carries while throwing for 213 yards and two touchdowns. For the first time this season, he did not throw an interception.

He may have had four TD passes, too, if John Hightower didn’t let one clank off his hands with what looked a wide-open chance to keep his feet and run into the4 end zone with what have been an 88-yard TD, or if Miles Sanders didn’t let one go through his hands in the end near the end of the first half.

“The ending is not what we wanted,” said Wentz, “but to see the way guys have fought and being down in both games (including last week against the Steelers) and rallied back, this team is something that I don’t think you can question.

"And the toughness of these guys and I mean, you got injuries all over the board and you got guys stepping up that maybe just got here this week or all over the board. And that’s not an excuse, but there’s a lot of good that we can learn from and the fight and the effort is something that I’m so proud of.”

Nobody may have been tougher on this day than Wentz.

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