by  Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Am sold.

Completely.

Oh, not on his arm strength. Not on his accuracy. Not on being some other-worldly talent bequeathed that ever-popular, but often-unfulfilled title of “franchise quarterback.”

For me, now, Carson Wentz is beyond that.

In this, arguably the Eagles’ worst season since his arrival in 2016, Wentz has emerged from the pie-in-the-sky clouds created by his ardent supporters and become a real, viable pro at his profession’s most critical position, capable of carrying his team to greater heights than they, or anyone else, might think possible because he – gasp – has put his faith in him.

Considering the ranks around him for the most part since this past summer, that has been one helluva leap.

Well, hello, maturity and true leadership. You are not part of Wentz’s repertoire.

Frankly, it is the growth he has shown in those aspects that has very comfy with the Birds’ postseason prospects, even as they limp into the new year with a 9-7 record greatly aided by four-game win streak against tissue-soft competition to close the 2019 regular season.

In short, am sold now that Wentz can get them past Seattle on Sunday night and take them on to bigger and better things not just this year, but beyond.

Because he changed. He gave up trying to do everything on his own, and on his own terms. He saw the club crumbling around due to injury and ineffectiveness, and instead of going full-bore into control-freak, me-Thanos mode at a time where it would seem most natural for him to do so, Wentz opened up and let everyone around him in.

To share the load … and the recognition.

In the past, something like the emergence of Miles Sanders as a real threat running the ball would have been met with less carries as Wentz audibled as much as possible to pass plays, warranted or not.

It’s not just Sanders, or Dallas Goedert, though, that Wentz has given his trust. Those guys, as high draft picks the past couple years, were expected to be productive pros. But the likes of Greg Ward and Boston Scott – who?!! – weren’t even in the “relevant” plans, never mind key cogs in coach Doug Pederson’s wildest dreams.

Wentz has given all the greatest gift of all: opportunity.

In return, he has been rewarded with all of them making the most of each.

It has been extraordinary to watch.

For me, Wentz’s evolution hit me not with some 60-yard strike or Houdini act to escape a sack, but, rather, with a simple gesture to a teammate – a teammate perhaps not quite sure of himself in that certain situation.

It was third-and-four at the Eagles’ 37. Just 3:44 remaining in regulation and trailing the Giants by seven at the Linc. Wentz hadn’t played particularly well up to that point; in fact, he had been outperformed by his counterpart, ageless non-wonder Eli Manning, by a pretty wide margin in the first half. He also hadn’t received much juice from those around him.

Didn’t matter. As the team broke the huddle, with the Birds’ season hanging in the balance thanks to the previous week’s loss at lowly Miami putting them at 5-7, Wentz’s intended target J.J. Arcega-Whiteside seemed a tad timid heading to the line of scrimmage … and Wentz, in uber-cool and confident fashion sidled up next to him, gave him a little tap on the helmet, a knowing smile and what appeared to be a wink.

Now, wink or not, that was a wonderful display of confidence in himself and his receiver that Wentz gave Arcega-Whiteside.

Seconds later, they connected on a 22-yard hookup that paved the way to a game-tying touchdown (and PAT) en route to an overtime victory, then wins against Washington, Dallas and, finally, the Giants to get to this point.

In the postseason, with Wentz at the helm.
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Am sold, and excited about the possibilities.

by  Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Play along for a few minutes ....

We got two NFL quarterbacks. Veteran starters. Taken in the same draft.

Still young, but the narratives to their careers seemingly written in stone already.

One considered a superstar, the type of once-in-a-lifetime franchise quarterback who would lift the spirits of any fan base, no matter how emotionally torn and tattered it may be.

The other considered, well, almost an afterthought. OK mostly, and, perhaps, even good at times, but, really, not the kind of QB who has anyone thinking, “yeah, he is THE guy.”

Funny thing is, when you cut through the hype, skip the BS and just get down to facts, it’s pretty hard to differentiate between the two, say, during the past three seasons.

Or, more to the point, which is which.

To wit:

• Quarterback A has a 57.5 winning percentage as a starter in that time.
• Quarterback B 66.7.
• QB-A completes 63.7 percent of his passes throughout his career, averaging 7.0 yards per attempt and has a passer rating of 92.5.
• QB-B 66.1, 7.4 and 96.0.
• QB-A has been named to one Pro Bowl.
• QB-B two.
• QB-A has never taken a snap in a playoff game.
• QB-B has started in three playoff games, posting a 95.7 passer rating and accounting for seven touchdowns.
• QB-A has directed four comebacks and four game-winning drives.
• QB-B has eight and 14.
• QB-A has run for two touchdowns, averaging 3.8 yards per carry rushing.
• QB-B 18, 5.0.
• QB-A is considered the superstar.
• QB-B is considered … OK.
• QB-A is Carson Wentz.
• QB-B is Dak Prescott.

Welcome to reality, Philly fans, media and the national talking heads far too influenced by their man-crushing comrades who cover the Eagles masking themselves as professionals with unbiased insight.

Look, you wanna argue that Wentz is better, or will be? OK, fine. Not even gonna debate that, even though the above evidence pretty much destroys any case you could make right now – and, sorry, being injury-prone such as Wentz happens to be is not a “chalk one up” for you.

Thing is, it’s never about who is better. It’s about the absolutely absurd levels to which some fans – and, yeah, hell, yeah, that includes a lot of media members anymore – push their favorites as the ultimate, alternating hyperbole with almost hallucinogenic rationale to make their, uh, point.

The Wentz craze is unlike any in my lifetime as far as Eagles players go. So much so that it has no barriers.

Nope. No sticking within city limits, or just within the region. It’s gone national. Hell, it’s gone international.

To where any amount of money paid to him is considered a bargain … and any Prescott may want from Jerry Jones in Dallas even remotely in the same ballpark is labeled an outrage.

​More? Unthinkable.

It’s beyond laughable. Just a complete disconnect with what is and has been. All that discarded for what the hope is for the future.

You know, where Wentz is the ultimate superstar and Prescott is, grudgingly at best, OK.

Here’s the deal at this point: No matter how you slice it, or how much you really want it to be otherwise, neither of these guys has proven to be elite or awful for any extended period. They’re both flawed and they’re both talented.

Their legacies are far from the foregone conclusions being put out there en masse.

Besides, all that matters is that they’re both better than Jared Goff. Way better.

​Cue the comedy laugh track.

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

It’s fickle. It’s phony. It’s totally Philly.

This farewell to Nick Foles silliness with all the dripping-with-sincerity well-wishers making sure that he, the only quarterback in franchise history to lead the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory, knows that he will forever be … a legend in town.

Puh-leeze.

The majority of people sharing such sentiments were the same ones who either outwardly stated how things would have been even better with Carson Wentz at the helm or inwardly wished Wentz was at the helm because he – not Foles – was their guy.

The memory of what Foles accomplished not only last season, but this one that was careening off the rails for the Eagles until he took over for an injured Wentz yet again, started to fade immeasurably the moment that spot-on pass went right through Alshon Jeffery’s hands and into New Orleans defensive back Marcus Lattimore’s lap to seal an NFC divisional-round clinching victory for the Saints.

You could hear the collective sigh of mindless rationale immediately emanating from Midnight Green Nation, headed by, laughably, the media, across the country – or at least read about it in ridiculously stated code.

The gist of it all: “Well, now we can get back on the path we wanted. With our ‘franchise quarterback’ at the helm.”

Yes, you can … and, at this point, you – and, more importantly, the Eagles – should.

This is the reality: The Eagles have believed in Wentz from Day One. They bent over backward to move up in the 2016 NFL Draft to get him with the No. 2 pick. They traded Sam Bradford the moment it became possible to do so in order to make Wentz the starter. They gave Wentz carte blanche to do whatever he decided was best to do from his first snap.

With that, he has performed well. As well as credited as performing? That’s debatable. Highly debatable. We could argue stats all you want, but they can be skewed. Heck, Wentz was a shell of his 2017 self this past fall, yet his quarterback rating was better in 2018 than it was in his “record-setting” one.

Foles, conversely, has never, ever gained the trust of the Birds’ braintrust. Didn’t matter how well he performed, or what ungodly numbers – or wins – he put up. Or the franchise records he set. When they cast a shadow over anything Wentz did, the Eagles ignored it, or, worse, downplayed it. They, like most fans and media, just chalked it up to “in the moment” momentum, or luck, or magic.

Insulting. Totally. With Eagles head coach Doug Pederson further piling on true lack of appreciation just two days after this title-defense season ended, proclaiming, essentially, he now knows how to handle Wentz better – because, geez, if we can accomplish this, that and the other with a guy like Foles, the mind boggles at what we’ll be able to do with Wentz running the show.

Yeah, coach, get back to me when your boy makes it to the playoffs, and wins a game. Doesn’t even have to win the whole shebang. Just one postseason game.

But, we digress …

Keeping it real, Foles didn’t exactly play stellar in either of the playoff games he started this month. Oh, he performed exceptional right at the outset against Chicago and New Orleans. Then Pederson pulled in the reins, got conservative and reverted to his fetal position of calling on Darren Sproles’ number all too often. Both games.

Doesn’t matter. Even with that, Foles had opportunity to shine, and he didn’t.

Oh, he was directing the Eagles on another thrilling, game-winning drive before Jeffery’s whiff. The masses, incredulously, have somehow skirted over that in their haste to make sure it’s time to move back to Wentz. But, still, Foles was – overall – nothing special against the Bears and Saints.

His efforts paled in comparison to those he gave in last season’s championship run, when he had to throw his way out of Pederson’s “oh, he’s not Carson” shackles to bring Philly its first NFL title since 1960.

The greatness Foles displayed then … that won’t be remembered. It certainly won’t be legendary. Because the Eagles’ organization and the majority of the fan base made that so.

Everything Foles did came with an asterisk attached. Like he didn’t earn it. That he stumbled into it. That everyone else stepped up their game to carry him.

Pretty soon we won’t be hearing Foles’ name linked to Wentz, but, rather, Trent Dilfer.

With those same well-wishing phonies nodding in unknowing unison.

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

City of Champions now, huh?

Maybe it is time the fan base started to act like it then.

Enough with the whining, the pouting, the crying, the bitching and the moaning all centered – at its most primal, baseline level – on how everyone is out to get us, including the medical staff of the 76ers.

Yeah, OK, no one outside of us shows us any respect.

Why would they? It’s gotta be next to impossible to feel anything other than contempt for a group that forever promotes itself as the best there is and never fails to fall into narcissistic rage should anyone question that, or, heaven forbid, disagree, before fading into a depressive funk.

Yo, Philly, toughen up.

Can’t be crawling into a hole and hatching all kinds of diabolical rationales about how the sports universe is conspiring to cause you – not the teams or the coaches or the players, but you – some undo harm every time the stars don’t align … or require surgery that may cause them to miss time. Perhaps even playoff time.

Enough with the nonsensical, “the Sixers can’t win without Joel Embiid” rants. They’re as inane and uninformed as the same ones screamed in regard to Carson Wentz a few months ago.

All the Eagles did with Wentz out was go 5-1, grab the organization’s first Super Bowl victory and have his replacement, Nick Foles, earn MVP in the NFL’s signature event.

Since Embiid banged heads with Markelle Fultz back on March 28, suffering an orbital-bone fracture to his one eye and undergoing surgery, the Sixers have gone 9-1 and become the most entertaining, free-flowing outfit this side of Golden State.

The one loss came in the last game, so, naturally, everyone is in a panic entering tonight’s Round 3 of this best-of-seven series against Miami.

Frankly, Philly sports fans have been pitching apocalyptic outcomes for the Sixers ever since that collision. Just as they did once Wentz blew out his knee.

Regardless of how much evidence was provided them that, you know what, there really isn’t anything to worry about.

Get it. A great player being lost for something beyond the next timeout can cause some concern among the masses.

But, hey, championship teams find a way – regardless of the obstacle – and when they’re showing everyone, repeatedly, that they’re doing just that, well, then, it seems only right that the, uh, support system would show something more than chicken-hearted faith.

Especially when it is “the best” there is.

Embiid or no Embiid, the Sixers can win this series. Heck, they can win the whole damn shebang.
So save the doomsday talk for something else.

You know, like a potential quarterback controversy brewing now that Foles and Wentz have both confirmed that they are, indeed, human, possessing individual wants and desires and not being cult-like linked to some phony, fan-appeasing “team first, team only” philosophies.​

by Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Never understood the move in the first place.

Aging player on the decline with a big mouth, Michael Bennett didn’t seem a fit at all with the Eagles, never mind a good one.

But they acquired him anyway in a trade made official last week.

Now this – an indictment for an alleged crime that took place 14 months ago that could cost the veteran defensive end a fine, a jail sentence and, frankly, his career, especially since he kept the NFL, his current team, the Eagles, and his former one, Seattle, in the dark about everything.

Not for nothing, but don’t really care about the particulars of the incident or the repercussions that could come from it.

What does raise an eyebrow for me is that someone, or some grouping, from the team’s personnel braintrust – GM Howie Roseman, talent guru Joe Douglas, head coach Doug Pederson, etc. – felt it necessary to bring in Bennett and any baggage he may have.

Didn’t seem like the type of thing a reigning Super Bowl champ would do. Came across as more of a panic move.

Guys, the blowhard stuff on the steps of the Art Museum was fine. A little chest-thumping, curse-hurling BS to celebrate a championship … didn’t hurt no one.

But bringing in a player to, let’s face it, make that a full-time thing? Not the smartest of moves.

To me, Bennett’s game never came close to matching his mouth. Oh, he can perform. He’s no slouch on the field. But he’s an overachiever who somehow has parlayed a tiresome anti-establishment act into more respect for what he does between the lines than it deserves.

A step up from Vinny Curry, who got away via free agency? Or Chris Long, who left his future in doubt with suggestions of retirement or wanting more snaps? Maybe, maybe not.

Curry, in his career, has played a fraction of the snaps that Bennett has. They’re not really comparable, due to circumstance or scheme far more than actual ability.

Long is part-timer whose impact play-per-snap dwarfs what Bennett produces.

To me, Bennett is a classic example of an athlete who became overrated because so many were concerned about him being underrated they incessantly trumpeted his deeds, often when never merited.

He’s been a Pro Bowler the last three seasons. Why? Dude has just 23.5 sacks in that time as the primary pass rusher for Seattle’s defense. His tackle total of 126 in that span is OK, sure, but he has just 2 forced fumbles.

In short, he’s not exactly a game-changer, and certainly not worthy of the hullabaloo that followed his joining Philly.

Toss in his self-absorbed ’tude and it makes little sense. Heck, it makes no sense that the Eagles even wanted him before the indictment popped up.

Perception can be a very distorted beast, and it seems to have skewed things for many when it comes to Bennett. Put it this way, ask most Eagles fans, or most NFL fans, whom they think is a better, more impactful player between Bennett and, say, Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan, odds are they will say the former, not the latter.

Despite overwhelming evidence (Kerrigan, a fellow three-time Pro Bowler and defensive end, despite being listed a linebacker, has 33.5 sacks, 7 forced fumbles and an interception return for a TD, against the Birds, no less, since 2015) to the contrary.

Bennett, through counsel, has stated he will turn himself into police, and the spin doctors will champion that, too.

But, for me, that doesn’t matter. The Eagles getting him does; just not a smart move.
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