Colts’ Frank Reich has high praise for Carson Wentz’s big plays: ‘That’s the guy I knew in Philadelphia’
Written by luck on October 18, 2021
Carson Wentz is starting to play like the quarterback who threw 81 touchdown passes to 21 interceptions for a three-year stretch in Philadelphia, instead of the one who bottomed out with his former team last season. After playing his best game of the year last week, Wentz followed that in Week 6 by finishing 11 of 20 for 223 yards and two touchdowns (127.7 rating) in a 31-3 win over the Houston Texans, averaging 21.2 yards per completion.
Wentz threw a touchdown pass of 51 yards to Parris Campbell and a 28-yard strike to Mo Alie-Cox, his fourth game this season where he threw multiple touchdown passes with zero interceptions — tied for the most among NFL quarterbacks. Wentz averaged 11.15 yards per attempt in Sunday’s win, one game after notching his career high in yards per attempt (11.49).
The big plays for the Indianapolis Colts are becoming common for Wentz, as he has 20 pass plays for 20-plus yards through just six games. Wentz had just 27 of them in 13 games for the Philadelphia Eagles last season
“This is the guy I knew in Philadelphia,” Reich said after Sunday’s win. “He can be a big-play machine. What I’ve been more impressed with, I know he can make those plays, but I like the way he’s taking care of the football.
“I like the way he’s handling the game, getting us in and out of the right run checks, just being in control out there and trusting his guys to make the big plays and making good decisions and being accurate with the ball, especially down the field, which he’s been off the charts.”
Wentz was tied for the league lead in interceptions last season with 15, despite playing in just 13 games. He’s thrown just one interception this season — tied for the fewest in the league amongst quarterbacks with at least 100 pass attempts. Wentz has completed 64.2% of his passes for 1,545 yards with nine touchdowns to just one interception (102.4 rating), leading the league in interception rate (0.5).
This is one of the reasons why Wentz wanted to reunite with Reich to try and salvage his career. He’s a big-play quarterback and embraces the opportunity to sling the football down the field.
“I love striking quick and fast the way we did today,” Wentz said. “It’s just so big for us, for the whole team, for momentum…It’s huge for us and it’s momentum and I think we can keep doing some of that.
“I think it’s definitely something we are capable of, as long as teams give us the right looks that we are looking for and all those things. I’ve said it before, every week we are going to have those shots and I think as we keep making those plays, coaches obviously trust us with it a little bit more…I definitely have expected that out of us so it was huge for us to hit some of those today.”
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