Philadelphia Eagles: Carson Wentz graded as the “most clutch” QB in 2019

Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz was seriously clutch in 2019.

Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Carson Wentz normally doesn’t get a whole lot of love from some of the national pundits around the NFL, so when he does, it’s always a great sight to see. In a ranking recently published by Pro Football Focus, Wentz essentially graded out as the “most clutch” QB in all of pro football last season.

PFF uses a pretty unique grading scale when it comes to player evolution, using all sorts of non-stereotypical stats and analytics to measure a player’s value on the field. One of the major QB metrics that they use is that of the “big-time throw” stat.

"In its simplest terms, a big-time throw is on the highest end of both difficulty and value. While the value is easy to see statistically, the difficulty has more to do with passes that have a lower completion percentage the further the ball is thrown down the field. Therefore, the big-time throw is best described as a pass with excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tighter window."

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Essentially, a big-time throw is just a really, really good throw. It’s not hard to dump a ball off to your running back on a screen who then runs for a 75-yard touchdown, but it is extremely hard to throw a 75-yard bomb down the field, threading the needle through double coverage for a fourth quarter TD. PFF’s “big-time” throw stat takes into account this difference of difficulty.

If you watched Wentz last season, specifically during the Philadelphia Eagles four game run down the stretch, it really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that he would top a list like this. The veteran QB was excellent down the stretch, and led his team on a handful of game-winning drives. On top of that, he was routinely throwing the ball to random practice squad call-ups, meaning said players weren’t creating acres of separation.

Wentz was consistently lasering passes through double coverage, and was doing it in some of the most crucial parts of games. Most notably, Wentz had a spectacular throw to Greg Ward towards the back pylon to beat Washington during Week 15. Ward had CB Josh Norman draped all over him on the route, and Wentz put the ball where only his receiver could get it. A perfectly placed “big-time throw”.

Wentz has his work cut out for him in the 2020 season, as three of the offense’s projected starters have already been ruled out for Week 1. Offensive linemen Andre Dillard and Brandon Brooks are both expected to be done for the season, and 2020 first-round pick Jalen Reagor is now dealing with a slightly torn shoulder.

Wentz had to really put the Philadelphia Eagles on his back last year, and he could be in store for yet another long season if the injury bug doesn’t settle down sooner rather than later. This already beat up roster can’t afford any more injuries, especially on the o-line or to the WR room.