Philadelphia Eagles: Carson Wentz using his legs is encouraging

Four games into the season, Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz looks like he finally feels comfortable in his knee again.

While we are now four games into the Philadelphia Eagles 2020 season, one thing to keep an eye on moving forward is Carson Wentz continuing to use his legs to be effective. It has been a long time since Wentz injured his knee late in the 2017 season; 1,032 days to be exact.

Since that day, the “Wentz Wagon” has hardly looked like the same player. While he has been effective at times (and ineffective at other times), he has never really seemed comfortable in his knee’s ability to hold up. However, that finally appears to be a thing of the past.

While Wentz certainly has struggled through the first four games, using his legs has been incredibly encouraging. He got himself into a bit of a rhythm in the Bengals game a week ago, and this carried over into Sunday Night’s huge upset victory over the 49ers.

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Over the last two games, Wentz has run the football 16 times to the tune of 102 yards (6.4 YPC), and has found pay-dirt twice. But that’s not all, especially in Sunday’s win Wentz was using his legs to evade rushers and extend plays; which of course is the thing that made him so darn good during that 2017 season.

We have known for a long time that Wentz is not necessarily the best pocket passer. His best plays have always come when he has either rolled out of the pocket on a designed play, or even just improvising and turning garbage into gold. Doug Pederson and the Philadelphia Eagles coaching staff have certainly made it a point to use this side of their franchise quarterback’s game to get the most out of him that they can.

Currently, Wentz is on pace to set career highs in rushing yards as well as first downs converted while rushing. Additionally, he has already surpassed his career high in rushing touchdowns in a season, as he has found the end zone three times on the ground through the first quarter of the season.

Do I expect Wentz to rush for the 12 touchdowns he is currently on pace for? Of course not. But, I do believe that using his legs will continue to maximize what he brings to the table for this football team, and the fact that he looks so comfortable is arguably the most promising aspect of his season so far. Yes, I am aware that is not saying much as the Birds currently sit 1-2-1 and Wentz has thrown for 7 interceptions so far.

The thing that matters most is the Philadelphia Eagles currently sit in first place in the NFC East, and somehow control their own destiny to the postseason. To get there, they will need their franchise quarterback to indeed play like a franchise quarterback. The key to this, may just be Wentz continuing to use his legs.