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Greg Cosell's Week 3 Review: Another reason for Carson Wentz's success

Carson Wentz has done some impressive things so far this season, especially for a rookie.

Wentz, the Philadelphia Eagles rookie quarterback, is tough in the pocket with an innate willingness to stand and deliver in the face of pressure. He doesn’t force passes when he doesn’t have clarity. He also has an intuitive feel for game situations, not trying to make difficult throws in the red zone when he knows the Eagles have points and he doesn’t want to turn it over. And as we talked about previously, he understands defensive concepts and how to beat them, which is very advanced for a rookie.

But the Eagles’ offensive coaches are doing a great job too, which makes Wentz’s job easier. What has stood out in the offensive play-calling is that coach Doug Pederson runs basic plays but presents them in different ways. Maybe it’s a different formation, or a pre-snap motion or shift. Perhaps he uses a different formation group. Sometimes it’s backfield action designed to confused the defense. But it’s a recurring theme: basic plays presented in different ways to throw off a defense. That helps Wentz make plays.

Here’s an example from the Eagles’ first possession on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is a basic screen pass. But there’s a fake handoff to the tailback, then a reverse action with receiver Nelson Agholor from a minus split. That type of backfield action makes a defense hesitant. You can see how much room Darren Sproles had because of the misdirection. The screen pass went for a 40-yard gain.

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Here’s another example of a basic play being presented in a different way. It was a tight end screen. But it was presented with backfield action to create misdirection at the second level of the defense. Sproles was offset in the backfield and motioned from left to right before the snap. The play initially looked like a screen to Sproles to the right. Wentz faked that screen and came back left to the tight end screen. Trey Burton gained 16 yards on a third-and-11.

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Another thing Pederson and the Eagles do well is feature multiple combination route concepts and they work the different levels — short, intermediate and deep — very effectively.

This was a nice “96” combination. Jordan Matthews ran the “9” (go route) from the slot, and Dorial Green-Beckham ran the “6” (deep dig route) from the outside. Then Burton had a complementary route, the shallow cross, occupied the underneath coverage and opened the passing lane. The Steelers played “quarters” zone coverage to the side of the “96” combination, and the “96” is an excellent route concept against quarters since the “9” route threatens the safety deep, opening the dig route against the outside leverage cornerback. Wentz hit Green-Beckham for 19 yards on third-and-12. It’s another example of great play design making things easier for a rookie quarterback.

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And as we’ve seen, when the play breaks down Wentz is able to make something happen. On a 73-yard touchdown to Sproles, the original play was a three-level stretch against the Steelers’ “Cover 3” zone. The throw to Matthews would have been there, but Wentz didn’t have time to go through his left side progression because of an inside stunt with Steelers linemen Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt. Tuitt got up the middle quickly. Wentz was forced to move and did an excellent job staying behind the line of scrimmage. Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier was in a bind of whether to come up and play Wentz or defend Sproles. He ended up in no man’s land.

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Wentz has been very good through three games, for many reasons. But don’t overlook Pederson and his offensive staff. They’re doing an excellent job with the scheme to help Wentz succeed.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.