Joyner: Eagles Do Not Trust Wentz To Make Downfield Throws

With Rookie Carson Wentz at Quarterback the Eagles appear to have a Franchise Caliber player for the next decade who can start at the position.  But the offense has not been great as they are ranked 29th in the NFL in Passing Yards (1,458), 24th in Net Yards Per Pass Attempt (6.0) and 28th in Total Yards (2,224).

ESPN.com NFL Insider KC Joyner as a guest on The Sports Bash on Monday discussed issues with Eagles passing offense as compared to the Cowboys on Sunday Night:

“I think the one thing that Philadelphia should have done is throw more vertical passes. Wentz only throws three vertical passes in the first half and eight for the whole game....that's against a Dallas defense who has some secondary issues as far as their players go. They only threw seven vertical passes the whole game, only gained 6.9 yards per attempt. You have to be in double digits to be even average in that category. Dallas in contrast had 14 vertical passes, 11.9 yards; you are getting about half of the production that Dallas did...I think a big part of it is that they do not trust Wentz; they do not think that he can make those down field throws and that he is going to make mistakes. The problem is that if you do not let the guy take the chances he can’t hit the big plays. Yeah you avoid the mistakes but he does not hit the big plays. One more big play in this game last night probably wins this game”

Hear what Joyner had to say about Pederson's play calling, Eagles defense of Cowboys offense, and more analysis of Eagles loss to the Cowboys