Wentz Fails to Deliver Under Pressure

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - One of the staples of Carson Wentz’s early-season success was his ability to handle the blitz but that trend has not held up recently and completely came off the rails Sunday in the Meadowlands during the Eagles’ 28-23 loss to the New York Giants.

According to ProFootballFocus.com, Wentz was pressured on 12 of his 49 drops in North Jersey and completed just 2-of-10 attempts on those plays for a dismal passer rating of 39.6.

For the entire season, Wentz is 18 for 56 with a passer rating of 58.0 when pressured versus a stellar 99.2 rating when he’s kept clean in the pocket. Obviously, all QBs perform better when they’re protected but Wentz needs to get back to handling the pressure he does get a little better.

The rails really came off when Lane Johnson left the lineup with his PED suspension and that was understandable early but Halapoulivaati Vaitai has held up better in recent weeks and actually played his best game as a pro against the Giants.

There was some good news involving Wentz, however.

After not attempting a pass of 20-or-more yards against the Cowboys last week, Bryce Treggs’ introduction to the lineup loosened things up a bit and Wentz threw it 11 times down the field, completing four for 153 yards. On the season, Wentz is completing 41.2 of his passes that travel more than 20 yards, good for 19th in the NFL.

Treggs, meanwhile, played just 15 snaps and already put together more receiving yards in a game than Nelson Agholor has done in 21 tries over 1 ½ years.

On defense, Fletcher Cox was credited with two hurries and had his best-graded game of the season, according to PFF, while Brandon Graham had four hurries as Jim Schwartz started to move him around a bit more to take advantage of matchups.

The news wasn’t as good in the secondary where the theme was miscommunication all day. The notable exception was Nolan Carroll, who allowed just one catch on three targets for 10 yards and wrestled the football away from Odell Beckham Jr. on one play for an interception.

Leodis McKelvin, on the other hand, gave up four receptions on five targets for 83 yards and two TDs and Eli Manning had a perfect passer rating of 158.3 when throwing at Leo, who was pulled for a bit in the second quarter in favor of rookie Jalen Mills.

Mills didn’t give up a ton through the air but much of that was due to circumstance as he was beaten badly on a Manning overthrow, as well as an OBJ drop. Add in two missed tackles and Mills is now PFF’s worst-rated CB at No. 117 overall.

. -John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen