Of course there are reasons to be excited,
as USA TODAY’s Nancy Armour writes adeptly here. Some of his throws were, in a word, perfect. Wentz not turning over the ball is a very good thing, just like his 2-0 record through two games. It doesn’t matter that the Cleveland Browns were one of those teams; would you rather him rack-up two early losses?
No, you wouldn’t.
But even still, football fans have an obligation to view things in context. Wentz completed just 22 passes in the preseason before getting injured. How do you prepare to play against that? Put simply, you don’t. That lack of preparation from the opposition is something every rookie quarterback benefits from, and it’s why we’re still nowhere close to being able to make a call on Wentz yet. Two games is just too small a sample size. Things need time to sort themselves out.
Don’t take my word for it. Some stats for rookie quarterbacks through two games…
Wentz is 2-0 through two games, just like Philip Rivers and Joe Flacco (yay?), but also like Aaron Brooks, Rex Grossman, T.J. Yates,Shaun King, Marc Bulger and — wait for it — Mark Sanchez (oh no).
Meanwhile Cam Newton, Derek Carr, and Drew Brees started 0-2 in their first two games as rookies.
Wentz’s 60.5 pass completion percentage is worse than Matt Barkley,Matt Leinart and Chris Weinke’s through two games.
Wentz has thrown for 468 yards, less than Geno Smith, Patrick Ramsey and Jake Delhomme.
His three touchdowns through two games is one less than Jason Campbell.
His 92.9 quarterback rating is worse than EJ Manuel, Marc Bulger(again), and RG3.
So, reason to be excited? Yes. Quietly confident? Perhaps. Anything more? absolutely not.
:shades:
ball: