Carson Wentz Quickly Becoming One Of NFL's Best QBs
Ryan Mayer
The Eagles scored 30 unanswered points in the second half on Sunday night to beat the Cowboys 37-9 and improve to 9-1 on the season. The team's sophomore QB, Carson Wentz, didn't have a stat line that jumps off the page (14/27 168 yards 2 TD), but he did make several key plays in guiding the team to the win. The game was another step in the maturation of Wentz, who is firmly in the league's MVP discussion after 10 games.
However, this season's awards and victories look to be just the beginning for Wentz. His stats through his first 26 career starts compare fairly favorably to those of the man he's currently battling for the MVP, New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. Reviewing the game logs from Brady's starts and Wentz's starts over at Pro Football Reference, here's how it breaks down:
Tom Brady: 559/867 (64.4%) 5,888 yards 42 TD 23 INT 6.79 yards per attempt
Carson Wentz: 569/925 (61.5%) 6,212 yards 41 TD 19 INT 6.72 yards per attempt
Pretty similar, right? Brady has Wentz beat in terms of completion percentage and touchdowns, but Wentz has the upper hand in yards and interceptions. The yards per attempt number is virtually exactly the same, with Brady having a 0.07 lead there.
Wentz's second season, is on pace to be better than Brady's second full year (2002). Brady completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,764 yards, 28 TDs and 14 INTs in as he led the Patriots to a 9-7 record. Wentz, through 10 games of his sophomore campaign, has completed 59.7 percent of his passes for 2,430 yards, 25 TDs and 5 INTs. Wentz, barring injury, is on pace to finish his second year with more touchdowns than Brady and another all-time great, Peyton Manning.
This isn't to say Wentz is definitely going to be Brady. Nor are the QBs overly similar in terms of athletic traits, where Wentz has a distinct edge. But, so far, 26 games into his career, Wentz's statistics resemble the man who many consider to be the greatest to ever play the position.
