Greg Cosell's Look Ahead: Carson Wentz did not look like a rookie

Carson Wentz did things in his Philadelphia Eagles debut that you usually only see from veteran quarterbacks. For all the talk of him coming from North Dakota State and his lack of preseason experience because of a rib injury, he did not look like a rookie.

One play really stood out to me, because not many rookies are capable of it. It showed Wentz’s football IQ and preparation — which were evident from his college film, as well.

The play call had Wentz under center, but the Browns showed their hand early with a “cross dog fire X” blitz. Wentz dropped into the shotgun after seeing the blitz before the snap — I believe he wanted to give himself more time and space to deliver the throw — and made what’s known as a “box call,” changing the protection. From film study he recognized the blitz, in which the tackles go wide and the inside linebackers cross, and understood how to beat it. The box call brought right guard Brandon Brooks down to take care of the blitzing linebacker to that side. Wentz, with a clean pocket after he set up the protection perfectly, had a precise touch throw to Jordan Matthews, who ran a great corner route.

This is really advanced quarterback play from a rookie.

You could see right away what Eagles coach Doug Pederson’s approach was with Wentz. He wanted to use quick throws and play-action bootleg plays on Wentz’s first drive to get his quarterback comfortable, to get some completions and move the chains.

At the end of that first drive, Wentz made a nice throw on a clearly game-planned route concept. This was the Eagles’ first snap inside the red zone and first snap out of an empty set — which tells me the play design was clearly planned for this situation — and Matthews lined up as the No. 2 receiver to Wentz’s left between Nelson Agholor and Zach Ertz. It was a mirrored route concept with a fade-hitch to both sides, with Ertz running the sit route in the short middle. Wentz made a three-step drop, and went to Matthews in his matchup against slot cornerback Tramon Williams. Wentz made a nice 19-yard touchdown pass with great, firm touch and precise ball placement.

Matthews had 22 more yards on third down in the third quarter, on a fantastic throw by Wentz. The Browns were in “Cover 2” zone, their foundation look on defense, and the Eagles had a three-level stretch with Matthews running a complementary back-side dig route — a basic NFL route combination. Wentz had outstanding pocket patience and command, sat on his back foot and drove the ball with precise placement to Matthews.

This is as big time of a throw as you’ll see. People wonder how much arm strength matters for an NFL quarterback. Well, it mattered on this play.

Agholor’s 35-yard touchdown was good mental and physical execution by Wentz. The Browns showed “2 man” then moved to “Cover 1” man coverage right at the snap. Agholor beat Joe Haden off the line of scrimmage and separated, and Wentz read the safety rotation at the snap. He made the right throw, again with precise placement. It was another high-level play.

Wentz was in control of the game at the line of scrimmage and had a good feel for the pre-snap phase of the game, like he did in college. Physically, his ball placement was excellent, and he made some difficult throws into tight coverage. As Wentz heads into a tough Week 2 test on Monday night at the Chicago Bears, the Eagles have to be happy with what they saw in his debut.

Revis’ struggles

Although the New York Jets have already played their second game, I wanted to look back at one play from their opener, with so much attention on Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis’ early-season struggles.

On a 54-yard touchdown by Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green, it was a clear miscommunication by the Jets defense. It was a basic post-cross route combination that’s standard in the NFL. The Jets didn’t play it well. There was no coordination between Revis, single-high safety Marcus Gilchrist and back-side corner Marcus Williams.

Revis was clearly expecting help over the top, and Gilchrist looked like he was expecting Williams to replace him as the deep defender once Brandon LaFell declared his crossing route. It’s bad secondary defense on a basic route concept.

Still, Revis looked slow, without the burst he used to have. He aligned on Green on 28 of Dalton’s drop backs, and Dalton targeted Green 11 of those times for 10 completions, 166 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t as bad as those numbers looked, but there were times Revis looked a step slower than he did a few years ago. That showed again on Marquise Goodwin’s long touchdown against him on Thursday night.

Osweiler’s audible

I wanted to point out this nice audible by Houston Texans quarterback Brock Osweiler. He saw a “double mug” front with a linebacker on either side of the center. There was nobody in the middle of the field. Osweiler knew the Texans had numbers to the field side (or wide side) with four blockers against three defenders. It was an excellent audible to get the ball into Fuller’s hands, and it went for a touchdown.

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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.