Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns in a Week 2 loss to the Detroit Lions. After his performance Sunday, Wentz ranks second in the NFL with 650 passing yards, tied for the NFL lead with seven touchdowns, and has a QB rating of 100.3.
Not bad for a guy who most assumed was finished.
Sure, there’s a long way to go, and Wentz has a lot to prove, but the Commanders couldn’t be happier.
Before the season, everyone was ranking the quarterbacks. Some rankings were fair to Wentz, putting him in the 18-22 range. While others, including one, had him as low as No. 34. Players such as Geno Smith, Drew Lock, Colt McCoy, Case Keenum, Daniel Jones and Gardner Minshew were ranked ahead of Wentz. We discussed a bias against Wentz.
Marc Sessler of NFL.com has a “QB Index” where he ranks all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks weekly.
Last week, after his season-opening performance against the Jaguars, Wentz moved up to No. 18.
Where is he in this week’s index?
Sessler moves Wentz up one more spot to No. 17.
Here’s his reasoning:
2022 stats: 2 games | 65.5 pct | 650 pass yds | 7.5 ypa | 7 pass TD | 3 INT | 35 rush yds | 0 rush TD | 1 fumble
Would the Colts take this version of Wentz over what they’ve seen from Matt Ryan?
I know I would. He’ll kill you with the occasional meltdown snap — and lacks eyes in the back of his head — but Wentz has shown fight during a bizarre Commanders campaign. Streaky play is part of the package. The offense and defense were ransacked in a first-half romp that saw Detroit build a 22-0 lead while Wentz “led” Washington to 56 total yards, six punts and a safety. Carson stopped the bleeding from there, whipping scores to Curtis Samuel, Logan Thomas and rookie gem Jahan Dotson. The comeback fell short, but Wentz now enters Week 3 tied atop the leaderboard with seven touchdowns. Matty Ice? He’s thrown one lonely score.
You can strongly make the argument Wentz has been better than multiple quarterbacks currently ranked ahead of him, including one who once played in Washington. But that’s for another day.
Wentz has a massive opportunity in front of him Sunday when he plays his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in a huge early-season NFC East battle.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbykgy681k112p8 player_id=none image=https://commanderswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]