INDIANAPOLIS – Frank Reich does it again.
It started last year with Philip Rivers, and now the Colts coach is getting the quarterback he wants with the Philadelphia trade from Carson Wentz on Thursday.
But Wentz’s addition is a bit different from Rivers’s a year ago. The Colts knew that the aging Rivers was basically a one or two year lease, until they hopefully found their next franchise quarterback.
Now they are counting on their present – and future – with Wentz to solve what has sadly been a revolving door at quarterback in Indianapolis for the past few years. Wentz will be, barring an injury, the Colts’ fifth different Week 1 starter in as many seasons.
The person responsible for insuring Wentz is the answer for the Colts?
Rich.
The coach puts his reputation on the line by believing he can bring Wentz, who was his quarterback when he was the Philadelphia offensive coordinator, back to the level he was considered an MVP contender for a season-breaking knee injury in 2017.
The Colts coach was Wentz’s coordinator in 2017 when the quarterback threw 33 touchdowns for an Eagles franchise record and his 78.5 total QBR was 18.7 points higher than the rest of his career. Indianapolis coach Mike Groh was Wentz’s offensive coordinator in 2018 and ’19 after Reich left the Eagles to coach the Colts.
A failure of Wentz will keep pushing back a Colts franchise that has only been to the playoffs twice since 2014 and squander the years of talented All-Pros Darius Leonard and Quenton Nelson.
But because he knows Reich, he doesn’t shy away from it, just as he didn’t those times when he came and played as a backup during his days at the University of Maryland and with the Buffalo Bills. Reich did not ask questions about Andrew Luck’s injured right shoulder when he interviewed for the job as head coach in the winter of 2018. He didn’t hesitate to want to bring Rivers to Indianapolis, despite the quarterback making 23 sales in 2019.
All Luck and Rivers did was have resilient seasons under Reich, and, more importantly, play a critical role in leading the Colts to the playoffs. Reich couldn’t get the best out of Jacoby Brissett in 2019, which is why the Colts are in their current situation. But that sometimes happens.
With Wentz, it may not be that easy.
It is uncertain where the quarterback is physically and mentally. Wentz would be the Eagles’ franchise quarterback after being selected as No. 2 in the 2016 draft and a massive four-year contract extension, $ 128 million in 2019.
But he threw 15 interceptions and was fired 50 times in just 12 games last season, while also sitting on the bench in favor of rookie Jalen Hurts. The last time a player hit those thresholds in interceptions and sacks in a season was Blake Bortles with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015, according to data from ESPN Stats & Information.
That’s just the start of the worst season of Wentz’s five-year career. No quarterback with at least 100 pass attempts in the 2019 and 2020 seasons saw a greater QBR drop than Wentz, who went from a 62.8 QBR in 2019 to just 49.6 in 2020, according to ESPN Stats & Info. In addition, he played all 16 games in the regular season only twice in his career.
The foundation is there with the Colts to get him back on track and potentially make the franchise a Super Bowl contender in the AFC, where the road could go through Kansas City or Buffalo in the near future.
The Colts have a talented defense led by Leonard and defensive lineman DeForest Buckner. Left tackle Anthony Castonzo retired last month, but four of the five offensive linemen from one of the NFL’s top units are returning. The Colts gave up just 21 sacks last season, tied for second in the NFL, while the Eagles allowed an NFL worst 65 (no other team allowed more than 50). The Colts also have a 1,000-yard rusher in sophomore straight Jonathan Taylor and a talented (and probably No. 1) receiver in Michael Pittman Jr.
The rest is up to Reich and Wentz.
This move should work for the Colts because if it doesn’t, the quest to win ‘multiple Lombardi’ trophies that owner Jim Irsay often talks about will still be put on hold and Reich’s reputation for being the best. Getting out of quarterbacks is going to be a hit. .
And it’s not just physical that Reich must get Wentz back; he must also solve the mental obstacle.