National Football League

Carson Wentz likely out 4-6 weeks; Eagles sputtering after halftime

Updated Oct. 17, 2022 6:51 p.m. ET

By Ralph Vacchiano
FOX Sports NFC East Writer

Like it or not, the Washington Commanders traded for Carson Wentz for a reason. They liked what they saw when they studied him. They believed they needed an upgrade from their quarterback play last year.

So it's hardly ideal that Wentz will probably miss the next 4-6 weeks or so after having surgery on a fractured finger on his throwing hand on Monday afternoon, a source confirmed. The timing, in fact, couldn't be much worse, with the Commanders (2-4) straddling a thin line between contention and oblivion.

Then again, maybe it won't be so terrible. Maybe Taylor Heinicke can come in and settle their offense down.

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It's not the craziest thought considering how unsettled, and downright ugly, the Commanders' offense has been for most of the last four games. It bottomed out with just 214 yards — and only 99 passing — in their 12-7 win in Chicago on Thursday night when Wentz broke his finger in the second quarter. But the offense has really only been good once since the first two weeks, in their Week 5 loss to the Tennessee Titans when they lost 21-17 as Wentz was picked off on the goal line on the final play of the game.

There really is no doubt that Wentz has more talent than Heinicke. The former second-overall pick (2016) also has more experience, with 91 career starts to Heinicke's 16.

But Wentz has been erratic and mistake-prone in his first six starts with Washington. And the offense has suffered as a result.

Why would things be any different with Heinicke? Well, maybe they won't be. In his 15 starts last season he threw 15 interceptions. Wentz had six — third in the NFL — in six games this year. And the offense last year ranked 21st in the NFL and averaged 19.7 points per game — not all that different from their rank (24th) and average (17 points) this year.

But the 29-year-old Heinicke does have a couple of big advantages. Commanders coach Ron Rivera has blamed some of Wentz's struggles on the fact that he's learning a brand new offensive scheme for the first time in his career. That has led to hesitation on his part and holding on the ball too long, which has contributed to his league-worst 23 sacks. Heinicke, who was sacked 38 times in 16 games last season, knows the offense well, having played in it last year.

And Heinicke is more mobile than Wentz. He ran 60 times for 313 yards last season, averaging 5.2 per carry — about one yard more than Wentz has averaged in his career. He's also more effective on throwing the ball when he rolls out. With all their offensive line injuries, that has to help.

Maybe that will be enough to cut down on the offensive mistakes and allow him to take advantage of the plethora of playmakers the Commanders have. Maybe the offense will run more efficiently if he can get out of trouble, operate outside of the pocket, and get the ball out of his hands fast.

It won't be easy. Three of the first four teams he faces — the Packers, Colts and Eagles — rank in the Top 11 passing defenses in the NFL. But things clearly weren't working well under Wentz against any opponent, and it wasn't clear that Rivera had any easy solutions.

Maybe a quarterback change, even an unwanted one, could end up solving some of those problems. If nothing else, after the way the offense looked last Thursday night, it's hard to imagine the switch to Heinicke could make anything worse.

Closing is not for the Birds

Maybe Philadelphia should trade for a closer at the deadline on Nov. 1.

Yeah, wrong sport. But the lone knock against the undefeated Eagles this season has been their difficulty in closing out games. They have no problem building big leads. They've set an NFL record through six games with 112 second-quarter points. They're out-scoring teams in the second quarter 112-27. Their average halftime lead has been 21-8.

But then they melt. They are being outscored 57-35 in the second halves of games. And it's not like they haven't had opportunities to put games away.

Just look what happened Sunday night. They were up 14-0 early, when the Cowboys handed them the ball twice deep in Dallas territory — once on a failed 4th down conversion on the Dallas 34 and again one drive later on an interception on the Dallas 46. Both times the Eagles' offense stalled and they had to settle for field goals. And then their offense completely shut down in the third quarter as the Cowboys mounted a comeback.

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It was shades of what happened on Opening Day in Detroit, when the Eagles were up 31-14 early in the second half only to turn the game into a 38-35 nailbiter. Or in Week 2 against the Vikings when they had a 24-7 halftime lead but never scored again. Or Week 3 against the Commanders when they were up 24-0 at halftime and stopped scoring in a 24-8 win.

It's a problem, and the Eagles know it.

"We know we have to play a complete game," coach Nick Sirianni said. "What's exciting about being 6-0 and not having played a complete game yet in my opinion — and the players will tell you the same — is that there is only room to get better, right? That's our goal."

Some of it is Siranni's fault. He's admitted that he sometimes will "take my foot off the gas" in the second half. When he does, his team survives what he calls their "lulls" by wearing opponents down with their offensive line and running game. And that's certainly a good formula for winning games

But given how many big leads they've had this season, 6-0 really should've been a lot easier for Philly than it's been.

Rushing back to Dak

Remember when there was a quarterback controversy in Dallas a few weeks ago? Yeah, that was funny.

Give Cooper Rush credit. Going 4-1 while Dak Prescott was out with a fractured thumb was a huge accomplishment and surely saved the Cowboys season. But don't overstate what he did. In five starts, he completed 58 percent of his passes (83-of-143) for 956 yards, five touchdowns and those three interceptions he threw on Sunday night in Philadelphia. He did what backups are supposed to do: He kept the team afloat by not turning the ball over (at least not until he faced the Eagles).

But five touchdowns in five games and an average of 191 passing yards was never going to do it.

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His limitations were crystal clear against the Eagles, when he spent the game alternating between missing wide-open receivers and trying to force passes into coverage against the best secondary in the league. Neither worked very well for most of the night.

His time, though, is now almost certainly over. Prescott "took the next step" during a 50-throw pre-game warmup in Philadelphia on Sunday night, Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said, and he seems to be on target to play against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. McCarthy indicated he'd make a final decision after seeing Prescott practice on Thursday, though it sounded like he might not announce it until Sunday afternoon.

Silence of the Lamb

This isn't all on Rush, but it's been startling how the Cowboys haven't been able to get CeeDee Lamb going as their No. 1 receivers this season. It always figured to be tough for him, once they traded away Amari Cooper in the offseason, and it sure didn't help that Michael Gallup missed the first three games.

But the 6-foot-2 Lamb, the 17th overall pick of the draft two years ago, has been surprisingly ineffective. His numbers are fine. He's got 33 catches for 409 yards and two touchdowns, putting him on pace for more than 90 catches and 1,100 yards for the season. What's alarming, though, is he's only caught 55% of the passes thrown his direction (33-of-60).

He's only had three drops per Pro Football Focus, and they've only credited him with nine contested targets, which indicates a lot of uncatchable passes thrown his direction. And it's not just Rush. Prescott was only 2-of-10 on passes thrown to Lamb before he got hurt in Week 1.

Getting Lamb going should be Prescott's top task when he returns to action. Lamb needs to be more like his first two seasons when he caught 66% of the passes thrown his way. He can't regress. He's the Cowboys No. 1 receiver now. If he doesn't become a factor, they're going to end up being a very one-dimensional team.

A whole lot of nothing

Giants rookie receiver Wan'Dale Robinson caught a touchdown pass in his first NFL game on Sunday. So he now has one more than both Kadarius Toney, the Giants' 2021 first-round pick, and Kenny Golladay, their $72 million receiver, have in their first two years with the Giants combined. In fact, 13 players not named Toney or Golladay have caught touchdowns for the Giants in the last two years. That includes two by fullback/tight end Chris Myarick and one by left tackle Andrew Thomas.

Just imagine how much better the 5-1 Giants might be if they hadn't wasted all that money and that first-round pick on two players who have contributed almost nothing at all.

Ralph Vacchiano is the NFC East reporter for FOX Sports, covering the Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.