By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
With a Week 10 bye-week looming, Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles welcomed the struggling Denver Broncos to Lincoln Financial Field Sunday. Despite a stagnant offense, the Broncos entered the game with the No. 1 rushing defense in the NFL. They also had a top-five passing defense, and Wentz was without his top target, Zach Ertz, Sunday.
This led many to suggest that Sunday could be a trap game. That isn't what transpired.
Here are my in-game notes on Wentz's performance against the Broncos:
First Quarter
Drive One
- After Temple product Brandon McManus hit a field-goal on the first drive of the game, Wentz and the Eagles opened their first drive of the game on their own 25.
- With Ertz out, Wentz tried to hit Brent Celek to open the game, but it was knocked down by Brandon Marshall.
- On third-and-nine, Wentz hit Trey Burton for a 14-yard gain.
- After Wentz faked a handoff to Jay Ajayi on a run/pass option, he rolled out to the left and hit Celek. It went for a nine-yard gain.
- On third-and-one, Wentz lined up in the shotgun. As we've become accustomed to, Wentz rolled out of a collapsing pocket and kept the play alive long enough for Aqib Talib to get called for defensive holding.
- On the following play, Wentz again faked to Ajayi, drawing the defense to the left. He rolled out to the right, and hit Jeffery, who had ran past Talib, in-stride. Jeffery trotted into the end-zone for a 32-yard touchdown:
South Philly Floater? #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/Bi2jf5CjoC
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 5, 2017
- Here it is from another angle. Future Hall of Famer Von Miller did a great job diagnosing the play and was bearing down on Wentz, making the throw even more impressive:
What a play #DENvsPHI #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/9ELGUCBd0Z
— Nick Piccone (@nickpiccone) November 5, 2017
Drive Two
- The Eagles continued to pick on Talib to open the second drive. Wentz, with the Eagles starting on their own 44, hit Torrey Smith for a 10-yard gain.
- He followed that up by getting the ball out of his hands quickly, hitting Celek for a 15-yard gain on an out-route. Celek, as he often has, fought for extra yards.
- On the following play, Wentz took a shot to the endzone to Burton. He missed deep, and Burton appeared to stumble. No harm, as it was a good time to take that risk.
- On third-and-seven, Wentz tried to connect with Jeffery, but was unable to do so, thanks in large part to good coverage by Bradley Roby. Here's your friendly reminder that the Eagles selected Marcus Smith five picks ahead of Roby in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
- Jake Elliott capped off the drive by hitting a 45-yard field goal.
Drive Three
- Following a Patrick Robinson interception, Wentz and the Eagles got the ball on the 15-yard line.
- Wentz fired to Burton on first down. The throw was a little high, something Wentz needs to work on. The team opened the day using Burton in a role fairly similar to Ertz. You get the sense based on how the play calls went early that Pederson wasn't shocked to be without Ertz today, because he made it a focal point to involve Burton and Celek.
- Just as it began to feel like the Eagles would be held to a field-goal, Wentz made another really impressive play. With Miller bearing down on him again, Wentz hit Corey Clement leaking out of the backfield. Clement got a GREAT block from Brandon Brooks, and waltzed into the endzone. It was an impressive play all-around, but especially on the end of Wentz, who seemed unphased by Miller being feet away from him:
Wentz, Clement, six. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/9k7J4Jg6lz
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 5, 2017
Second Quarter
Drive Four
- After two Jay Ajayi runs to open the drive – his first two as an Eagle, LeGarrette Blount was unable to convert on third-and-short. The team has had so much success converting on third down this year, primarily through the air, that it's a minor shock when they don't convert.
Drive Five
- The Eagles started their fifth drive of the game on their own 25. On the first play of the drive, Shelby Harris batted down a pass attempt at the line.
- On the next play, Jeffery, who has been accused of shying away from contact at times, dropped a pass from Wentz that would have been a first down. For his part, Wentz threaded the ball in between numerous defenders and gave his receiver a great chance to catch the ball.
- On third-and-five, Jeffery redeemed himself, using his strong hands to make a catch over Roby's head.
- Wentz connected with Celek two plays later on a crossing route, one that he took for a first down.
- Following a semi-controversial roughing the passer penalty, the Eagles had the ball on the 27. Wentz took a shot deep for Burton, who pinned the ball against his leg for a touchdown catch. It was reviewed, but the call stood:
Carson Wentz's third TD pass… of the first half. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/BfqrDdIGFO
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 5, 2017
Drive Six
- With around three minutes left, Wentz hit the gloveless Mack Hollins for an eight-yard gain to open the game.
- After a first-down rush from Ajayi, Wentz used his Andrew Luck-esque hard count to draw Miller offsides. It feels like this is a tool that Wentz should utilize more often.
- Following the two-minute warning, Wentz handed off to Ajayi, who had an impressive 14-yard run that got the Eagles into Denver territory:
Was amped up about this before that Ajayi TD. #FlyEagelsFly pic.twitter.com/TbPk2PN9E4
— BWanksCB (@BWCrossingBroad) November 5, 2017
- Wentz, again, handed to Ajayi on the next play. He got great blocking on a counter run to the left from Stefan Wisniewski and Halapoulivaati Vaiti, en route to a 46-yard touchdown rush:
Looks like the @JayTrain23 runs express on Sundays. #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/soE4H1hqoq
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 5, 2017
Drive Seven
- With 51 seconds left in the half, Wentz and the Eagles got the ball back on their own 22. Clement ran for a first down on the first drive of the play.
- After quite a few seconds ran off the clock, Wentz connected with Jeffery for another first down.
- He nearly did so again on the next play, but Jeffery wasn't able to haul it in. This would have put the Eagles in Elliott's field-goal range.
- Wentz had Agholor open on the next play across the middle, but forced an inaccurate pass to him as the pocket was collapsing.
- On the final play of the half, Wentz rolled out and threw the ball away. It's unclear why the team let so many seconds run off the clock between the first and second plays of the drive. When you go into halftime with a 31-9 lead, it's hard to nitpick, however.
Third Quarter
Drive Eight
- Wentz and the Ealges opened the second half with the ball on their own 23. Clement had a 37-yard gain on the opening rush, but Jeffery was called for a hold. That cut his impressive run to a 28-yard gain.
- Blount received the next two carries, running for nine yards on the first carry and a very minimal gain on second down. On third-and-short, Wentz kept the ball and dove forward for a first down.
- With good protection on first down, Wentz wasn't able to connect with Jeffery.
- The two were able to hook-up on the following play, as Wentz hit Jeffery on a slant for 17 yards.
- After that, Wentz continued to hand the ball to Blount, who has made his mark as a great runner in the second half of seasons. He ran for another first down.
- On third-and-eight, Wentz, ran for seven yards. With fans at the stadium urging Pederson to go for it, the team lined up on fourth down. Rather than just attempting to draw the Broncos offsides for a fourth time, Wentz snapped the ball. He ran a play, hitting Agholor for what was barley a first down.
- On first-and-goal, the Eagles ran an option with Wentz rolling out to the right. Once Miller committed to Wentz, he flipped it to Clement for an easy touchdown.
Drive Nine
- Though there was some thought that the Eagles may pull Wentz with a 38-9 lead, he came back out for this drive. He was unable to hit Marcus Johnson on a sloppy first play.
- On second-down, Smith was unable to break free on a go-route. Wentz, rather than forcing the ball to Smith, just threw the ball out of bounds. He's adjusting and learning how to live to see another play.
- Marshall got to Wentz on third down, the only time of the day that he was sacked.
Drive 10
- After a Rodney McLeod interception, the Eagles opened the drive on the Broncos 11. Following two runs from Blount to open the drive, Wentz connected with Jeffery for his second touchdown catch of the day.
Week 9 Takeaways
- For the second consecutive game, Nick Foles relieved Wentz in a blowout win. Wentz didn't take a snap in the fourth quarter.
- Nine games into the 2004 season, Donovan McNabb had 18 touchdowns. After nine games in the 2017 season, Carson Wentz has 23 touchdowns.
- Wentz is averaging 2.55 (repeating) passes per game. That means he's on pace to throw for nearly 41 touchdowns this season. The franchise-record is 32, by Sonny Jergenson in 1961.
- Wentz mixed the ball around quite a bit today. Six different receivers had receptions.
- The Broncos might not be a great team, but they do have a great defense. So if there was anyone still clinging to a narrative about how the Eagles hadn't performed well against any good defenses, they might want to stop now.
- This is almost one of those times where you wish you could just power through and skip the bye-week. Wentz and the Eagles are playing so well, you don't want to mess with anything.
- With 23 touchdowns and five interceptions, Carson Wentz is the clear-cut MVP favorite.
