By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
While Carson Wentz is displaying many of the attributes normally foreign to rookie quarterbacks, his coaches have made it clear that he cannot continue to absorb avoidable hits outside of the pocket.
The Steelers will make the cross-state trip to Philadelphia this weekend in what is the most anticipated matchup of Week 3. Wentz will look to continue his hot streak against a defense which has stymied formidable offenses in their first two affairs, and is reportedly "licking their chops" to square off against the popular rookie they’ve heard so much about.
In his meeting with the press this morning, Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich didn’t mince words when asked about some of the punishing hits to his starting quarterback.
"There’s a couple of hits that [Wentz] shouldn’t have taken," Reich said. "Those ones on the sideline that he shouldn’t have took last week that were not good plays, you just can’t do that. He knows that we’ve all talked to him about that. But some of the hits in the pocket, I mean we’re protecting well, there’s been one or two missed protection calls that were on him, but other than that, I think it’s normal course of business."
Through two weeks, Pittsburgh’s offense has shown that they can torch an opponent with Ben Roethlisberger’s ability to sling the ball around, like they did against Washington, as well as the requisite toughness to win a slugfest against a heated division rival.
Todd Haley and the Steelers coaching staff were well aware of DeAngelo Williams’ abilities, but the veteran has exceeded expectations while filling in for suspended all-purpose back Le’Veon Bell. Williams leads the league in rushing by a large margin through two weeks, producing 237 yards and three touchdowns in their two victories.
"He’s a patient runner," Jim Schwartz said. "He’s compact, he’s strong. He can test every area of your run gaps. If were nosey, if we get out of our gaps, he’s a guy that can make you pay. A lot of that comes from his experience. So that’s served him well, he’s been in the league for a while, he understands the run game, it’s not just where the balls supposed to go, he can test every gap and we have to play sound defense."
Perhaps the most improved positional group in the NFL this season is the Philadelphia secondary.
After a season in which they were continually throttled through the air, they have risen to the occasion in their first year under Schwartz. For the second consecutive week, they’ll look to contain one of the elite wideouts in the National Football League, Antonio Brown. Today, Schwartz was adamant that although they’ll pay close attention to Brown, his unit can’t afford to neglect the rest of "Big Ben's" targets.
"We know what number [Brown] wears, so we won’t have a problem finding him," Schwartz said. "But it’s not just him, they’ve got a track meet at receiver. They’ve got some guys that can fly, that can take the top off a defense. [Eli Rogers] is a really shifty guy in the slot. Their tight end is big, [they’ve got] a running back that’s leading the league in rushing, and a future Hall of Famer at quarterback. If we concentrate too much on ‘84’, and he’s gonna get a lot of our attention for sure, but there’s a lot of guys that can make us pay. We’re gonna have to play total team defense, it’s not just about stopping one guy."
You can watch the full press conference from Reich and Schwartz below.
