By Tucker Bagley, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
It wasn't too long ago that Carson Wentz was deemed to be not ready for 2016. With Sam Bradford and Chase Daniel in the fold, many speculated the second-overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft would spend the year on the sideline, in sweatpants, soaking up as much information as he could from the veterans on the roster.
Now, with one game under his belt, and the entire city of Philadelphia, plus all those North Dakotans, in his corner, it seems like he is fully prepared to take on the NFL and become the elite quarterback this franchise has been searching for since the departure of Donovan McNabb.
So let's talk about that first start. Wentz didn't look like a rookie playing against Browns' defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Instead, Wentz was able to stay poised and adjust protections and plays in order to combat Horton's complex scheme that got the best of Jameis Winston a year ago. For example, take a look at this play from the second quarter of Sunday's game.
As we covered last week, Horton is notorious for changing up his alignment late in the play clock, which can cause problems for quarterbacks who aren't prepared, and this is what Wentz was looking at when he approached the line of scrimmage:
It seems like a pretty standard defensive alignment, with two high safeties and what looks to be man-coverage against Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor to the right of the formation. But during Wentz's cadence, the Browns finally show their true hand and the rookie realizes he needs to make an adjustment.
The Browns' inside linebackers rushed to the line of scrimmage, showing a double A-gap blitz. Wentz immediately recognized the shift and called an audible, moving back in to the shotgun and taking advantage of the one-on-one coverage Matthews has in the slot. The resulting play was a beauty, 28 yards, setting up the team for first-and-goal.
The maturity that Wentz showed in that one play makes you realize that even if he wasn't a world class athlete with a thunderbolt disguised as an arm, he would still have a shot at being a competent NFL quarterback.
But that arm is what gives Wentz the chance to be truly special. He has the strength to make every throw in the book, he has the touch to float the ball into his receivers' hands and he has the precision to consistently fit the ball into tight windows.
On his first touchdown pass, a 19-yarder to Matthews that will probably kick off the QB's highlight reels for years to come, Wentz was able to take advantage of a beautifully designed play and an overmatched slot corner in order to put six points on the board. Here is how Doug Pederson drew up that touchdown:
With Zach Ertz running a simple hook over the middle as Wentz's safety valve, the wide receivers are running a simple "smash" concept on both sides of the formation. The smash is a very common concept, where the offensive team has their outside receivers run short button hooks or out-routes, while the inside receivers run a route over the top. The hopeful result is isolating the outside corner on two receivers, forcing him to choose.
Since the Browns are running man coverage on the outside, that leaves the Eagles inside receivers a lot of space to go to work. Both Matthews and Dorial Green-Beckham take advantage of that extra space, and they a big size advantage on the smaller defensive backs that are covering them.
The result:
Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that Wentz was perfect in his first start. The main thing he struggled with on Sunday was his footwork in the pocket. Wentz excels at throwing the ball on the run and has no problem hitting receivers standing behind the offensive line, but he struggled with maneuvering the pocket and escaping it once the pressure started to close in on him.
For such a good runner, Wentz was surprisingly slow to get out of the pocket, but once Pederson and the Eagles offensive staff can get his feet to be more efficient, he should have no problem putting those legs to good use.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wentz had a QB rating of just 65.8 when he held on to the ball for longer than 2.6 seconds. If he is forced to turn to his second or third options in his progression, Wentz struggles, but that's as expected for a young quarterback, especially with the one-read systems that are implemented at most colleges. However, the good news is that Wentz did not shy away from using any part of the field, as evident by this handy-dandy throw chart:
In Wentz's lone preseason game, he completely ignored the left side of the field, throwing just three of his 24 passes that way. But on Sunday, he was at his best when throwing to his left, putting up a passer rating of 116.2 and completing one of his two touchdown passes. So despite his short progressions, Wentz utilized the entire field and had a lot of success throwing the ball deep, which could open things up for Ryan Mathews who took a beating and earned every single one of his 77 yards.
Going forward, the Eagles will take on the Chicago Bears this week on Monday Night Football. The Bears struggled to contain Brock Osweiler and the Houston Texans last week, allowing the former Bronco to rack up 231 yards and two TDs through the air, while sacking him only twice. If the Bears want to stop Wentz and the Eagles offense, they will need to take away his first read and jam the Eagles' receivers at the line in order to force Wentz to hold on to the ball and work through his progression.
But, as we learned on Sunday, Pederson is a smart offensive football coach and Wentz is a smart quarterback. The pair was able to stay one step ahead of Horton and the Browns all game, so it will be interesting to see what the coach has up his sleeve for John Fox's squad on national television.
