Frank Reich Sees Andrew Luck, Jim Kelly in Carson Wentz

By Patrick Del Gaone, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 

This morning, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich was hesitant to compare Carson Wentz to any quarterback in particular, but after making it clear that the rookie wants to "blaze his own trail," he referenced two gunslingers that Wentz reminds him of, including one Hall of Famer.

"Everybody like to be their own unique guy," Reich said. "Carson is certainly his own guy, for sure. All you have to do is be around him a little bit to understand that he’s not trying to walk in anybody’s shoes, he’s blazing his own trail. He also understands the maturity to understand you can blaze your own trail but at the end of the day, this is a team game. You want to do that. You want to have your personality, your fire, your leadership.

"Physically, he reminds me a little bit of a combination of Andrew Luck – though I’ve never played with him – just watching him play, but a guy that I did play with in Jim Kelly, the size, strength and just the toughness. The mentally tough, physically tough attitude and not being afraid to stand in the pocket and take a hit; you don’t want those guys to take hits but it is the willingness on fourth and four with guys coming up the middle to make the play to Ertz and take the hit because that’s what it takes to make the play and keep the drive alive."

On the other side of the ball, Jim Schwartz has transformed a defense which, quite frankly, was one of the laughing stocks of the league last year. Thus far, they’ve quickly developed into a unit that flies to the ball with tenacity, stays disciplined in their responsibilities, and overall, has yet to turn in a performance anything less than exceptional, albeit in three preseason games and one regular season affair against the lowly Browns.

In their first road game, Schwartz’s defense will be tested by Jay Cutler, a quarterback that their coach has seen plenty of during his tenure as head coach of the Lions. But Schwartz’s familiarity with the Bears extends beyond just the personnel, he’s also preparing the team for the elements in Chicago, as well as their unique playing surface.

"Soldier Field grass tends to be long," Schwartz said. "And moisture from the lake creates a situation where players start but don’t finish in the same spikes. The wind is also a big factor."

During the season opener, played in perfect conditions, the Eagles defense held “RG3” to under 200 yards passing as their rush steadily improved throughout the game. This week, they’ll face a pair of tackles that struggled immensely in the Bears 23-14 loss to Houston, allowing five sacks which were most often caused by pressure from the edge.

Philadelphia outside linebacker Mychal Kendricks played just 19 snaps in the season-opening win, but regardless of the decrease in playing time, Schwartz still believes that Kendricks will be a key cog in the unit.

"He is in just about every package," Schwartz said. "He’s in our 3-3 nickel, he’s in our base package, our extra backer, our goal line, our dime. He isn’t in our nickel package right now, but he’s an important player to us. He is going to play a lot of football for us this year.

"The way the game went, they were featuring a lot of three receiver personnel, the way we were matching it was with our four-down nickel. That isn’t a slight on him. We have a lot of confidence in him."