NFC East: Eagles don’t resent Carson Wentz, but you can; Giants kick it; Cowboys QB scrapes by

If you have an association with the Eagles, be it as player, coach, administrator, or fan, you cannot enter this weekend with anything but resentment and rage and revenge on your mind.

Can you?

Carson Wentz sabotaged an entire football season when he forced a trade after 2020. He left general manager Howie Roseman and negotiator Jake Rosenberg with almost $34 million in dead cap money, the most in NFL history. Wentz had already been paid more than $80 million, largely advances for future performances ... and he simply walked out.

He also left them with a four-start, long-term project at quarterback, and got the only Eagles coach to win a Super Bowl fired.

Wentz will start for the rival Commanders when the Eagles visit Washington on Sunday. About 130 miles northeast, there will swirl a vortex of hate over Philadelphia that will make the anger at Scott Rolen, J.D. Drew, Sidney Crosby, and Larry Bird seem minor. Wentz will deserve every ounce of that negative energy.

It’s easy to forget, in this moment, the depths of his deceit. Jalen Hurts is playing like a new, improved Steve Young, and Nick Sirianni is suddenly Sean McVay 2.0.

Certainly, his former teammates have forgotten and forgiven ... if they ever harbored resentment at all.

Wentz wasted a year of several players’ careers: Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox. That trio shares 14 Pro Bowls, and all might be Hall of Fame candidates when they retire. His massive cap hit prevented them from replacing him with talent in 2021. Every second of their careers is precious. Wentz wasted more than 31 million of their NFL seconds.

They seem indifferent.

“I understand what you’re saying, but that stuff, that’s for Jake and Howie. They take care of that,” Cox said Wednesday, and shrugged. “We are where we are.”

And where are we?

“I talked to him yesterday. Nothing’s changed.”

Apparently not.

“I talked to him during training camp,” Johnson said. “Carson’s a good dude. Things here didn’t play out his way.”

Perhaps Wentz’s incredible 2017 season, which set up Eagles veterans for a Super Bowl win, earned him equity that he’ll never exhaust with players such as Cox and Johnson.

Perhaps players like Cox, who has endured several conflicts with the Eagles’ front office, will always side with Roseman’s antagonist.

» READ MORE: Carson Wentz forces Eagles to make the worst trade in Philadelphia sports history | Marcus Hayes

Think about it.

You had a franchise quarterback on a fair-value contract. You had a Super Bowl coach. Then you had a busted budget, an unqualified head coach who played kids’ games and fed you word salads, and a running back playing quarterback. All because Carson Wentz wasn’t able to honor his word for one more season.

A Wentz rebound with the Eagles in 2021 would have fetched two first-round picks instead of the first- and third-rounders they got. Think what you want, but paying $34 million for two second-tier picks is not a great deal. Further, Wentz threw 27 touchdown passes and seven interceptions with a 94.6 passer rating in Indianapolis; Hurts had 16 TDs, nine interceptions, and an 87.2 rating. Wentz did all of this in a new offense, with a different coaching staff, against teams that gave Indianapolis the ninth-hardest schedule through 15 games.

At that point, the Eagles’ schedule ranked 24th.

Hurts progressed, and Sirianni got out of his own way, and the Eagles reached the postseason. That’s irrelevant.

They went 9-8 facing some of the weakest opposition in NFL history. Tampa Bay undressed Hurts and Sirianni in the wild-card round.

Wentz struggled in Indianapolis at the end of the season. A devout anti-vaxxer, he contracted COVID-19, then stunk in Games 16 and 17, when a win in either would have locked up a playoff spot. A win also likely would have kept him in Indy.

Instead, the Colts traded him, essentially, for two second-round picks, assuming Wentz stays healthy and efficient. He’s been both so far. He’s tied for the NFL lead with seven touchdown passes, and his 650 passing yards rank second.

Certainly, everything might have turned out for the best.

Three years removed from Super Bowl LII, Pederson clearly had lost his fastball. His relationship with Wentz soured as 2020 progressed and disintegrated when he benched Wentz in Game 12. Pederson grew a backbone after 2020 and insisted that he be allowed to hire his own assistants. That, combined with a 4-11-1 record and a bizarre tanking episode in the season finale, might have doomed him anyway. But if Wentz had endorsed Pederson for 2021, Pederson stays.

For his part, Wentz had become uncoachable. His mechanics and his decision-making regressed in 2019 and 2020. He became so bullheaded, one former offensive assistant said, that he routinely audibled out of plays Pederson called without good reason. He resented Roseman for drafting Hurts in 2020 as his backup.

There was a lot going on between Wentz’s ears that year. Precious little had to do with becoming a better leader and quarterback.

After using a linebacker-centric scheme in a 21-20 Week 1 upset at Tennessee, the Giants went linebacker-light for 75% of the defensive snaps against the Panthers on Sunday and got two field goals from beyond 50 yards from Graham Gano, who nailed 4-of-4 in a 19-16 win against visiting Carolina. Fourth-year quarterback Daniel Jones entered the season with an 84.3 passer rating, but he’s at 99.4 two games into 2022.

All of which further validates the hiring of Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their head coach.

Before you get too excited about Cooper Rush’s second win in as many career starts in relief of injured quarterback Dak Prescott, understand that the Cowboys have scored a total of just 40 points in those two games and three of Rush’s 43 completions should have been intercepted: one last year in Minnesota and two Sunday against the Bengals.

Inquirer Eagles beat reporters EJ Smith and Josh Tolentino preview the team’s Week 3 game against the Washington Commanders and Carson Wentz. Watch at Inquirer.com/EaglesGameday