Carson Wentz finally played a playoff game. It lasted just eight plays.
The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was knocked out from Sunday’s 17-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks following the second drive with a head injury after his helmet was driven into the turf by Jadeveon Clowney.
After the loss, Eagles teammates said Wentz went up to every player’s stall to thank them for their effort.
“He’s like apologizing and stuff,” veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins said, via NBC Sports Philadelphia. “It’s like, ‘Bro, it’s out of your control.’ He didn’t let us down at all. We wouldn’t be in this spot without Carson.
“It’s tough for him. Obviously, he really wants to be out there competing. He put a lot of work in to get to this spot and he gets hurt again. It’s just unfortunate, but it’s out of his control.”
It was a brutal blow for Wentz, whose previous two seasons ended on IR, forcing him to watch Nick Foles guide his team through the playoffs. Sunday, it was 40-year-old Josh McCown who took over and kept the Seahawks close enough but couldn’t get them over the hump.
“You hate to see it,” Boston Scott said. “I didn’t see the hit but you hate to see it. We’re behind him, he’s our leader, we have the utmost confidence in him. I feel for him. Afterwards, he was like, ‘Thank you for what you’ve done.’ And I was like, ‘Are you OK?'”
The notion that Sunday’s injury perpetuates the narrative of Wentz as an injury-prone QB whose closer to a Precious Moments doll than durable warrior is ridiculous. Head injuries and concussions aren’t the same as other injuries. To treat them as such propagandizes old fallacies that have haunted the NFL. Sunday’s injury wasn’t another knee, or back, or hamstring issue. It occurred on what to some could be considered a dirty play. To use that play to underscore Wentz’s injury history is wrong-headed and propagates a preconceived notion.
Eagles players, for their part, understand Wentz wanted to return if he was allowed. In years past, he probably would. It’s progress that the QB was held out in the biggest game of his career for his own good.
Apologizing to teammates after wasn’t necessary. Thanking them, however, strengthened his standing within the locker room.
“He already is, but moving forward, he’s going to be a fortified leader,” Jenkins said. “There’s not much he can say he hasn’t been through yet as a quarterback, as a player, as a leader. I think he’ll be better for it.”