Originally Posted by
pucknut9
I read Mike McFeely’s recent article on Carson Wentz and felt compelled to respond, particularly, to the sentence, ”A bigger part of the Wentz story – teammates, coaches, front offices personnel, maybe even owners – just don’t like him.” Not so!
By way of background, I am a North Dakota native, as are my brothers. One brother and I are North Dakota State University grads. We are ardent NDSU football fans and began following Wentz when he was a freshman. Fast forward a few years, I followed Wentz through subscriptions to the Philadelphia Inquirer and, then, the Indianapolis Star, reading every article that featured those teams’ games and Wentz. I saw every interview Wentz gave on the respective teams’ websites. Here is what I read, saw, and heard:
Wentz never uttered a critical word about the owners, head coaches, offensive coordinators, other coaches, general managers, players, fans, or communities. Not once. If he ever blamed, he blamed himself. He also never made a derogatory comment about either the Eagles or the Colts after having been traded.
Key team leaders were publicly complimentary of Wentz being a quality teammate, “good guy,” and leader. Who? Eagles: Nick Foles; Torrey Smith; Chris Long; Jason Peters; Malcom Jenkins; Zack Ertz; Brandon Brooks; Lane Johnson; Jason Kelsey. Colts: Jonathan Taylor; DeForest Buckner, Michael Pittman; Darius Leonard.
Both Coaches Peterson (Eagles) and Reich (Colts) said Wentz was a highly respected leader in the locker room. In a March 28 article, Reich said, “I love the guy. He’s a brother to me. I’ll always love him.” In that same article, he said, “What would be unfair is to make Carson the scapegoat” (of the Colt’s failure to make the playoff).
The reviling of Wentz emanated from an author of a single newspaper article (not the Inquirer) in the Philadelphia area, based on a single anonymous source (believed to be wide receiver Alshon Jeffery) who panned Wentz. That source claimed Wentz was selfish, a poor teammate, not a nice guy. Inquirer writers, who cannot pass up an opportunity to “gut” any player, piled on. Fans joined in with “baby, selfish, cancer, Ginger Jesus, crybaby” and much worse. Nationally, articles began to appear. Ugly ones. Defaming ones, all linked to the Inquirer or the original article. More articles in Indianapolis and, now, in Washington. I believe if any of those articles, including McFeely’s, could be linked way, way back, we would find the origin of the “gutting” of Wentz as a person arose from the original Philadelphia article and one disgruntled player.
I won’t argue that Wentz has had some bad games…even some disastrous ones. Yet, it would be really dandy if some sportswriters would research to learn that in 2020, the year Wentz was benched, his starting left tackle, right guard, and right tackle missed 40 games; the Eagles had 15 different starting offensive line configurations; his two leading wide receivers missed a combined 20 of 32 games, while the two tight ends missed a combined 10 games. Think those factors might have played into Wentz’s 50 sacks? His interceptions? Fumbles?
While I’m at it, realizing that Wentz didn’t play all that well his last two games and gave up some terrible turnovers, how many points did the 2021 Colts’ defense give up in those losses: 28; 27; 25; 31; 34; 38; 23; 26. I’m not sure how you see things, but I tend to believe if your team gives up an average of three touchdowns and one field goal a game, you’re not going to win a lot of football games. (In all five Rams’ losses this year, they gave up 25 or more points! The Bengals lost seven games. Gave up 25 or more points in five of them!)
But…let’s blame it all on Wentz…one anonymous source to say he was a bad teammate and a whole lot of sportswriters, including Mike McFeely, decided he was the reason the Eagles and Colts lost football games. Bad sports writing!
I’ll continue to root for Wentz. I’m sure the Bison faithful will, too. I’ll continue to believe, as well, he is the real deal, true Christian with outstanding character, a generous heart, and a marvelous football player. I believe he learned his lessons well from the Bison coaches about interviewing: “Compliment your opponents. Compliment your teammates. Don’t brag. Don’t react to criticism. Tell them you’ll try to do better. Say, ’Thank you.’”
Roger Worner lives in Oak Grove, Minn.
Re: What sort of thread have you made for us? A Wentz thread, if you can keep it.
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