Rookie Wentz struggles again in 32-14 loss to Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, left, and Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson s … “It’s a collective effort in all three phases”.

Those are the types of responses we’ve become accustomed to hearing from Pederson over the last couple of weeks after embarrassing losses. “All of the things we’re not doing now, those are the things we need to get back to doing”.

The Bengals scored the first six times they got the ball and then held on at the end. Wentz gained 10 yards on the run and probably wouldn’t have had any more even if Ertz wouldn’t have pedaled sideways out of Burfict’s way.

The Eagles rushing attack was nonexistent rushing for a mere 53 yards on 19 carries.

Cincinnati got a 32-yard field goal from Nugent on its first possession to go ahead 3-0. It was that kind of day in Cincinnati.

“Hard to say”, Wentz said when asked if he thought his play regressed in Sunday’s loss.

“There were opportunities, obviously”, Pederson said. “The turnovers. Things like that”. But teams are using quick passes or an extra blocker to counter the Eagles’ four-man rush. He battled until the end, it’s just that he simply did not play well – again.

The Eagles seemed to work at it.

The Cincinnati Bengals took on the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 13, but it was evident early on that it wasn’t going to be much of a game. It didn’t come in the fourth quarter of a frantic game, or after taking two quarters worth of hits.

Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor returned to the lineup after being benched the previous week and caught four passes for 23 yards, the longest an eight-yarder.

The Eagles haven’t had a sack in the past two games, a remarkable stat considering they had 20 in the first six games and they’re supposed to have one of the strongest defensive lines in the league. Did Pederson merely have to create a general, intangible sense that putting him in charge of Wentz’s development was the right thing to do? He was high all day, missing open receivers and telegraphing his passes.

Tyler Boyd, 83, makes a catch for a Bengals first down against the Eagles on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

“The reason I brought Jim Schwartz here is he has the ability to put pressure with four”.

Wentz can not be singled out as one who did not play hard.

It continued as the Bengals scored on their first drive.

Maybe that’s the problem with the Eagles right now: everything is predictable. “These are some of the decisions that I made back when the trade was made that if there was going to be some growing pains, these were going to be some of the pains we were going to have to go through, and just him understanding and him learning and us growing together as an offense, he and I growing as coach and quarterback together, it’s all part of the process”. “We’ll hold him out of practice on Wednesday this week. We got to have time to develop this quarterback, it doesn’t just happen overnight”.

NO SACKS AGAIN: The Eagles came into the game determined to get to Dalton, but he wasn’t sacked. But the rookie truly looked like one on Sunday. Throw the ball to Trey Burton more than he’s been getting it. There was nothing inspiring at any point in the game, outside of a kick return by Kenjon Barner in which he was pushed out of bounds by the kicker. His first professional catch went for 41 yards, and he led the team with six catches for 80 yards.

“I think you learn how to handle the positive and the negative and the way you do it is you maintain an even keel, you never get too high, you never get too low”.