Carson Wentz played fantastic in his first two NFL starts. The rookie quarterback confidently made checks at the line of scrimmage, displayed a strong arm, soft touch, athletic scrambling ability, pinpoint accuracy both from the pocket and on the move and heady decision making.
The Philadelphia Eagles' starting quarterback has completed 60.6 percent of his passes for 658 yards and three touchdowns. Wentz is the first rookie QB since the 1970 merger to start and win his team's first two games of the season and have 0 INT in those contests.
Here comes the qualifier: Those games were against the Cleveland Browns and Chicago Bears, two of the worst teams in the NFL.
Sunday will mark Wentz's first true test against intrastate rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
"You definitely want to beat him up," Steelers linebacker Arthur Moats said of facing the rookie quarterback, via the Pittsburgh Tribune. "You want to hit him, but at the same time, when you confuse him with different looks, he's worried about getting hit and he's also trying to figure out where the coverage is, things like 'Who's my hot receiver?'
"Even our basic look can come off as exotic. To a rookie quarterback, that can be the difference between him making a completion or throwing an interception."
Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler said he isn't worried about how many starts Wentz has made.
"When I try to game plan for an offense, I don't take into account that he's a rookie," Butler said. "I take into account who I've got to stop, what they're doing well and things that might give us problems and look at how we can alleviate them."
The Steelers flummoxed an off-target Kirk Cousins in Week 1 and stymied Andy Dalton in Week 2. Mike Tomlin seems to have simplified the back end, cutting down many of the blown coverages we've seen in previous seasons. The defensive front has been pesky and stout -- especially versus the run. With stud linebacker Ryan Shazier flying to the ball, the Steelers D has been fantastic to start the season and better than the sum of its parts would indicate.
Despite facing a rookie, Pittsburgh won't enter Sunday underestimating Wentz, especially after watching him torch the Bears in prime time.
"You've got to treat him like he's the best," Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward said. "You treat this guy like he's a Hall of Famer already."
