Egan on Football: Wentz's Rise to Stardom

Date: October 12, 2017

By: Keith Egan

The Eagles are the best team in the NFC East. Hurts to say it but it's true. Philadelphia's 4-1 record is no joke, and they proved themselves even more with a 34-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The moves they made on offense and defense have paid off tremendously and Wentz is showing his talent to the league.

wentz

(Photo: Philly.com)

Ranking at the top of the league in passing yards and touchdowns, the shifty quarterback is leading his team well and proving himself one game at a time. My unpopular opinion? Wentz is the quarterback with the most potential in the NFC East, and one of the best young QB's in the game.

The Panthers are back. Of all the predictions I made that have fallen short in this crazy year, Carolina showing out in 2017 was one of my correct predictions so far. There's a long season ahead of them in a challenging division, but with their win in Detroit, the Panthers proved a lot to me. I am not sure if they are quite ready for the competition of teams like the Packers, but if they continue to improve, they may be in time for the playoffs.
(Photo: NBC News)
Biggest disappointments for this week are both the Raiders and the Steelers. The Raiders lose Derek Carr again to injury and cannot function without him. Their 30-17 loss to the Ravens at home puts them at 2-3 on the year, which is hard to rebound from in an AFC West that has the Chiefs and the Broncos playing at full strength.
(Photo: FanRag Sports)
E.J Manuel completed 50 percent of his passes for only 159 yards, and the run game just isn't able to make up for that. Marshawn Lynch was a very sexy pickup in the offseason, but if Oakland thought he was going to carry the team like in his prime, they were very mistaken. He still can make plays, but not to the extent that the Raiders need him too.

In Pittsburgh, the Steelers lack consistency and continue to slip up in games they should have easy wins in. The Jaguars are much better than expected, but at home that should be a win for the Steelers. They weren't able to come up with a touchdown or really anything offensively as Big Ben threw the ball 55 times and Bell had 15 carries for 47 yards. This is one of the teams that should be able to compete with anyone in the AFC, but they need to figure it out before the playoffs. Luckily, they have time to do so.

I was actually rather impressed by two teams that did not win in week 5; the Texans and the Rams. I was not jumping out of my seat, but I think we got a good idea of where these teams are, which is growing while competing with top teams. The Rams fell at home to the Seahawks by six, which is disappointing for Los Angeles who had a great chance against the struggling Seahawks, but they shouldn't hang their heads too low. This should be a learning experience for them, and it will be interesting to see how they rebound from it. Seattle has been disappointing this season, but they're still an experienced team expected to be in the postseason.
(Photo: sportsrants.com)
For the Texans, their offense pushed the undefeated Chiefs defense with a rookie quarterback. Their defense was certainly disappointing with the loss of J.J. Watt making it more painful in Houston, but Deshaun Watson has looked fluent and is improving throughout the year. This Texans team is poised to put themselves back in control of the AFC South, but they are going to face some tough competition.

Players of the week:

Offense: Cam Newton- Following a week of controversy, Newton played like the former MVP he is. With 26 completions in 33 attempts, 355 yards and three touchdowns, Newton got the Panthers the win at Detroit.

Defense: Vontaze Burfict- Burfict help lead the Bengals to their win over the Bills with thirteen tackles and one sack. Cincinnati looks to put themselves back up atop the NFL rankings, and it will start with defense.

Week six games to watch:

Eagles AT Panthers- Two 4-1 teams facing off in primetime Thursday Night Football. Doesn't get much better than that. There's still a lot to figure out with these two teams to see if they are playoff contenders, but either way, should be a great matchup.

Steelers AT Chiefs- The Steelers try to rebound off their loss to the Jaguars and hand the Chiefs their first loss. Two Super Bowl contenders squaring off is always exciting, this one has a little more to it though.

Rams AT Jaguars- Very intrigued by this one; two young teams who find themselves at 3-2 competing for a division championship. A lot to find out about these two teams, and we will see how they stack up with this game.

Keith Egan can be reached at keith.egan@student.shu.edu.

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