There has been a lot of talk related to Carson Wentz's struggles and whether or not Doug Pederson should considering benching him to send a message. When asked about the possibility, NFL Network's Brian Baldinger said the Eagles "should consider it."
Ike Reese was a bit hesitant, suggesting the Eagles should at least forewarn Wentz if that was on the table, to which Baldinger responded with a story of his own about a similar situation with Donovan McNabb and Andy Reid:
"Donovan had struggled the first two games of the season. He had turned it over and didn't look good. In his third game, you guys were playing up in Buffalo, and I was doing the game for Fox. That week, I had written an article for Sporting News magazine about if Donovan starts slow, Andy can't be afraid to pull him, not for the season but just to let him know.
"So the production meeting happens, Andy walks into the meeting in Buffalo and he's got the magazine in his hand, you know?. He takes my article and he rips it out of the magazine. He throws it in the trash and says, 'This is what I think about your writing'. I didn't know if he was being serious or what not, I didn't know. But Donovan went out there and he plays a great game. I don't have egg on my face, but I stood by what I said and what I wrote.
"At some point, to your point, you read him the riot act about it and let him know that this isn't acceptable and he's hurting the whole team, and if it continues you let him know we are putting [Nate] Sudfeld in, putting Jalen [Hurts] in, we are making a change. I don't know if that pressure would make [Wentz] play better and clean up or not. Andy's thing was, he's going to shoot to get hot, shoot to stay hot and Donovan could do that. These guys go through these phases like this.
"Wentz has to have a game without turning the ball over but not just a game, a stretch of games like the great ones do. He's got to get into that phase right now."
Baldinger was referring to the 2003 season in which the Eagles lost their first two games of the year. In his fifth season, McNabb posted the second worse completion percentage of his career and turned the ball over 20 times.
It's been similar struggles for Carson Wentz in his fifth year. Through eight games, Wentz has a 58.4% completion percentage and 16 turnovers, with a league high 12 interceptions. McNabb had similar issues through the first seven games of the season in 2003, where he totaled a 54.6 passer rating, but he dramatically turned it around and finished the last nine games with a 99.6 passer rating. Time will tell if Wentz can flip the script in similar fashion.
