PHILADELPHIA -- The loss of quarterback Carson Wentz puts the 11-2 Philadelphia Eagles in some rare territory.
The Eagles have already clinched the NFC East and can secure a first-round bye with a victory at the New York Giants on Sunday. When the playoffs roll around, Wentz will become just the third quarterback to win 11 games but not start a postseason game, joining Phil Simms in 1990 and Oakland's Derek Carr last season.
The 1990 Giants went on to win the Super Bowl behind backup Jeff Hostetler, while the Raiders fell to the Texans in the wild-card round due in part to the struggles of third-string QB Connor Cook. In other words, it can go one of two ways.
The Eagles believe backup Nick Foles will keep the team afloat.
"Nick has played a ton of football. I was here when we drafted him, and we drafted him for a reason," Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. "Then we went out and got him again this offseason for a reason. You never want it to be under these circumstances, but at the same time, my confidence is extremely high in Nick."
It's reasonable to expect a drop-off considering Wentz was playing at an MVP level. He was particularly good at working himself out of sticky situations.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Wentz threw 13 touchdown passes to zero interceptions against the blitz. Only Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has thrown that many TDs without a pick against the blitz in the past 10 seasons (2010 and 2012). Wentz threw six touchdown passes outside the pocket, tied for most in the NFL. He also tossed eight TDs with no interceptions when pressured in 2017 to lead the league. Foles, in contrast, doesn't have that many career touchdowns when pressured.
The good news for the Eagles is they have a strong rushing attack to lean on. They average 143 yards per game, which ranks second in the NFL. Jay Ajayi is averaging seven yards per attempt since being traded from Miami to Philly. LeGarrette Blount leads the league in average yards after contact (2.72) and Ajayi ranks fourth (2.21). That punishing style can serve a team well in January.
"Offensively, there's going to be some things that we'll probably change around just because Nick doesn't have some of the abilities of Carson when you talk about mobility and all of that," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "Going to run the ball more and rely on these great backs that we have on the team. Our defense needs to step up and be the defense that we've been all year."
The odds of success over the remainder of the regular season didn't change much for the Eagles as a result of the Wentz injury, per ESPN's FPI.
Meanwhile, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook moved the Eagles from favorites to win the NFC to second behind the Minnesota Vikings.
The oddsmakers aren't anticipating a major crash, and neither is Pederson.
"It sure can, heck yeah," said Pederson when asked if the team can overcome the Wentz injury. "We overcame [losing] a Pro Bowl left tackle [Jason Peters]. We overcame our middle linebacker [Jordan Hicks]. We've overcome our running back [Darren Sproles]. We've overcome a core special teams player this year [Chris Maragos]. [We’ve overcome losing] our kicker this year [Caleb Sturgis]. This is no different.
"Yeah, he is the quarterback of our football team. Each one of these guys that I mentioned is tough to replace. But you know what, the reason we went out and got Nick Foles was for reasons like this and situations like this. I'm excited for Nick. I hate it for Carson Wentz. I hate it for the career, the season, I guess, that he's been having. But at the same time, it's been the next-man-up mentality, and that's how we approach it this week."