Colts’ dismal start is poetic justice for Commanders’ Carson Wentz

The Washington Commanders are 1-1 and fresh off a humbling loss to the middling Detroit Lions on Sunday. Their record is no reflection of their quarterback, however, as Carson Wentz has played well enough to boast a 2-0 record.

Stats obviously don’t tell the whole story of a QB’s performance, but Wentz is ranked prominently near the top of the leaderboard in every major statistical category, including passing yards, touchdowns and passer rating.

Wentz is far down the list of the Commanders’ biggest concerns right now — with run and pass defense, special teams and even the running game (Antonio Gibson is averaging just 3.1 yards per carry) — all well ahead in the pecking order.

Funny how things work out, because Wentz is currently thriving while his former organization, which was quick to scapegoat him for its epic end-of-season collapse last year, dropped to 0-1-1 after an embarrassing loss to the Jaguars.

The Colts’ woeful start with Matt Ryan under center is poetic for Commanders QB Carson Wentz after he was scapegoated.

The Colts’ braintrust, owner Jim Irsay and GM Chris Ballard chief among them, waxed poetic about Matt Ryan after they traded for him in the offseason.

"“We went through the season with some inconsistency at quarterback that led to massive problems,” Irsay said after the Ryan trade.“We’re set up for excellence. Now we just have to do it. And Matt Ryan has that same feeling in his heart. You know that difficult loss to the Patriots in the Super Bowl (when Ryan was with the Falcons), he’s here to get his Lombardi. This is the time. This is a time to set up another generation of greatness.”“I think (those quarterback issues) were addressed probably in an even more exciting way than I had hoped."

You’ll also recall Irsay referring to the Colts’ Carson Wentz era as a “mistake” and moving away from Wentz was an “obvious” decision for the franchise.

Wouldn’t you know, we’re two weeks into the new season and Ryan is finding it difficult (that would be an understatement) to overcome the same obstacles Wentz navigated pretty handily last season: an expensive, but ineffective offensive line, and a below-average receiving corps. And yet, Irsay went out of his way to flip the narrative that it was Wentz who was responsible for bringing the Colts down.

Let’s compare Wentz and Ryan’s 2022 stats, shall we?

• Wentz: 65.5% completion rate, 650 yards, 7 TDs, 3 INTs, 100.3 passer rating
• Ryan: 60.0% completion rate, 547 yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs, 63.9 passer rating

Another telling nugget? It took Ryan two weeks to throw his fourth interception. Last season, Wentz didn’t toss his fourth pick until Week 12. In total, Wentz threw seven interceptions on 516 pass attempts. Ryan has four on just 80 attempts.

Oh, how the tables have turned. We know Wentz has fully moved on from that chapter in his career, but there has to be a small part of him that loves seeing the Colts (probably Irsay, not his teammates) capitulate without him.