Carson Wentz has had a rough few seasons after what looked to be an extremely promising start to his NFL career. In just his second season, he looked poised to be named the league's most valuable player (MVP), but sadly suffered a torn ACL which would keep him out of the rest of the season.
That would be the year that the Eagles would go on to win the Super Bowl, with back-up quarterback Nick Foles leading them to victory over Tom Brady's New England Patriots, giving the Eagles their first ever championship in the process. Wentz would come back the following season, but would struggle, and after two mediocre years, they had drafted their replacement - current Eagles starting quarterback and MVP frontrunner Jalen Hurts.
Wentz would be traded to the Indianapolis Colts, where he was roundly criticised for a number of poor plays before being traded again to the Washington Commanders this season.
And now, just five games into the season, his own head coach threw him under the bus after another defeat left them with a 1-4 record. Coach Ron Rivera was asked why he thought the teams in their division were ahead of them, with the Philadelphia Eagles sitting at 5-0 whilst both the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys are joint second with a 4-1 record.
Without hesitation, Rivera said: "Quarterback." He added: "The truth is that this a quarterback driven league. If you look at the teams that have had sustained success, they have been able to build it around a specific quarterback."
Rivera has since apologised for his comments, saying: "I spoke to my team this morning. I basically told them I said some things that were misconstrued... I told the guys that I should know better. S***, I had a bad day."
Since becoming aware of the quotes and Rivera's apology, Wentz said: "Coach addressed it and handled it, he is a very upfront guy and he addressed it and there's nothing for me that I am overly concerned about. He addressed it in the team meeting which I thought was really cool. I feel very confident."
Former Washington quarterback, Alex Smith, who was coached by Rivera, stated that not only did he throw Wentz under the bus, he 'drove the bus over him'.
Smith said: "I had a really hard time watching that. When I heard it, I couldn’t believe it. I’m not here to defend Carson Wentz. He’s had a tumultuous career and ups and downs. But this is a defensive head coach that’s absolutely driving the bus over his quarterback.
"The blame has got to be spread around. This is a team sport. It is the ultimate team sport. How can a head coach stand up there in front of the media and utter one word, and it’s ‘quarterback."
