Mike Groh talks Carson Wentz’s performance, Eagles wide receiver position, and more

The Eagles’ offense has struggled this whole season but it’s reached new lows with so many injuries to skill positions. Offensive coordinator Mike Groh spoke to the media on Tuesday and talked about Carson Wentz’s performance, the wide receiver position, and Andre Dillard.

Here’s what the OC had to say:

On Carson Wentz

Groh was asked to evaluate the QB’s performance against Seattle, and the coordinator mentioned that the entire offense didn’t play the way they wanted. He noted that defense gave them every opportunity to win, and they didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.

Regarding Wentz’s ball security, which has been an issue, Groh said:

“I think we just have to keep two hands on the ball in the pocket when we start to feel pressure. Obviously, he’s really good in escaping, but being able to keep two hands on the ball, protect it against your chest, lock it up until you do break out in the clear, get out of the pocket.”

But, aside from ball security, Groh said that Wentz had a lot of positive plays — and some missed plays.

“So we have to make sure we don’t leave those plays out on the field that we think we should be able to make, regardless of who’s in the game. I said it last week: we have a high standard for how we expect to play. I know that everybody does. Right now, we’re not meeting that, so we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

Groh also said that they haven’t identified anything particularly wrong with Carson’s throwing mechanics, and that against the Seahawks, there was a lot of push in his face resulting in a limited throwing motion.

The coordinator was also asked about why they haven’t called a lot of designed roll-outs for Wentz. He explained that they include some in the game plan ever week, and they’re all slotted, and “a big part of what we want to do”. Wentz is good outside the pocket and they did call three of them (ish) on Sunday.

“I don’t know if we’re getting the production out of them that we would like, which is the case in a lot of areas right now.”

The OC also said that having a lot of moving parts on the offensive line might have been the reason for some of the problems they had.

On the receiver position

Groh said that he still feels like Wentz and the receivers need to spend more time together, which has been tough with so many moving pieces — but said there was still time for that chemistry development this season. He said that they hopefully get some guys back as well, which should help.

“Well, I’ll say this: we’re in this together. It’s not anybody’s fault. Not one individual’s fault. It’s all of us. I’m accountable for it all. So we all have to do better.

We’re going to go back out there today and we’re going to roll our sleeves up and get to work. We’re certainly not happy with the results that we’ve gotten, and we’ve put a lot of work into achieving and playing at a higher standard than that.

We have to take care of the ball. We can’t turn the ball over to a really good football team five times and give them those opportunities.”

Greg Ward Jr.

Groh mentioned that Ward knows the offense really well because he’s been with the team for a long time and been in a ton of meetings. From that standpoint, they have a lot of trust with him, have seen him run a ton of routes, and know his body language really well.

“I thought Greg did a really nice job. Had a lot of confidence going into the game that he played the way he did, and I’m really happy for him, proud of him.

He’s put a lot into this in terms of his development and transitioning from playing quarterback in college to NFL wide receiver, so I think he got off to a very positive start.”

JJ Arcega-Whiteside

The offensive coordinator was asked about JJAW’s route running, and some of the comments made online from former players pointing out some missed routes.

“J.J. is a young player, and I kind of just referenced it a little bit with Greg in the fact that he’s had the luxury of being around here for a number of years and heard exactly the way the plays are installed many, many times. Knows exactly how he wants to run the route and how we expect the route to look.

So he did a really nice job with that. I think if you look at the offense as a whole or receivers as a whole, there are things that we can correct on a lot of plays, and it’s certainly not just one guy.”

Jordan Matthews’ release

“I appreciate Jordan’s contribution the last two weeks and everything he invested in our team. He is a true pro. Enjoy being around him. Really enjoy coaching him, so I want to wish him well.”

On Andre Dillard’s performance

“Well, obviously you put everybody out on the field that you have a lot of the confidence in. We have a lot of the confidence in Andre. I think it was discussed prior to the game that it’s not an easy transition to make.

We had high hopes that he would go out there and perform. It wasn’t going as well as we would have liked it to go, so we had to make a decision there at halftime”