Carson Wentz admits a tie was an awkward way to end the Bengals game

After a very up and down day from Carson Wentz, the Eagles’ quarterback spoke to the media after the game about losing some key offensive contributors, how it felt to end in a tie, and a bit about his performance against the Bengals.

Here’s what the QB had to say:

On losing Dallas Goedert and DeSean Jackson

Wentz said that it’s tough losing a guy like Dallas Goedert, who is important in protections and the run game, but is also a playmaker with the ball in his hands.

“He’s a big part of our game plan every week, so losing him, we obviously had to make some adjustments on the fly, makes it tough. And then losing D-Jack at halftime made it tough as well. Just trying to get guys going in the right place and try and bring it all together. It’s definitely challenging in the middle of a game, but I thought guys did a good job of filling those spots when they could.”

He also said that he was proud of how the guys rallied to tie things up at the end of regulation — especially having some different guys within the plays they planned to run.

On his reaction to the call to punt for the tie

“I understood the decision.

Tying is no fun. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a tie, so it’s just kind of an awkward way to end the game. But, frustrating when you have a chance there to kick a field goal — even with our drive offensively, a couple times, we felt like were in field goal range and we had plays and then we had penalties, and things just kept backing us up.

The fight was there. The effort was there from guys. We just got to be smarter, play cleaner. I got to be better as well. It was a frustrating way to end the game, for sure.”

Similarly, Wentz supported Doug Pederson’s decision to tie things up rather than go for two, and noted that both plays were coach’s call.

On his interceptions and performance

Wentz explained that on the first interception, he felt good about it but the ball got tipped at the line — with a smirk, he admitted it was a bad feeling watching the ball flutter through the air. For his second interception, Wentz was being aggressive and trying to get one in to Zach Ertz, but a guy made a good play and that’s something he has to be better with.

He was also asked to talk about some of the ups and downs he had throughout the game — overshooting Miles Sanders, but then a nice pass to Ertz. Wentz noted that you’ll have both in games, but that he has to be better.

“Some of them are communication, just making sure we’re on the same page with everybody, and some are just poor throws and I gotta be better.”

Wentz also said that they’re still meshing and gelling as a team, and building the chemistry they need as a group. They’re not using it as an excuse, but as some of the new and young guys get more experience, they’ll all be better.