The Minnesota Vikings have handled an injury to young quarterback J.J. McCarthy quite well, as veteran backup Carson Wentz came in to do his thing in a dominant Week 3 win. Looming ahead is an international matchup against Mike Tomlin and his Pittsburgh Steelers.
This Steelers defense might be in a better position to test Wentz's skills as a passer in this offense. To hear Tomlin tell it, he is more worried about the supporting cast than he is about the trigger man.
While Tomlin was positive when he spoke of Wentz, calling him a "grizzly veteran" who can be a steadying presence, those who are interested in reading the tea leaves may notice that he spent more time praising the Vikings' collection of skill position players. Did he imply that playing quarterback in Minnesota is easy?
"He certainly has a full repertoire of targets available to him. The return of Jordan Addison, I think, is significant. Certainly, [Justin] Jefferson is a man to be reckoned with, good 50/50 ball guy, tough, good after the catch, as well. T.J. [Hockenson] at the tight end is a challenge. So, Carson has a nice arsenal of people to throw the ball to."
Mike Tomlin seemingly downplays Carson Wentz ahead of Minnesota Vikings game against Pittsburgh Steelers
While the Vikings barely needed to lift a finger in what was a complete demolition of the Cincinnati Bengals, that had more to do with the incompetence of Jake Browning than any particularly exceptional performance from Wentz. Despite the skill position talent, Wentz missed throws against a very beatable defense.
Despite the fact that Pittsburgh's defense has had some struggles against subpar offenses in the last few weeks, the talent on this defense, mixed with Tomlin's history of consistently getting solid production from that side of the ball, could create a very disadvantageous situation for Wentz.
Any game plan that involves Wentz sitting back in the pocket and trying to pick apart the Steelers is doomed to failure, given his past history. Tomlin is correct in assessing that their best chance to pull off the victory relies on quickly distributing the ball to playmakers like Jefferson, Hockenson, and Addison.
Tomlin doesn't seem too scared for Wentz's overall ability as a quarterback, but he is well aware of the fact that all it would take for the Steelers to slip to 2-2 on the season is Jefferson or Addison catching fire against what has been a very beatable secondary.