At long last, the Philadelphia Eagles finally can bench their Super Bowl most valuable player.
Quarterback Carson Wentz is coming back. That means Nick Foles, who eight months ago helped the franchise to its first Lombardi Trophy, is resuming his role as backup after the Eagles' 27-21 loss at Tampa Bay on Sunday.
"I've said all along that he's our guy," coach Doug Pederson said Monday in announcing Wentz has recovered sufficiently from torn knee ligaments to start Sunday against Indianapolis. "We drafted him to be our guy."
And Wentz has delivered. He was the leading MVP candidate until suffering a season-ending knee injury during a Dec. 11 victory against the Los Angeles Rams at the Coliseum, and wound up setting a club record for touchdown passes despite sitting out the final three games of the regular season.
In terms of healthy and seasoned receivers, Philadelphia's cupboard is bare. Three of the team's top four wideouts are injured _ Alshon Jeffery (rotator cuff), Mike Wallace (fractured fibula) and Mack Hollins (groin) _ leaving the Eagles to make do with Nelson Agholor and a no-name cast that includes DeAndre Carter, Kamar Aiken, Shelton Gibson and Josh Perkins.
The Eagles are trying not to pile too many expectations on Wentz.
"We can't expect him to just put his Superman cape on and be his old self," tight end Zach Ertz said. "He's going to be rusty. But we got a lot of good players on this team."
Nobody understands that like the Indianapolis Colts, who slogged through the 2017 season without quarterback Andrew Luck. He sat out the year because of a chronic shoulder injury. In his second game back, he had two passes intercepted Sunday, but coupled with a strong defensive performance played well enough to orchestrate a 21-9 victory over Washington.
So Colts-Eagles features two superstar quarterbacks trying to hit their stride again, and Colts coach Frank Reich, offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning Eagles, going back to face his old team.
