The Indianapolis Colts had an embarrassing collapse at the end of the 2021 regular season, that saw the team shockingly fall out of the playoff race. Much of the blame was placed upon the shoulders of former Colts QB Carson Wentz, who was ushered out the door hastily this offseason in a trade with the Commanders. While fans may still hold Wentz responsible for the late-season meltdown, head coach Frank Reich thinks that's unfair, opening up on his former QB via NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.
“Carson played a lot of good football,” Reich told Pelissero on Sunday at the league meetings. “We did a lot of good things as a team, he did a lot of good things as a quarterback. Three quarters of the year we were one of the teams to beat, one of the teams everybody was talking about. And then we had a pretty big time collapse in the last two weeks of the season and we all take responsibility for that, starting with me as a head coach. What would be unfair is to make Carson the scapegoat.”
While Wentz has faced a lot of scrutiny from fans and the media in regards to Indianapolis' woes, Reich feels that the blame should be placed on the entire team, rather than singling out Wentz. The quarterback wasn't particularly mistake-prone during the team's three-game losing streak at the end of the year, only throwing one interception during that span. However, his shortcomings as a leader were on full display, as he did little to nothing to rally his offense when the pressure mounted.
Still, despite the Colts clearly having had no intentions of keeping Wentz on the roster, Reich is coming to the defense of his former signal-caller. Of course, these words may have meant a bit more to Wentz if they were stated while he was still with the organization. Now, the new Commanders' quarterback is simply looking to leave his Colts' tenure in the rear-view mirror and get to work in the nation's capital.