Bowen: Wentz, Bradford focused on Eagles-Vikings, not each other

Two quarterbacks talked to Philadelphia-area reporters Wednesday. A little more than six weeks ago, they were teammates, mentor and mentee.

This Sunday, Carson Wentz will lead the Eagles against Sam Bradford and the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field, and while we've all experienced our share of odd, jarring NFL sights over the years - Donovan McNabb coming back here in a Redskins uniform, for example - the timing of Bradford's departure makes this one of the stranger episodes in franchise history.

"That's just the nature of this business," Wentz said. "It's the NFL. Things happen, guys get traded, that's kind of just how it works. They're the next one on our schedule."

"It's definitely not something that I expected," Bradford said, reflecting on how, a few months ago, he'd envisioned playing against the Vikings this weekend, not for them.

Was he relieved to no longer be a placeholder for Wentz?

"At the point of the trade, I really, honestly, had accepted being in Philadelphia this year, I was excited about being in Philadelphia this year. I was excited about playing with those guys this year," Bradford said. "I really was looking forward to that. So when I got the call, I'm really not sure there was any relief."

To some extent, Eagles fans might draw conclusions from this game about the Sept. 3 trade that sent Bradford to Minnesota and made Wentz a rookie starter, bringing the Eagles a first-round pick in the 2017 draft, plus a 2018 pick that will be at least a fourth-rounder.

"I don't get caught up in that at all. It's the Vikings vs. the Eagles," Wentz said.

Bradford, speaking later in the afternoon on a conference call, after trodding much of the same ground with Minnesota reporters, was in more of a reflective, expansive mood than Wentz. This stood to reason. Bradford quarterbacks the NFL's last remaining unbeaten team, 5-0 coming off its bye week. His passer rating of 109.7 this season trails only that of Atlanta's Matt Ryan, and, while learning yet another new offense, Bradford has thrown for six touchdowns in four games, with no interceptions.

Wentz, meanwhile, also has played well, but his 3-2 team has lost two in a row, and is coming off an ugly, confidence-sapping defeat in Washington in which the Redskins dominated both lines of scrimmage. When Wentz gets done facing Bradford and a Vikings team that will field a more talented roster than the group Wentz directs, Wentz gets to take his team to NFC East-leading Dallas, where he will face comparisons with Cowboys rookie quarterback Dak Prescott - and never mind that there is no comparison right now between their respective offensive lines and receiving groups.

The Eagles' season is on the line, and Wentz isn't inclined to reflect in detail on simple twists of fate.

"Without a doubt," the trade accelerated his development, Wentz said. "Those are huge reps and huge opportunities to grow."

Where would his development be right now if Vikings starter Teddy Bridgewater hadn't been lost for the season with a serious left leg injury and the Bradford trade hadn't happened?

"That's hard to say," Wentz said. "That's the 'what-if' game. I'm very fortunate with where I'm at right now."

Asked how he thought the Eagles' season would be going if he were quarterbacking the team, Bradford said: "I don't know . . . I think that'll always be a question mark."

Maybe the most interesting aspect of the QBs' remarks Wednesday was that Bradford did not act as if the trade was the greatest thing that ever happened to him, even though he'd requested a move last spring. There was a wistfulness; sure, he's happy to be quarterbacking what looks like the best team in the NFC, but a starting QB has to take ownership of a situation, and eight days before the season starts is an unexpected time to have to recalibrate.

We all marveled over how Wentz handled going from No. 3 to No. 1 so close to the start of the season, but really, Bradford might have had the tougher challenge.

"It happened so fast, I didn't really have time to process it, and I honestly still haven't sat down and really thought it all the way through," Bradford said. "In training camp and during the preseason, I was really excited to be in Philly this year. I thought we had a really good preseason. I was excited to build on what we had done in the second half last year.

"When you spend so much time with the guys in that building, when you're around the same people for a year-and-a-half, and you've put the time in to develop those relationships, on and off the field, and then it just comes to an end without really having a chance to say goodbye, or to go out on the field one last time and play with those guys, I think there's always a part of you that you're a little, I guess, down about that. But you know, I've seen a lot in seven years, and I've learned to expect the unexpected. I'm excited for every opportunity that's given to me."

Asked whether the trade up in the draft to take Wentz or the trade to Minnesota surprised him more, Bradford said: "Probably the trade to Minnesota . . . It was completely off my radar. It just wasn't something that I was even thinking about. When I got that call on Saturday morning, I did a little double-take. I was like, 'What?' . . . You've just got to roll with it and make the best of any situation you're in."

Wentz was hunting geese in a New Jersey cornfield when the call came from Eagles coach Doug Pederson. It was an hour earlier in Oklahoma, where Bradford thought he would be spending a few days off. Bradford said he had just awakened. He and his wife had planned to "hang out, watch the OU game, enjoy the weekend off. And then next thing you know, I get the phone call, and then I'm on a plane to Minnesota, and then, that afternoon, I'm learning another new offense."

It took about a month to get all his belongings packed up in Haddonfield and shipped to Minnesota, Bradford said.

"It's been a lot of fun" quarterbacking what promises to be the most successful team he has played for in the NFL, Bradford said. "Obviously, I'm kinda still getting to know this place, this organization, my teammates, but it's been fun so far, and I'm just trying to enjoy the ride."

He has watched some Eagles action, has spoken with Wentz, and even more to close friends such as tight end Zach Ertz, who said he and Bradford usually chat every Monday, after their teams' games.

"It's been awesome to see him play the way he has, and it really doesn't surprise me," Bradford said of Wentz. "If you look at him, where he came in, in OTAs, the progress he made, the way he was playing at the end of training camp, he was playing at a really high level."

Wentz said that when Bradford was here, he was a big help explaining Pederson's offense, and sharing his knowledge of other NFL systems.

"It was really good conversation. I built a really good relationship with him, and I'm looking forward to playing him."

@LesBowen

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