Skip to content
Eagles
Link copied to clipboard

Eagles' Cox, Wentz recognized with monthly honors

SHOCKING THE rest of the NFL by compiling the league's largest point differential (92-27) while going 3-0 in September has its benefits.

SHOCKING THE rest of the NFL by compiling the league's largest point differential (92-27) while going 3-0 in September has its benefits.

Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was named the NFC's defensive player of the month Thursday, the same day rookie quarterback Carson Wentz was named NFC offensive rookie of the month.

The defensive award is another step toward the type of leaguewide public stature the Eagles have long pursued for Cox, 25, the 12th overall pick in the 2012 draft. He has been the team's best defensive player for years now, but partly because of Cox's low-key personality, and partly because the 3-4 scheme the Eagles played under Chip Kelly made it hard for him to post gaudy numbers, Cox hasn't been a really prominent figure nationally.

That started to change last season, when Cox made the Pro Bowl for the first time. Then, in June, he signed a six-year, $103 million contract, including a $63 million guarantee that was the biggest ever given to anyone in the NFL who wasn't a quarterback.

Back at 4-3 defensive tackle under new coach Doug Pederson and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, Cox has been the centerpiece of a so-far-dominant defensive line. The Eagles have given up the NFL's fewest points, and Cox has three sacks, 14 tackles, six hurries and a forced fumble.

Wentz, meanwhile, has gotten off to the best start of any rookie quarterback in Eagles history. He is the first rookie quarterback since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to start and win his team's first three games while not throwing an interception. His 103.8 passer rating ranks seventh in the NFL, and the 125.9 he compiled last Sunday against the Steelers is the highest ever recorded by an Eagles rookie.

An Eagles spokesman tried to elicit comment Thursday from Cox, but he said he was "on a tractor" and couldn't talk. Wentz posted a photo on Twitter of himself and a buck he'd brought down, bow-hunting in North Dakota.

The quarterback who was traded eight days before the opener, giving Wentz his opportunity, said Thursday he isn't surprised at how his successor has played.

"Not really. You could see it from Day 1," Sam Bradford told a conference call with New York-area reporters, in advance of the Vikings' game against the Giants Sunday. "He is a very talented kid, he is very smart, he sees things, he has a really wide vision for a rookie . . . the fact that he has been given the opportunity and has really played well doesn't surprise me."

Bradford struck a similar tone when asked about the Eagles' 3-0 start; the Vikings and the Eagles are the only unbeaten NFC teams.

"When I was there, I thought that we had a chance to be really good," Bradford said. "I know those guys, I know how hard they worked, I know the type of offseason and preseason camp they had there, so the fact that they have started off the way they have hasn't really surprised me."

@LesBowen

Blog: philly.com/Eaglesblog