Carson Wentz‘s second act with the Minnesota Vikings had no luck of the Irish in Dublin, Ireland, on Sunday.
Wentz took six sacks and threw two interceptions as the Vikings fell 24-21 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the league’s first-ever game in Ireland. The former North Dakota State star went 30-46 for 350 yards and two touchdowns.
“At the end of the day, we lost. That’s all I care about. That’s all I’m concerned about. Got a bad taste in my mouth,” Wentz told reporters afterward. “The defense stepped up when we needed ’em at the end, got us the ball back.”
“In those situations, it pains me to be left out on the field with a chance and come up short. … Couple of tipped picks … those are tough,” Wentz added. “They kind of derailed what I thought [was] decent momentum going on a couple of drives.”
Carson Wentz Had Mixed Results on Drives
GettyCarson Wentz had ups and downs against the Steelers on Sunday.
Wentz led the Vikings to a field goal on the team’s first drive, which went 11 plays for 51 yards. He connected with star wideout Justin Jefferson five times on that opening drive, but Wentz taking a sack on third down thwarted the drive as the Vikings settled on a Will Reichard field goal from 41 yards out.
Minnesota’s next two drives resulted in a punt and Wentz’s first interception while the Steelers grabbed a 14-3 lead in the process. Wentz then led the Vikings to another scoring drive, capped by Reichard’s 28-yard field goal, and a one-score game, 14-6, before the half.
In the third quarter, things stalled again for Wentz and the Vikings offense as two drives resulted in punts after just three plays, and another ended in an interception. Wentz also had a fumble on that drive that the Vikings recovered.
The offense finally clicked in the fourth quarter, down 24-6, as Wentz led touchdown drives of 9 plays, 70 yards and 7 plays, 99 yards to cut the deficit to 24-21. Wentz threw touchdown passes of 16 yards to Zavier Scott and two yards to Jalen Nailor.
“We ended up throwing the ball quite a bit, so that’s always tough on the line and everything, and there’s definitely times I could have gotten rid of the ball quicker and gone through my progressions faster,” Wentz said.
“They play hard. They play physical. They made it tough on us,” he added.
Vikings’ Run Game Lacking
Wentz had minimal support from the run game, which only produced 70 yards on 20 attempts. Wentz had 12 of those yards on two carries, and running back Jordan Mason only had 16 carries for 57 yards, an average of 3.6 yards per attempt.
“I thought we did do a pretty good job early moving the football via, you know, the ball coming out pretty quick and trying to find ways to get some catch-and-run opportunities,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters afterward.
“But as you stack some of those negative plays you just end up in down and distances that are very conducive for them, and then eventually the score is very conducive for them, and you’re trying to make sure you piece together what was the original plan and making sure you never want to leave 90 (T.J. Watt) to an open edge,” O’Connell added.
Wentz will likely get another shot to guide the Vikings offense in London next Sunday when the team faces the Cleveland Browns as starter J.J. McCarthy remains out due to an ankle injury.
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