Carson Wentz to start for Commanders against Browns

Carson Wentz is getting another chance. 

Commanders coach Ron Rivera named Wentz the team’s starting quarterback for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. The team made the announcement Wednesday, days after Wentz replaced Taylor Heinicke in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers. 

With only two games left in the season, the Commanders will turn to Wentz in order to keep their postseason hopes alive. The team remains the seventh seed at 7-7-1.

This will be Wentz’s second stint as Washington’s starter in 2022. The former first-rounder started the first six games of the year but was sidelined in October when he fractured his finger in a win over the Chicago Bears.  In Wentz’s absence, Heinicke led the Commanders back into the playoff hunt — leading Rivera to announce after a November win over Houston that Heinicke would remain the starter even when Wentz was fully healthy.

But the Commanders had cooled off with Heinicke over the last few weeks — posting a 0-2-1 record. Heinicke’s benching happened after the quarterback committed back-to-back turnovers, though Rivera said the change was made in part to keep the signal-caller from taking hits from San Francisco’s punishing defensive line. 

In his first action since Oct. 13, Wentz went 12 of 16 for 123 yards and a touchdown. After the game, Rivera said he would use the coming days to evaluate the position before naming who would start against Cleveland. 

The Commanders acquired Wentz in an offseason trade with the Indianapolis Colts.

“What he showed was that he’s fully healthy, he’s got fresh legs right now, and got a lively arm,” Rivera said of Wentz on Tuesday, a day prior to making his decision. “He made very quick decisions. He showed us that quick twitch that you look for in quarterbacks and his decision making seemed to be right on. 

“One of the things that he handled very well was he picked up the blitz a couple times and got the ball out very quickly, which was something that early on, he wasn’t as quick with. Now it looks like he’s got a little bit better sense and better feel for that, especially within this offense.”