In Carson Wentz, teammates old and young see the Eagles' missing piece | David Murphy

LANDOVER, Md. — A wistful tone crept into Jason Peters' voice as he sat in a metal folding chair and thought about the things he'd just seen. Part of him seemed to know that what he was about to say would sound a bit silly to anybody aware of his team's recent history. Still, 12 seasons and 160 starts had given him a considerable baseline against which to judge such things. In the NFL, there are quarterbacks who live the bulk of their existence at somebody else's mercy: the blockers up front, the pass-catchers downfield, the coaches on the opposite sideline. They take what the defense gives them, but little more. These are the quarterbacks who make up the bulk of the species, with most NFL teams engaged in a perpetual search for the most proficient among them.

And then there are quarterbacks who can do the things Peters had spent his afternoon watching: shimmying and shaking, shedding and shrugging, crossing up defenders like slalom gates, piggybacking linebackers while making lefthanded throws, spinning, escaping, throwing end-zone bombs.

"If you ever make it to the next level, to the playoffs, them the guys that you've gotta watch," the future Hall of Famer said, "because anything can happen."

Carson Wentz was a long way from perfect Sunday afternoon. There were moments when he looked like the quarterback the Rams and Browns were scared to take, his release long, his focus narrow, his feet planted to the pocket floor. In the first quarter, he sailed a backward pass to Nelson Agholor that the Redskins pounced on four a fumble recovery. In the second quarter, he gift-wrapped one of his opponent's two touchdowns with an ill-advised and ill-executed pass to Darren Sproles that Ryan Kerrigan returned 24 yards for the score. Instead of navigating himself into a better throwing position, he stood upright and still and stared down his receiver as a defensive lineman collapsed his passing lane. Wentz is 24 years old and less than two years removed from North Dakota State and he has yet to purge himself of the effects of these things.

Yet on a day in which the Eagles offense struggled to find its rhythm, it was their saving grace came in the form of their second-year quarterback's unique ability to salvage the most broken of plays. The first strike occurred on the first drive of the game, with the Eagles facing a third-and-12 on their 42. Wentz spun out of the arms of Jonathan Allen, slipped away from a second defender, and weaved through a collapsing pocket like Indiana Jones, somehow spotting a wide-open Nelson Agholor and stepping into a perfect 58-yard heave.

"He's a magician, man," Agholor said.

[Five quick observations from the Eagles win over the Redskins]

The third-year wide receiver was one of several Eagles teammates who recounted with a smile the scramble drills they'd staged in practice throughout the spring and summer. They are staples of most teams' practice periods, but few have reason to treat them with the sincerity that Doug Pederson and his offensive coaches do. The Wentz we saw at FedEx Field on Sunday was the player the Eagles became convinced they'd be getting as they scouted his career at North Dakota State, his college film filled with plays similar to the ones he made throughout the 30-17 win over the Redskins. He packs a rare blend of size, strength and athleticism into his 6-foot-5, 237-pound frame. You saw it on the touchdown pass to Agholor, and the four times he tucked the ball and ran. But a couple of other characteristics present in Wentz express themselves in these moments. One is his instinct, an intuitive feel for the time and space that surrounds him even as he focuses downfield. One of the game's biggest moments occurred midway through the fourth quarter, when Wentz felt pressure from his right side and spun away to his left, where he spotted Zach Ertz breaking away from his defender and floated an easy completion that went for 23 yards.

"There's areas of the field where, if you're deep, you want to come back, if you're short, you want to go deep," said Ertz, who finished with eight catches and 93 yards. "There's rules that we have, I'm not going to elaborate on the exact rules that we have, but we have defined rules where we're supposed to be, when we're supposed to be there."

These rules were honed in those scramble drills in practice, when Pederson would pull his quarterback aside and, unknown to the receivers, tell him to hold the ball and scramble on a given play.

"Even if it was a 7-on-7, that's kind of where you emphasize it," Ertz said. "He'd be like, 'Hey, Carson, scramble on this one,' and everyone has to work to get open."

Wentz's most abundant quality in situations like this might be his toughness. You saw it on Sunday late in the second quarter, when he dragged Redskins linebacker Zach Brown a couple of yards and then somehow managed to get off a lefthanded pass for what should have been a sack-avoiding incompletion.

[Jim Schwartz's defense deserves all of the game balls for this one]

"It's a little bit of skill and a lot of competitiveness and want-to," Agholor said.

In guys such as Agholor, drafted the year before Wentz, there is a sense that they are a part of a start of an era. For Peters, though, the window is quickly sliding closed. To him, Wentz is a last, best hope, the kind of weapon capable of delivering a long-sought prize.

"When you make it out of the division, make it to the next step — I know it's far off — but when you've got a quarterback like him that can extend plays," he said, "it's special."

Get insights on the Eagles delivered straight to your inbox with Early Birds, beat writer Zach Berman's new twice-weekly newsletter for Eagles fans. Click here to sign up.