Quarterback Carson Wentz a winner in debut with Washington Commanders, and 'it felt great'

LANDOVER, Md. — Washington Commanders quarterback Carson Wentz defeated his former coach, won his first game with his new team and showed his new one what it's like to have him as a quarterback — all the bad and the good.

In Wentz's first game with Washington, he threw for 313 yards and four touchdowns, including two in the final quarter, to lead a 28-22 comeback win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Wentz played five seasons with Jaguars coach Doug Pederson when both were in Philadelphia.

«It felt great,» Wentz said of the win. «To kind of rally together and get it done when it mattered at the end, that was cool. Cool way to start.»

But the reason Wentz had to rally the Commanders was because he threw interceptions on consecutive plays, leading to 10 Jaguars points. Wentz called it an ugly stretch, made possible by being late on one pick and forcing the second.

It was the sort of rollercoaster ride that has come to define Wentz's career — and it's OK with his new coach, Ron Rivera, who knows exactly how he'll deal with it during the season.

«I'll take antacids,» he said. «We're going to ride with him, we'll go with the good, we'll go with the bad. We did a lot of research on him and we felt comfortable and confident that this is a guy we need around here, a guy that has some courage.»

After the second interception, Wentz pounded the ground on the sidelines and then looked at Rivera, who told him he'd now have to go win the game. Wentz replied, «I will,» and then calmly walked away — and won the game.

«That's just the reality,» Wentz said. «You make a couple bad plays, it's time to go fix it. But at the same time not try to fix it all at once. Just go do the next right thing, go make the next play.»

And then he did. After