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The former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback will look to throw
multiple touchdown passes for the fourth straight game when the
Colts face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night at Santa
Clara, Calif.
Indianapolis acquired Wentz in the offseason and reunited him
with Reich, who was Philadelphia's offensive coordinator for
Wentz's first two NFL seasons (2016-17).
Wentz looked like he was headed to stardom when he threw a
career-high 33 touchdowns against seven interceptions in 2017
but his production went down after Reich departed to become the
Colts' coach.
Last season, Wentz tossed 16 touchdown passes and a career-worst
15 interceptions, and lost his starting gig to Jalen Hurts.
Now Indianapolis (2-4) is seeing what it envisioned when it made
the trade. Wentz completed 25 of 35 passes for a career-best 402
yards in a 31-25 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Oct.
11 and averaged 20.3 yards per completion in last Sunday's 31-3
whipping of the Houston Texans.
Overall, Wentz has 1,545 yards and nine touchdowns against one
interception. "This is the guy I knew in Philadelphia," Reich
said of Wentz. "He can be a big-play machine. What I've been
more impressed with: I know he can make those plays, but I like
the way he's taking care of the football."
The passing game will be without Parris Campbell (foot), while
the status of fellow wideout T.Y. Hilton (quadriceps) is
uncertain. Hilton didn't practice all week and is termed
questionable for the game but Reich said Friday that "it's
probably not likely that he's gonna go."
Three-time Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson (ankle, knee) had a
solid week of work without any setbacks and is expected to be
activated from injured reserve after missing three straight
games.
"I think Quenton can be a quick return because of who he is and
where he's been," Reich said. "We think he's been making good
progress." The 49ers (2-3) are in the midst of a three-game
losing streak as they come off a bye week.
Jimmy Garoppolo will be the starting quarterback as he returns
from a calf injury that caused him to miss the Week 5 loss to
the Arizona Cardinals. Garoppolo said the injury has improved.
"During the bye week, we made great strides," Garoppolo said
Wednesday. "It will get better every day. Right now, it feels
great."
Rookie Trey Lance started against Arizona but sprained his left
knee. He didn't practice at all this week and was ruled out
Friday.
Lance and Wentz are both products of FCS power North Dakota
State. Nate Sudfeld is in line to back up Garoppolo this week.
The 49ers have gone more than a month without a victory. That
isn't good in the NFC West, where they're chasing the Cardinals
(6-0) and Los Angeles Rams (5-1).
"We could easily be sitting at 5-0 right now," 49ers left tackle
Trent Williams said. "Obviously, we're not. We're 2-3 but we go
back and revisit every loss, you can find some good in that.
There were some things where we could have won some games but we
didn't take advantage of the situations."
Williams (elbow, ankle) is listed as questionable. San Francisco
ruled out defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw (knee).
The San Francisco defense, led by end Nick Bosa (five sacks),
will be challenged by Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor,
who had a season-high 145 rushing yards and two touchdowns last
week. Taylor ranks fifth in the NFL with 472 rushing yards.
The Colts have won the past four meetings.
--Field Level Media
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