Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz had a potential MVP season come to an abrupt halt after a knee injury in a Week 14 game against the Los Angeles Rams, even though his coaches tried to ensure that wouldn't happen.
Frank Reich, the Eagles' former offensive coordinator, and new Indianapolis Colts head coach, said Wentz was instructed since his rookie season to avoid the type of play that caused the injury.
"It definitely went in one ear and out the other early on,” Reich said, according to Jeff McLane of Philly.com. "It didn’t go exactly like this, but this is just made up to protect the innocent or protect the guilty, however you say it. We would say to him, 'Hey, you just need to kind of back off on some of this tackling stuff.'"
The instruction had little effect on Wentz, as he rushed 64 times for 299 yards in his sophomore season - upping both totals from the previous year - before tearing his ACL.
"He didn’t quite say it like this, but it was essentially, 'No. I’m not backing off. This is me. This is how I play,'" Reich said.