O’Connell credited Wentz’s play at the position and said it can serve as a guide for Murray in his return to action, a reminder to not try to do too much.
“I think the starting point is he’s just watched Carson really function in a way that Carson wasn’t doing crazy things. He was just protecting the football, making good decisions, making some big-time throws when he could and running the show. And I think he saw some plays get made,” O’Connell said. “I think he saw our team play totally connected and complementary of the other two phases and what that can do for the Minnesota Vikings on a Sunday.
“But looking back on those first few plays [by Murray], I would just say there’s a third-down conversion where he sat in there, a tight completion to Justin,” O’Connell continued. “He did use his legs and protect himself on another play. And then just going back to that second play [which resulted in an interception], that’s a great example of we can’t compound somebody else’s error. We opened up the A gap. That is not how we would ever play that down if we gave our offense a hundred snaps. That should never happen, a hundred out of a hundred. And it did on that one and then it compounded with the turnover. So we haven’t turned it over since. And my expectation is we’re going to protect the football and play our role offensively while continuing to grow and look like the offense we know that we can become.”
Kickoff against the Buccaneers is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. (CT) Sunday.