Even before the NFL released its 2022 schedule on May 13, everyone knew the upcoming Indianapolis Colts season would include a return visit for traded quarterback Carson Wentz. But the weekend he is set to return will be a little ironic to some fans.
Wentz and his new team, the Washington Commanders, will visit the Colts during Week 8 and square off on Sunday, October 30.
Of course, that’s the day before Halloween, a holiday best known for dressing up in costumes. With erratic, inconsistent play, some Colts fans would probably argue Wentz looked like Superman at times but then maybe more like a pumpkin in other moments during the 2021 season.
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Carson Wentz’s Return to Indianapolis
The Colts and Commanders are only guaranteed to play once every four years and just every eight seasons in Indianapolis. But lucky for NFL fans who love drama, the two teams will square off at Lucas Oil Stadium this fall.
With the matchup scheduled for 4:25 ET on October 30, it could even be a nationally televised game.
Wentz led the Colts to a 9-8 record while throwing 27 touchdowns versus only seven interceptions, but the team lost its last two games and missed the playoffs as a result. Indianapolis elected to move on from its one-year experiment with Wentz, trading him to Washington and then acquiring former MVP quarterback Matt Ryan from the Atlanta Falcons.
Colts owner Jim Irsay added fuel to Wentz’s return trip to Indianapolis when he indirectly called acquiring Wentz from the Philadelphia Eagles a mistake.
Wentz may have subtlety jabbed back at his former owner in a sponsored Instagram post for Toolcat Utility Work Machine, where he wrote the caption, “Building a higher road.”
In addition to 27 touchdowns, Wentz threw for 3,563 yards while averaging 6.9 yards per attempt. At the end of the season, he was outside the top half of the league’s starting quarterbacks in both passing yards and yards per pass.
Ryan hasn’t averaged fewer than 7.0 yards per attempt since 2013. Last season, he posted 7.1 yards per pass with the Falcons.
Furthermore, the last time Ryan failed to throw for at least 3,600 yards in a season was 2009.
The Colts have won four straight against Washington. In the team’s last visit to Indianapolis, Washington fell to the Colts, 49-27, on November 30, 2014.
2022 Will Be a Revenge Tour for Carson Wentz
The Colts have the Week 8 matchup circled on their “this one’s personal” list, but Wentz will have other showdowns he badly wants to win on his list of revenge games.
Returning to the NFC East, Wentz will face the Eagles, the organization that drafted him No. 2 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft, twice this fall. Wentz will also have a rematch against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the team that handed him and the Colts an embarrassing loss during Week 18 last year that kept Indianapolis home for the postseason.
As fate would have it, Wentz’s rematch versus Jacksonville will be his first home game with Washington during Week 1. Wentz will face the Eagles for the first time in Week 3.
Two weeks after his visit to Indianapolis, Wentz will return to Philadelphia for the first time since the Eagles traded him to the Colts last offseason.
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Colts 2022 Schedule: Carson Wentz Set to Return to Indianapolis on Fitting Date