Philadelphia Eagles Humbled in Loss at Seattle Seahawks

After an impressive display against the Falcons last week, the Philadelphia Eagles looked to continue their winning ways in Seattle. Unfortunately, all was not that simple.

The game started rather slowly, with both teams exchanging boring drives that didn’t leave their half of the field. It was the second drive for Seattle that proved troublesome for the Philadelphia Eagles. C.J. Prosise, the rookie 3rd round RB selection for the Seahawks, rode his blocks for a 72-yard TD run. Prosise followed his linemen, and eventually bounced to the outside and outran everyone. Allowing a touchdown early at Seattle is never in the cards for success, and the crowd was losing their minds after the long run. The blow was somewhat softened by a blocked extra point, but it was 6-0 early.

The Philadelphia Eagles controlled the ball for 11:16 of the 15 minutes in the first quarter, and keeping the Seahawks offense off the field had to have been a priority for Doug Pedersen in the game plan. Upon the start of the second quarter, the Eagles were pressing Seattle in their own end. A Brent Celek 19-yard catch put the Eagles at the 9, and after a few short plays, Zach Ertz made a stretching effort for a 4-yard TD catch. The first TD of the season for Ertz, it put the Eagles up 7-6 with 14:13 left in the 2nd quarter.

However, the Seahawks answered with their own time-consuming, scoring drive. The drive started slow with two penalties on their offensive line, but Thomas Rawls, in his first game back with the team since his injury, looked electric. Rawls had a couple of drive-saving runs, and they were feeding him the ball. After a 27-yard catch by Tyler Lockett was wiped out by a penalty, Russell Wilson found Jimmy Graham for a 35-yard TD catch. Wilson did very well to escape pressure and find Graham, and Graham did the rest by easily shrugging off Jaylen Watkins‘ poor effort to tackle and finding the endzone. The drive took 5 minutes and 53 seconds, and Seattle took a 13-7 lead.

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The Eagles then produced another listless drive. Wentz connected with Ertz on a 57-yard TD on a dump-off, but an illegal formation call negated the play. The next play was a punt to give the ball back to Seattle, and they took immediate advantage. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Russell Wilson found Doug Baldwin down the middle for a 44-yard catch. On the next play, Wilson found Lockett for a 31-yard catch to the 3-yard line. The Eagles were able to make a stand on 1st and goal at the 3, and Seattle settled for a field goal. The Eagles defense was bleeding big plays in the first half, allowing four plays over 30 yards. 16-7 Seattle with 3:47 left in the first half.

After a Seattle three and out, Carson Wentz threw a bad interception the following drive. Wentz stared down DGB in the middle of the field, thus making his intentions clear to Kam Chancellor, who got the easy pick. The Seahawks couldn’t do anything with the ball the remaining 0:16, so it went into halftime with Seattle leading 16 to seven.

FIRST HALF BY THE NUMBERS

• First Downs= Eagles-11, Seahawks-10
• Total Offense= Eagles-146, Seahawks-300
• Yards per Play= Eagles- 4.2, Seahawks- 10.3
• Penalties/Yards= Eagles- 4/20, Seahawks- 6/43
• Time of Possession= Eagles- 17:09, Seahawks- 12:51

Doug Pedersen will have stressed getting off to a fast start in the second half during halftime, but the offense missed the memo. The second half started with a quick three and out for the Eagles, the opposite of what was needed. After a nice defensive drive for the Eagles, the offense squandered again. A booming punt put Wentz and the offense on the 1-yard line to start, and a bomb downfield into double coverage was picked by Richard Sherman for his 4th interception of the year. Sherman, who has 30 interceptions since 2011 (most in NFL), furthered the frustration from the Eagles offense.

As usual, the Seahawks made the Eagles pay. After a drive that started slowly, Russell Wilson found Doug Baldwin for a 34-yard catch after another scramble. Two more impressive runs from Thomas Rawls set up a successful trick play from Seattle. After a few exchanges in the backfield, Doug Baldwin THREW a 15-yard touchdown to Russell Wilson. At this point, the Eagles defense looked completely out of answers. Seattle was sitting at 377 yards of total offense with 7:31 left in the 3rd and a 23-7 lead.

After three straight drives of three and outs (2 Eagles, 1 Seahawks), the remainder of the third quarter ran out with no further action. The Philadelphia Eagles started play in the last period down by 16, and defending their own half of the field. That drive ended in a Hauschka field goal from 35, making it 26-7 Seattle with 13:34 left in the contest. Russell Wilson’s scrambling ability killed the Eagles all game, and it was that much more impressive from Wilson gives his knee problems he’s dealt with this season.

The Eagles were certainly not serviced by Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews leaving the game with injuries. This put an increased work load on Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner, something the Seahawks were comfortable dealing with. The offense gained a bit of life in their first drive of the fourth quarter, but it was short-lived. The ball was jarred loose from Zach Ertz on a 4th and three pass, and that effectively ended the Eagles afternoon.

A few more irrelevant drives were exchanged by the sides, one of which resulted in a DGB touchdown catch. The Eagles offense waited until the game was lost to have their second long, scoring drive of the game. A good portion of the Eagles offensive statistics can be attributed to “garbage time” plays. Ultimately after lingering around in the 4th, the Seahawks put the Eagles away for a 26-15 win. The Eagles fall to 5-5, while Seattle improves to 7-2-1.

ENTIRE GAME BY THE NUMBERS

• First Downs= Eagles- 20, Seahawks- 18
• Total Offense= Eagles- 308, Seahawks- 439
• Turnovers= Eagles- 2, Seahawks- 0
• Time of Possession= Eagles- 31:04, Seahawks- 28:56

INDIVIDUAL EAGLES STATS

• Carson Wentz= 23/45, 218 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
• Wendell Smallwood= 13 car. 48 yards, 4 rec. 31 yards
• DGB= 5 rec. 54 yards, 1 TD
• Zach Ertz= 6 rec. 35 yards, 1 TD
• Malcolm Jenkins= 7 tackles
• Vinny Curry– 2 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 QB hits

Next: What to Watch for as Eagles Travel to Seattle

There’s really no sugar coating it, this was the worst performance of the season from the Eagles. The offense didn’t find any sort of groove, and the defense was dominated. Russell Wilson was running around with ease, something he hasn’t often done this season. Entirely too many big plays were allowed defensively, and the offense wasn’t able to get any of their own. The Eagles will cherish an extra day of rest coupled with the struggling Packers coming to town next Monday.