Takeaway
Russell Wilson’s three touchdown passes helped the Seahawks to their biggest win of the season Sunday night, knocking off the NFL’s best, the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-10 at CenturyLink Field (box). The Eagles (10-2), who saw their nine-game winning streak snapped, entered the contest as the NFL’s No. 1-scoring offense (31.9) and No. 3 scoring defense (17.4), but were outplayed by a more opportunistic team.
The Seahawks improved to 8-4 and remain a game behind the Los Angeles Rams (9-3) in the NFC West. But with Atlanta’s 14-9 loss to Minnesota, the Seahawks jumped into the playoff seedings at No. 5, ahead of the Carolina Panthers, also 8-4.
Under second-year QB Carson Wentz, the Eagles had scored 30 or more points in five consecutive games, but Seattle dominated defensively in the injury absences of Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor. The 10-2 Eagles missed a chance to clinch the NFC East title.
Offense
Wilson had TD passes of 11, 1 and 15 yards to TE Jimmy Graham, WR Tyler Lockett and RB J.D. McKissic. He completed 20 of 31 passes for 227 yards without an interception and recorded a 118.6 passer rating.
Graham’s TD in the first quarter was his ninth in Seattle’s past eight games (first TD allowed by Philly in the first quarter this season). Graham needs two receptions to pass Christian Fauria for most by a Seattle tight end.
WR Doug Baldwin led the Seahawks with five receptions for 84 yards on seven targets, nearly scoring on on a 47-yard catch in the fourth quarter. He was ruled out of bounds at the 1, setting up Wilson’s TD pass to Lockett, his first TD of the season.
RB Mike Davis returned to the lineup after missing two games and gained 64 yards on 16 carries, and another 37 on four receptions. Wilson added 31 on six totes as the Seahawks rushed for 101 yards, three more than the Eagles.
The Seahawks lost the yardage battle, 425 yards to 310, but capitalized on two turnovers, notably a third-quarter fumble by Wentz that denied a touchdown run, rolling through and out of the end zone for a touchback instead of tying the score.
Defense
LB Bobby Wagner led the Seahawks with 13 tackles, nine solo, while Bradley McDougald, replacing Chancellor at strong safety, had 12, including seven solo.
DE Frank Clark notched two sacks, his sixth and seventh of the season, while CB Justin Coleman had his first.
The three points allowed in the first half were the fewest by Philly in a half this season.
The Seahawks held Wentz, an MVP candidate, to an 86.4 passer rating after he entered with a 104.0 mark. Wentz did make two amazing plays in the fourth quarter.
He completed a 51-yard pass to WR Nelson Agholor while falling from a tackle. A few plays later, he was also in the grasp of a tackle but connected again with Agholor, a cross-field lob of 27 yards for a touchdown that brought the Eagles to within 17-10. CB Byron Maxwell was victimized on both plays.
Noteworthy
Not only did the Seahawks remain playoff relevant, they improved to 20-5 in December over the past five years . . . The Seahawks improved to 22-4-1 in all prime-time games under Pete Carroll, including 14-2 at CenturyLink and 8-2-1 in Sunday night games . . . The Seahawks lead the all-time series with Eagles 9-7 . . . Wilson has 32 career games with multiple TDs and no picks . . . Wilson’s three TDs increased his career total to 153, tying Atlanta’s Matt Ryan for third place on the all-time list in the first six seasons of a player’s career . . . Wilson is 38-8 at home and needs one win to tie Joe Flacco for the most home wins in the first six seasons of a career . . .The Seahawks were penalized five times for 46 yards, the second consecutive game with fewer than 100 penalty yards. Prior to those two, Seattle exceeded 100 yards in penalties in an NFL-record five consecutive contests.
Next
The Seahawks play at Jacksonville Sunday at 1:25 p.m. PT. The Jaguars (8-4) defeated Indianapolis 30-10 Sunday.
6 Comments
Wow. Major statement by the defense. They aren’t done being great yet.
I might also suggest that the coaches out-did their Philly brethren by considerable.
It should be noted that while B-Max was “vicitmized” on both of those miracle throws to Agholor, he also salted the game away with an INT in the end zone near the end of the game.
And another fun fact that you missed about Wilson: his TD pass to McKissick in the 4th quarter was his 15th 4th quarter TD pass of the year, tying Eli Manning for the most 4th quarter TDs in a single season in NFL history. And there’s still 4 games to play.
No QB in NFL history has more TD passes than Wilson in his first 6 seasons. Nobody.
Of course, the defense probably gets credit for that.
I would say a lot of teammates and coaches share in that distinction.
The INT required that he stand there to catch the Hail Mary throw. He did it well.