Ed Kracz
EAGLES-SEAHAWKS: Breaking Down Sunday's Game
PHILADELPHIA – They just met on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in Week 12, and now the Eagles and Seahawks will do it again this Sunday (4:40 p.m.) in the fourth and final wildcard playoff game of the weekend.
Seattle flew east and got the better of Philly in that Nov. 24 game, 17-9, and will fly east again after losing to the San Francisco 49ers 26-21 after coming up inches short of the winning touchdown with less than 10 seconds to go in the game. Seattle could have been at home this weekend and the Niners coming to Philly had it won.
So that means a rematch.
What do the Eagles need to do to reverse the outcome from their previous meeting with the Seahawks?
Here are some keys:
MATCHUPS
Eagles front seven vs. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson. Wilson had perhaps the poorest game of his MVP-caliber season. Maybe one of the top five worst of his career, with just 13 completions and 200 yards passing with one touchdown off a flea-flicker and an interception, turned in by safety Malcolm Jenkins. The Eagles defense made like miserable for Wilson, sacking him six times. If left tackle Duane Brown cannot play, Wilson could be running for his life again.
Eagles rush defense vs. Seattle’s run game. The Eagles finished the regular season as the third best team against the run. The Seahawks were the fourth-best running offense in the league, but that was achieved primarily with a healthy running back duo of Chris Carson and Rasaah Penny, both of whom are now on Injured Reserve. Seattle, which ran for 174 in the last meeting, will use recently signed Marshawn Lynch and rookie sixth-round pick Travis Homer, who had 62 yards on 10 carries against San Francisco, The Eagles cannot let them loose on the ground.
Eagles cornerbacks vs. Seattle receivers Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf. The Eagles secondary has played well the past month but is missing Ronald Darby (IR) and Jalen Mills has an ankle injury that prevented him from playing last week. It is also still prone to the big play, and Seattle has big-play receivers in Lockett (82-1,057, 8 touchdowns) and rookie Metcalf (58-900, 7). In the previous meeting, neither did much, with Lockett making one catch for 38 yards and Metcalf finishing with three receptions for 35 yards. Chances of that happening again are slim.
Seattle linebackers K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner vs. Eagles screen game. Wright said he knew exactly when the Eagles were calling screen plays, which has been a big staple of the team’s offense during their winning streak, running them with tight end Dallas Goedert and running backs Miles Sanders and Boston Scott. If the Eagles can’t do a better job disguising those and can’t have success with them, it could be a long day.
Eagles left tackle Jason Peters vs. Seattle defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Clowney did not play in the first meeting and battling a core muscle injury. He is expected to play, and, while he moves around to different sides of the line, most of his snaps come on the right side. It will be up to the 37-year-old Peters to keep Clowney from blowing up the Eagles’ game plan and detonating from the blindside of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Russell Wilson. The Seahawks quarterback has never lost to the Eagles in four career starts. He is battle-tested in the postseason, too. This will be his 14 career playoff game and he is 8-5 in his previous 13, with a Super Bowl win and a last-second Super Bowl loss. The Eagles sacked him six times in November and they had 29 QB pressures and four sacks against the New York Giants. The defense will need more of the same to prevent Wilson from performing feats of deft-defying magic when given time to scramble.
Marshawn Lynch. Seattle just signed the running back with the cool nickname of Beast Mode prior to the final game. Lynch hadn’t played all season and it showed. He rushed for just 2.8 yards per carry on 12 rushes. “He needed to knock the rust off just like anybody else,” said Seattle coach Pete Carroll on a conference call earlier this week with Eagles media. “He had a couple runs where he squirted through there. He felt like he got a feel for the game. We should really be taking the next step forward with him this weekend.”
Carson Wentz. The Eagles quarterback is making the first playoff start of his career but has played in four playoff-type games the final month when the Eagles could not afford to lose. He must take better care of the ball than he did the last time, when he threw to picks and fumbled the ball away twice. Since playing Seattle, he has thrown only one interception and that was a Hail Mary at the end of a loss in Miami.
Greg Ward. The Eagles receiver made his first career catch in the first meeting between the teams and has gotten better ever since. He has made 21 catches for 209 yards, with eight of those catches good for first downs.
Boston Scott. Scott did not play the last time, but what a factor he has become. He has given the offense juice and production, with 28 rushes for 151 yards and four touchdowns during the four-game winning streak. He has been electric in the short passing game, too, with 25 catches for 158 yards in that span. The 5-6 running back is the reigning NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
INTANGIBLES
Crowd. The Eagles’ 12 man fuels the defense, which allows just over 16 points per game at Lincoln Financial Field versus close to 29 on the road. Seattle is rarely intimidated on the road this year, however. They are 7-1 away from home.
Turnovers. The had five of them in the last meeting. Can’t happen this time around or they will lose again, though the defense did its job after each turnover and held the Seahawks to just three points on those five turnovers. The Seahawks are good at taking the ball away, finishing the regular season with 32, the third most in the league.
Injuries. Both teams have had their share. Seattle has been hit them only in the past month; the Eagles dealing with them all season. Seattle’s most recent loss was linebacker Mychal Kendricks, who tore an ACL last week. The Eagles’ most recent injury was to Pro Bowl guard Brandon Brooks, who injured a shoulder last week that will require surgery.
Experience. Both teams have their share of playoff experience. This will be the Eagles’ third straight trip to the playoffs, and they won a Super Bowl in 2017. They are 4-1 in the postseason the past two years. The Seahawks have been in the playoffs seven times in the past decade, with one Super Bowl title and an appearance in another. Hard to find an edge here.
Mood. Carson Wentz must play like the franchise quarterback that he has shown he can be the past month and must do so in his first playoff appearance. The Seahawks must overcome the crushing emotions they felt after losing in the fashion they did last week.
PREDICTION
It’s the intangibles I like in this one, the fact the that the Eagles are 4-1 since losing to Seattle in November and the Seahawks 2-3, the way the Eagles are playing, and their confidence level. They have overcome so much adversity this season that it is hard to see them losing now. It won’t be easy, but they will prevail.
EAGLES 24, SEAHAWKS 23
