Eagles Earn Rematch with Seahawks

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Eagles did not back into the NFC East title. They earned it, after winning four games in a row, all of which were against teams in their division.

Their reward is a rematch with the Seattle Seahawks, who came up inches short of beating the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, losing 26-21.

The No. 4 seed Eagles will host the No. 5 seed Seahawks Sunday at 4:40 p.m. It is the final game of the four wild-card contest that will be played on the first weekend of 2020.

If form holds and the Eagles and No. 3 seed Saints beat the Vikings, the Eagles will play the top-seeded 49ers on Saturday night. If the Eagles and Vikings win, the Eagles will play at Green Bay on Sunday.

The Eagles (9-7) turned the ball over five times and lost to Seattle (11-5), 17-9, on Nov. 24. Quarterback Carson Wentz threw two interceptions and the Eagles lost three fumbles, yet they still were within 10-3 heading into the fourth quarter.

“I just remember the turnovers,” said Carson Wentz, who ended his season with 27 touchdowns, six interceptions and 4,039 yards to become the first Eagles quarterback in history to surpass 4,000 passing yards in a single season.

“I think offensively we did some good decent things. We just gave them the ball. Those are the things that we will get cleaned up. We’re excited for the opportunity. We’re pumped that it’s at home. We’re going to take advantage of that and have some fun next week.”

NOTES FROM SUNDAY’S 34-17 WIN OVER THE NEW YORK GIANTS

Doug Pederson, who has produced the highest winning percentage (.609, 42-27) by a head coach in franchise history (including playoffs), is the first Eagles head coach to lead his team to three straight postseason appearances since Andy Reid from 2008-10.

The Eagles have made the playoffs in three-or-more consecutive seasons for the sixth time in team history (also 1947-49, 1978-81, 1988-90, 2000-04 and 2008-10).

Philly has won seven games in a row over the Giants, as well as 11 of the last 12 matchups in the series. The Eagles have also won six of their last seven and 11 of their last 13 road games against New York.

Boston Scott became the fifth Eagles running back since 1974 to record three rushing TDs in a single game, joining Wilbert Montgomery (3 times), LeSean McCoy (twice), Clarence Peaks and Tom Sullivan. McCoy was the last Eagles running back to accomplish the feat (3 rushing TDs on Dec. 18, 2011 against the New York Jets).

Brandon Graham finished the season with a team-high 8.5 sacks followed by Derek Baranett, who had two sacks on Sunday to end with 6.5, and that was done after missing two games.

WENTZ NOTES

Carson Wentz broke his own single-season franchise-record (379 in 2016) for completions (388) and surpassed Donovan McNabb in 2008 (3,916) for the most passing yards in Eagles single-season history (4,039).

Wentz is the first Eagles QB to throw a TD pass in all 16 regular-season games.

Wentz is tied with Nick Foles (2013) and Ron Jaworski (1980) for the sixth-most passing TDs (27) in Eagles single-season history, behind himself in 2017 (33), Sonny Jurgensen in 1961 (32), Donovan McNabb in 2004 (31), Randall Cunningham in 1990 (30), and Norm Snead in 1967 (29). He is the only QB in Eagles history to record multiple seasons with 27-plus passing TDs.