Know your Eagles enemy: The Seattle Seahawks

The Eagles are entering an extremely important stretch of games as they sit 5-5 on the season. Before going against bottom of the league teams, and the Cowboys, they face one of the MVP front runners this coming Sunday in Russell Wilson.

Seattle is 8-2 this season, having lost to the Baltimore Ravens and the New Orleans Saints. Before we dive into the keys of this game, let’s take a look at their offseason moves and where they rank this season.

Key additions:

Wide receiver D.K. Metcalf (second-round draft pick),
Defensive end Ziggy Ansah (free agency – Lions),
Wide receiver Josh Gordon (waiver claim – Patriots),
Defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (trade – Texans),
Safety Quandre Diggs (trade – Lions)

Key departures:

Safety Earl Thomas (free agency – Ravens),
Running back Mike Davis (free agency – Bears),
Guard J.R. Sweezy (free agency – Cardinals),
Cornerback Justin Coleman (free agency – Lions),
Defensive end Frank Clark (trade – Chiefs),
Defensive end Barkevious Mingo (trade – Texans)

2019 Ranks:

Points per game: 7th (27.5)
Yards per game: 4th (389.1)
Passing yards per game: 10th (255.9)
Rushing yards per game: 6th (133.2)
Points allowed per game: 23rd (25.4)
Yards allowed per game: 24th (372.9)
Passing yards allowed per game: 28th (271.8)
Rushing yards allowed per game: 12th (101.1)

As you can see, the Seahawks are a completely one-sided team. What was once a defense heavy team has now become Russell Wilson’s offensive juggernaut. Speaking of Wilson, he has been absolutely masterful this season and could be on his way to his first MVP award.

MVP?

The case for MVP seems to be between two quarterbacks – Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson. The latter has already beaten the Seahawks 30-16. Wilson did his part that game, although he did throw his first interception on the season. Ah, I failed to mention that the interception brought his TD/INT ratio to 15/1 at that point of the season.

Really bad, right?

So far this year he leads the league with 23 passing touchdowns while only throwing two interceptions. He has added 256 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns. He leads the league in passer rating and is first in combined passing and rushing touchdowns (26).

It has been almost impossible to stop him this season.

In his career against the Eagles, he is 3-0 with 6 passing touchdowns and zero interceptions. He has never had many rushing yards against them, with 48 being his most in his first game, but his mobility has enabled him to extend drives. His career 4.08 yards per carry has been killer to the Eagles and his lack of turnovers highlight his exceptional decision making capability.

Wilson is not invincible, however. His two losses were his only two games under a 65% completion rate, although his first loss was a 64% 400+ yard performance. Wilson’s right tackle has allowed the second most pressure among 133 qualified offensive linemen this season, according to ProFootballFocus. His offensive line is in shambles and the Eagles’ defensive line needs to take advantage, although he has a passer rating of 108.7 under pressure.

If this newly healthy Eagles defense can continue the trend of the below tweet, they can give Carson Wentz and the Eagles offense a chance to put up points against a vulnerable secondary.

The Eagles' recent defensive surge feels like it's not getting enough pub: since Week 8, Philly leads the league in yards per game allowed (238) and yards per play (4.2). The defense has been really good of late.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 21, 2019