It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fun. But the Eagles can hold their heads high after falling short of the mark against Russell Wilson and the Seatle Seahawks. Here’s everything you need to know.
Wentz goes down
In what became par for the course for the Eagles this season, after suffering injury after injury all year long, the team lost Carson Wentz to a concussion following an illegal Jadeveon Clowney hit that went unpenalized.
There’s no questioning the significance of the injury and how much it hampered an already hobbling Eagles offense. This game rapidly descended into ‘oh, what could’ve been’, after another strong defensive effort.
We’ve got McCown…
If every cloud has a silver lining, this is it. 40-year old Josh McCown did everything the Eagles could’ve possibly needed out of a backup. Despite being sacked six times, he completed 18/24 passes, didn’t turn the ball over, and did move the offense down the field…which says a lot.
What McCown’s future holds is unknown, but let’s hope Philadelphia is involved.
The fundamentals
Everything that plagued the Eagles this year, plagued them in the playoffs…as expected. Penalties on both sides of the ball, drops, conversions on third and long, and annoying deep passes that take advantage of blown coverage. It was always going to be that way, but it didn’t stop it hurting that extra bit knowing the catalyst to carry the team above and beyond those setbacks was taken out of the game in the first quarter with a concussion.
Keep it simple
There was only so much the Eagles could’ve realistically achieved today, but opting against two field goals to go for it on fourth down cost the team. Had it not been for a ball thrown behind Miles Sanders, we may have been looking at a very different game, but football is a game of inches…and that kind of aggression when the Eagles failed to find the endzone all game long arguably come back to sting them when it mattered most.
It’s hard to blame Pederson for being aggressive, and I’m certainly not doing that. If he suddenly lost his mojo, we’d have questioned that just as much. But in this game, that aggressiveness was ultimately not enough to provide a spark the team needed.
Be proud
The Eagles lost to the Seahawks 17-9 in week 12. They lost 17-9 again without their starting:
RT
RG
QB
WR1/2/3/4
But the one thing they did have? Heart. The Eagles gave it everything they had. Fletcher Cox had his best game of the season, the secondary came flying in (for better or worse) to set the tone, wide receivers were fighting through every route. This team can be proud of not only hanging around with the Seahawks, but holding themselves accountable.
They didn’t lose their heads when Wentz went down, they didn’t quit after the first missed fourth-down opportunity. They played through it all like warriors and that’s a testament to the Head Coach and to the culture inside that locker room.
This season didn’t end the way fans wanted it to, but we know the identity of the Philadelphia Eagles. We’re from Philly, and we fight.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
