By Jawann Bennett
Seattle Medium/GameTime Sportstalk
The Seattle Seahawks came home to host a 5-4 Philadelphia Eagles team Sunday on the heels of their best victory of the season defeating an AFC leading New England Patriots team 31-24 in Foxboro the previous week.
Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz came to Seattle to witness a surging and healing Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, who has accounted for 6 total touchdowns in the last two games, and a Seattle defense that welcomed back their enforcer and captain safety Kam Chancellor.
Chancellor was laying the wood leading the Legion of Boom in a matchup where both defenses were asserting their footprint. Other than a 72-yard touchdown run by rookie running back C.J. Prosise with 11:02 remaining in the first quarter that gave the Seahawks a 6-0, the Eagles defense did not give up much at all.
After a trading punts, Wentz and the Eagles then answered with a 13 play, 68 yard drive taking 7:35 capped with a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz to take the lead 7-6.
Wilson and the Seahawks offense then responded with a 10 play, 92 yard drive taking 5:53 ending with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to tight end Jimmy Graham to retake the lead 13-7.
The remainder of the first half belonged to the Seahawks, who added a 21-yard field goal from kicker Steven Hauschka, as they amassing 300 total yards of offense. The return of running back Thomas Rawls was a welcome addition to the Seahawks offensive attack. Rawls chipped in 32 strong rushing yards on 6 carries after Prosise left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. An interception from Chancellor to go with his 6 first half tackles, helped Seattle preserve a 16-7 lead at halftime.
Things got fun at CenturyLink Field for Seattle to begin the second half. Following an interception by cornerback Richard Sherman, the Seahawks capped a 6 play, 59 yard drive with a little trickery. Receiver Doug Baldwin took a reverse play only to stop in the backfield and pass to Wilson for a 15-yard touchdown reception to increase the lead to 23-7 with 7:31 left in the third quarter.
“I’ve been begging for that play for the last two or three weeks,” said Baldwin who never threw a pass in a game before. “Honestly I just chucked it up there and Russell made it look pretty.”
On the play, Wilson became the first Seahawks’ quarterback in franchise history to get a touchdown reception.
“We can switch if you want, may not be pretty, but we can switch if you want,” said a sarcastic Wilson of the play after the game.
Wilson’s touchdown pass and reception now gives him 8 total touchdowns in the last 3 games.
Hauschka added a 35-yard field goal with 13:37 left in the fourth quarter increasing the Seahawks’ lead again to 26-7.
Philadelphia put together a 10 play, 66 yard drive that ended with a Wentz 5-yard touchdown pass to Doriel Green-Beckham. The Eagles added a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 26-15 with 3:42 left in the game, but that ended up being a formality.
Seattle completed an efficient offensive effort with the backing of solid defensive play for a 26-15 victory.
Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who finished with 15 tackles and a sack of Wentz said, “We were trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible and we did a good job of that.”
With the win, Seattle improves their record to 7-2-1 dropping Philadelphia to 5-5 and widening their lead in the NFC West to three games thanks to an Arizona loss at Minnesota. The Seahawks now travel to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers this Sunday.
