Eagles Throttled By Seahawks

Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks (Photo by Otto Greule Jr / Getty Images)

It’s official. Seahawks QB Russell Wilson is a better receiver than any the Eagles have to offer. Wilson’s 15-yard touchdown grab from WR Doug Baldwin on a trick play late in the third quarter put the final nail in the coffin in a dismal game for the Eagles, as they lost to the Seahawks 26-15 at CenturyLink Field on Sunday afternoon.

Conversely, Eagles receivers combined for just 113 yards (mostly in mop-up duty) and a crippling penalty that sucked the life out of the team. On a 57-yard touchdown play, a screen to TE Zach Ertz, WR Nelson Agholor (stop me if you’ve heard this before) was called for lining up off the line of scrimmage, negating the potentially game changing score. On the very next play, he totally redeemed himself dropped a perfect ball from Wentz that would have been at least a 30 yard gain and kept the drive alive. A Go Fund me account has been already set up in his honor by fans to help pay for the cap hit should the Eagles cut him. Despite having so many recent first round busts to choose from, Agholor seems to stand out. He has proven to do absolutely nothing well. If he were a later round pick, he’d be on someone’s practice squad by now. With all that said, he’s a well spoken guy who is taking the rut he’s stuck in very hard.

“I got to get out of my own head,” Agholor said. “Pressing so much and worried about so many things. I got to go out there and try to catch the ball, because I’m thinking too much and got so worried, and it’s such a selfish thing that I need to stop. I need to give my energy to my teammates and this organization and not myself. I’m feeling so much pressure to make every single play. Just have fun. I started getting in my own head and trying so hard to think about being perfect, and when miscues were there, I let it just eat at me. I need to continue to work better at letting things go and just playing hard and practicing hard and letting the way I practice translate into Sundays.”

“I apologize [to the fans],” he said. “It’s just something that’s tough. They love this team and I love this team and they want this team to win games and because I’m a part of this team, I have a responsibility to them.”

QB Carson Wentz had a very pedestrian day with 218 yards in the air, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He looked a bit in over his head against the “Legion of Boom” like most quarterbacks have, but he needs to play faster and smarter. Too often did he hesitate to pull the trigger or stare down his receivers too long, a cardinal sin in this league. On his first interception, he stared down Dorial Green-Beckham and safety Kam Chancellor was all over it. For the second interception, he threw to a well covered Bryce Treggs. When I say well covered, I mean he had All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman draped all over him with All-Pro safety Earl Thomas closing in as well. Sherman brought the ball down easily.  Wentz again looked very much like a rookie quarterback bereft of a true number one, or even number two receiver. Russell Wilson had more receiving yards than Eagles receivers until the fourth quarter. It doesn’t get more shameful than that. Making the receiver issues even more glaring was the absence of both RB Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles, who both went down with injuries early on in the game. Losing both of them hurts, but Sproles playmaking ability on offense and special teams will be crippling should he miss any major time.

“I thought he did some good things today,” Coach Pederson said. “Outside of the one timeout early in the game, I thought handling the crowd noise was good, and putting us in some good checks early. Ball security obviously we have to make sure we do a better job in taking care of the football. But I thought overall this is gonna be a great learning experience for him coming in here, it’s a tough place to try and get a win. I thought he played okay and again, it’s gonna be a good one to learn from. I think it’s a benchmark for us. You look at certain games on your schedule. This obviously was one of those games, a team that’s playing extremely well in the Seahawks, us coming off a win a good win a week ago. These are benchmark games. The thing is, I’ve learned this as a player and a coach, things are never as bad as they seem, and things are never as good as they seem. We’ll get a chance to evaluate this game on the plane back, and make the necessary adjustments. We got some time coming up this week, and me myself included, we gotta get better.”

All things considered, a week before the season started, GM Howie Roseman and Coach Doug Pederson pulled the plug on the Sam Bradford era. The original plan was to deal with one more year of Bradford and his terrible body language, and that the 2017 offseason would be when they restock their offensive cupboard and right the wrongs that madman and visor aficionado Chip Kelly made in getting rid of all the offensive talent this team had. Kelly’s 49ers are now battling the Browns for the honor to step to the podium and select first overall at the 2017 draft here on the Parkway in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Eagles defense did not have a great game. Russell Wilson is amazing at evading the rush and threw for 272 yards and a touchdown. The Seahawks opened the scoring after the teams traded punts early in the first, with RB CJ Prosise ripping off a 72-yard touchdown run against a unit that’s typically stout against the run. Missed tackles and sloppy play rued the day for the Eagles defense. If they truly are a top defense, they need to figure out how to play better away from the ‘Linc’.

If there are any positives to be had, it’s that the Eagles are much better at home and four of the final six games will be played at Lincoln Financial Field. Despite the fact that a 5-5 record is good for at least second place in many other divisions (and a tie for first in the terrible AFC North), the Eagles remain in last place in the tough NFC East.

The floundering Green Bay Packers (4-6) come to town for Monday Night Football at Lincoln Financial Field next week. Tickets start at $125, with Philadelphia parking near Lincoln Financial Field starting at $10. The Seahawks head to Tampa to do business with QB Jameis “Free Crab Legs For All” Winston and his Buccaneers.