The Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles meet at CenturyLink Field in a battle of two of the best defences in the NFL today. Join The Roar from 8:30am AEDT for live scores and commentary.
The Seahawks have now won their last two games, including last week’s classic against New England. Meanwhile, the Eagles have cooled after a hot start. Winners of their first three games, they now sit at 5-4, in last place in the very competitive NFC East. They, are, however, only one game behind the second-placed New York Giants, so their playoff hopes are still very much alive.
This should be a battle between two elite defences. Both teams come into this game boasting defences in the top ten of yards allowed, and allowing opposition an average of under 18 points per game.
While Seattle has long featured a fearsome defensive unit, the Eagles improvement has come as more of a surprise. The leaky unit under Chip Kelly’s guidance last year has improved so much it now sits at No.1 in Football Outsiders Defensive DVOA rankings, by a considerable margin.
On offence, both teams fortunes have somewhat mirrored that of their quarterbacks. For Seattle, superstar QB Russell Wilson had an indifferent start to the year as he battled with injuries and inconsistent play from his offensive line. He looks fully healed now though, putting on a masterclass in Foxborough last week to lead the Seahawks to an incredible win.
For the Eagles, they traded their presumed starter Sam Bradford to the Vikings before Week 1, handing the reigns of the team to the overall No.2 pick in the 2016 NFL draft Carson Wentz. He started the season in blazing form, leading the Eagles to three straight wins and enough hope amongst the supporter base to be labelled the Franchise saviour. He has cooled somewhat since then. After throwing five touchdowns without an interception in those wins, he has since thrown just four more TD passes, to go with five interceptions, and the Eagles have won just two of their last six.
Wentz has not been offered much assistance by his wide receiving corps though, which could be the worst in the league. Among receivers with 45 or more receptions throughout the season, none have dropped a higher percentage (5.8 per cent) of their passes than Jordan Matthews, the Eagles No.1 receiver. Dorial Green-Beckham meanwhile has been even worse, hauling in just 18 of his 36 targets and dropping a huge 8.3 per cent of them.
Because of this, Seattles secondary, featuring superstars Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas could have a field day, and make it very difficult for the Eagles to score. This, along with the massive benefit they get from playing at home in front of the ’12th Man’, has me predicting a Seattle win.
Tip: Seattle by 12
Join The Roar from 8:30am AEDT for live scores and commentary.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
That will conclude my coverage of the first of our double header this morning. Please tune in at 12:30pm AEDT when our coverage continues with Packers-Redskins. I will also have my '5 Talking Points' article live on Tuesday or Wednesday if you want to read that, and hopefully share your thoughts too. Until then, have a great morning!
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
FULL TIME FINAL SCORE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS 26-15 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES Seattle have proven to be far too strong for the Eagles, winning comfortably at home. After last weeks epic victory and a great showing against one of the NFL's better defences today, Seattle are probably the Super Bowl favourites. However, the win was not without cost, and they could have some issues with depth at RB if Prosise is injured for any length of time. Probably not issues that DangerRuss can't overcome though, particularly if Thomas Rawls pulls up ok. For the Eagles, this loss leaves their playoff hopes hanging by a thread, particularly after the Giants won. However, there's still plenty to be excited about if you are an Eagles fan. Just last season they looked to be headed to (Cleveland) Brown Town, football hell, with an expensive roster, no cap room and no head coach or director of football. They've rebounded really well from that though, with an excellent defence, special teams unit and a promising QB. Good times should be ahead.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Eagles are playing fast here as you would expect, trying to keep the game alive. Wentz throws 2 passes for good gains, and this is probably the best the Eagles offence has looked all day. I wonder if they should have tried a no-huddle strategy earlier? Eagles on midfield. 2:35 to go
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Seattle seem content just to run the clock out here. They run the ball through some unlikely sources, first the back up QB, then Rawls, and then the big fullback on 3rd-and-11. Philly calls timeout to stop the clock, and they will get the ball back on a Seattle punt. 3:08 remaining.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
TOUCHDOWN EAGLES!! Wentz finds Green-Beckham, who miraculously catches the ball for a 5 yard TD. Not miraculous because of it was especially spectacular, but miraculous because Green-Beckham has hands made of soapy concrete. They go for 2, and convert on a pass to Agholor. Eagles go for the on side kick but are not successful. Seattle ball on midfield. SEA 26-15 PHI 3:30 QTR 4
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
In other news, how much is RSVP paying channel 7 to show their ads? By my count that is the 3,539th time I have seen the 'Hallelujah' ad so far this game.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
3 straight completions to Wentz has the Eagles in Seattle territory for the first time this half. Can they complete the drive....... 5:40 to go
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Rawls is bulldozing over people like a pensioner at the first day of an Aldi catalogue sale. Gets the first down, then after 2 more runs they can't complete on 3rd. Seattle punt it away on 4th. Eagles have the ball on their 35. 7:05 QTR 4
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
The Eagles go for it on 4th down trailing 19, and they can't convert! Seattle will take over around midfield. SEA 26-7 PHI 10:30 QTR 4
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Touchback on the kickoff, Eagles will start from their 25.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
FIELD GOAL SEATTLE Seattle are unable to complete the TD in the red zone, with 3 straight incompletions. Haushka makes the field goal though to push Seattle's lead to 19 SEA 26-7 PHI 13:30 QTR 4
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
As soon as I type that, their 3rd string RB limps off as well. With Rawls only just coming back from injury they won't want to over work him, and being in front I am sure they would be keen to utilise the run more to keep the clock running. Wonder what Pete Carroll will do here.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
END OF 3RD QUARTER They'll swap ends with Seattle in complete control and already in field goal range. Prosise hasn't been sighted since his 1st quarter heroics, can only assume an injury. No updates have been given on the coverage yet, though.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Another big play from the Seattle D- they force a fumble from Wentz, which the Eagles are lucky to recover. They lose about 10 and have to punt the ball away AGAIN. Lockett from Seattle then embarrasses a couple of the best athletes on the planet on the kick return, and Seattle will start the drive on the Eagles 40 yard line. now the 34 yard line after a wicked little Wilson scramble.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Seattle punt the ball back to the Eagles, there backed up again on their goal line. A 17 yard run from Smallwood has them up to their own 30 now. QTR3 2:30
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Here's a link to the Baldwin to Wilson TD https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/800482419765694464
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Yet another drive that fails to deliver points, or even the threat of it, by the Eagles. This one might already be out of their reach. They'll kick it back to Seattle.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
We'll be seeing highlights of that play for a few days to come, I'd say.
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
TOUCHDOWN SEATTLE!!! WHAT A PLAY! The Seahawks go for a trick play on 1st down. Wilson flicks it to Baldwin in the backfield, takes off downfield, and Baldwin, the wide receiver, throws it BACK TO WILSON who catches it for a TD! That's Wilson's first ever TD reception, and Baldwin's first ever NFL throw. Crazy. We've seen lots of Wilson to Baldwin over the years but this was Baldwin to Wilson. What a play! Seahawks are successful with the PAT SEA 23-7 PHI 7:30 QTR 3
Jay Dunbar
Roar Guru
Wilson is starting to pick the Eagles apart. Big conversion to Baldwin, then a flick to Rawls for 9, then a 3 yard run by Rawls. Rawls has added another dimension to this team with his physicality from the back field.