A Seahawks win in week 12 could potentially put them in first place in the NFC West.
After playing in the primetime Thursday night game against the Arizona Cardinals last week in which they won by a touchdown (28-21), the Seattle Seahawks get a second consecutive primetime game although this time, it will be on Monday night on the road in Philadelphia as they take on the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.
In regards to the standings, the Seahawks currently occupy second place in their own division. After this week’s slate of games, a bunch of different scenarios could occur in the NFC West. If the Seahawks win, they could get the first seed but they would also need the Los Angeles Rams to lose their game against the San Francisco 49ers.
If the Seahawks and Rams lose and the Cardinals beat the New England Patriots, they would all be 7-4 which would make the division race extremely tight for the rest of the season going forward. (Seattle does have the easiest remaining schedule of the three teams but a loss to the Eagles means anything could happen for the Seahawks.)
Oddly enough, coming into week 12, the Eagles, who are just 3-6-1, led the NFC East (the Washington Football Team defeated the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday so technically have the current lead in the division). If the Eagles were in the NFC West, they would be in last place by half a game behind the 49ers.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s who to keep an eye out for in the Seahawks versus Eagles matchup on Monday night.
Eagles
Carson Wentz
Carson Wentz is having the worse season of his career so far to date. He has a career-low completion rate of 58.4% and is leading the league in interceptions with 14 picks.
He will be facing the Seahawks who are known for their struggles on defense. Will Wentz continue his woes this season by throwing an interception or two or will he be able to pounce on the Seahawks defense and expose them?
Key Eagles defensive player
The Seahawks possess two top-tier wide receivers in D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. This causes nightmares for opposing defenses and their secondary’s but specifically, their cornerbacks.
The Eagles have a good cornerback in Darius Slay Jr. Which of the Seahawks wide receivers will he cover? Metcalf or Lockett?
If he decides to focus his attention on Lockett, this would open the field for Metcalf to run around the field with his superhuman speed and potentially get a ton of yards.
If he decides he’s better off covering Metcalf, this would leave weaker coverage for Lockett who has put up big games this season when he isn’t covered by a strong defensive player.
So far this season in 10 games, Slay has 38 tackles (35 solo) with no interceptions and four passes defended.
Seahawks secondary
The Seahawks defense is going up against Wentz who’s thrown a league-leading 14 interceptions this season. Seems like great news but the problem is, the Seahawks defense hasn’t been sharp this season including the teams’ secondary.
The Seahawks have combined for just nine interceptions this season with the most picks anyone on the team has is two.
Watch to see how Shaquill Griffin plays to see if he’s able to get an interception for himself to take the team lead in that category. He also leads the team in passes deflected with seven.
Also, keep an eye out for Jamal Adams. The Seahawks paid a hefty price to acquire him prior to the season and so far he’s disappointed. Perhaps, a big game against the Eagles that includes an interception and two passes defended would put him back on track. I have a feeling that Adams will have a big game on Monday night.
Really, the only thing that Adams hasn’t done much of in his successful career is pick off passes. In fact, he has just 2 in 52 games. One of these, though, he returned for a touchdown of 61 yards and the other wasn’t a touchdown but still went for 38 yards. So, if Adams does get an interception on Monday, he will know what to do with the ball.