Seahawks defeat Eagles week 12 with good defense again

The Seahawks moved to 8-3 with a victory over the Eagles in week 12.

Seattle defeated the Eagles 23-17 on Monday Night Football and moved up to the number two seed in the NFC with three very winnable games in the next three weeks. The Seahawks offense was far from perfect and sometimes seemed disjointed but the defense was very good – or the Eagles offense was so bad – that Philadelphia never really felt like a threat to win the game.

At one point, sure, the game was 14-9 but Carson Wentz is such a bad quarterback right now that Philadelphia would have needed a miracle to win. They didn’t get it. Mostly this was due to excellent games by Jamal Adams and Poona Ford. Adams had 9 tackles including a sack, a tackle for loss and he also had 2 quarterback hits. Ford had 3 quarterback hits from his defensive tackle position.

Seattle led by 23-9 with 12 seconds left but the Eagles completed a Hail Mary pass to score a touchdown. The game was not as close as the final score.

This was a game of strange statistics. D.K. Metcalf missed catching a touchdown pass that he should have had but did catch 10 passes for 177 yards on 13 targets but no touchdowns. Meanwhile, David Moore had three catches for -6 yards and yet, had a touchdown reception.

Chris Carson didn’t see a ton of action but carried 8 times for 41 yards and a great touchdown run. Carlos Hyde carried 15 times for just 22 yards.

Until the last Eagles drive they had fewer than 200 total yards. Wentz was sacked six times and finished just 25 of 45 for 215 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The interception was an awful throw that Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs picked off with ease. Wentz mostly looked awful.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson wasn’t his best either but finished 22 of 31 for 230 yards passing and one touchdown. Wilson missed a couple of open receivers but looked like he was more afraid of making a mistake than being an MVP winner. And that is OK as long as Seattle continues to win.

An odd start

The game’s tone was set by the Seahawks beginning the game with a great drive that ended on the Eagles 2 yard line when Seattle decided to go for it instead of kicking a field goal. Seattle could have made this game easier on itself than it turned out.

But these are the Seahawks, of course, so 12s know how few blowouts there are. Seattle was the better team on Monday and the score was closer than it should have been. But a win is a win and now the Seahawks are back in first in the NFC West.