November 20, 2016
It took ten games of the Carson Wentz era before the Philadelphia Eagles were blown out in a game, but that is exactly what happened on Sunday in Seattle. The Seahawks defeated the Birds 26-15 at CenturyLink Field, giving Philly very little margin for error moving forward after the Cowboys and Giants won again. Here’s what I saw:
• Not much.
• Oh yeah, Russell Wilson. He was very good:
Baldwin to Wilson?
— NFL (@NFL) November 20, 2016
BALDWIN TO WILSON!@DangeRussWilson hauls in the TD catch! 😱😱😱 #PHIvsSEA https://t.co/dvj3mICaqv
• The Eagles were without Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles for the entire second half, which could potentially be a big deal moving forward if those injuries cause them to miss major time.
• I imagine you’re probably going to hear a lot of people questioning Carson Wentz this week, both locally and nationally. I don’t think that criticism is going to be all that fair, even if he didn’t play well on Sunday. He was placed in a very tough environment and had absolutely zero help from his receiving corps, but the rookie definitely missed a few open throws: 23-45 for 218 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
• In general, the Eagles lost their chance to make it a game in the first half. Nelson Agholor will get a lot of the blame, and his two mistakes (illegal formation, dropped pass) were killers, especially the penalty that negated Zach Ertz’s long touchdown. But whoever you want to blame, the Eagles had little margin for error in this game and they made too many mistakes early on.
In the end, though, this wasn’t a very surprising result.
• When this stat is being tweeted in the third quarter, it’s not very good:
Russell Wilson currently has as many receiving yards (15) as all of the Eagles wide receivers combined. pic.twitter.com/aWpj224rOP
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 20, 2016
• Think about this: The Eagles had to play the Seahawks because they came in second place in the NFC East last year. Specifically, they were in Seattle because they defeated the New York Giants in a meaningless Week 17 game. Instead of the Seahawks, the Giants got to play the Rams in London, a game which they won.
It’s not like you could have expected those players to throw that game, but going from the Rams to Seahawks is definitely a major swing.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
