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3 Things that went Wrong versus Seattle

4 December 2017 Eagles News Opinion

The Eagles dropped a huge game to the Seattle Seahawks on the road, which put them at 10-2 on the season. Now, the Eagles no longer look like the team to beat. The Minnesota Vikings are tied with the Eagles for the best record in the NFC, while the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams are both only one game behind at 9-3. This was a huge game and the Eagles couldn’t get it done. This technically makes next week’s game versus the Rams an almost ‘must-win’ in order to get home field throughout the playoffs. However, if the playoffs started today, the Vikings would win the tie-breaker due to the caliber of their wins.

Is this the end of the world? No. The Eagles still have a great shot at winning their division, but the top seed and home field throughout the playoffs are much harder to do now.  We will see exactly what this team is made of when they play the Rams this week. However, they have a ton of things to clean up. Here are three big things that went wrong versus Seattle:

HALAPOULIVAATI VAITAI

This was the first game Philly genuinely missed and need the bodyguard, Jason Peters. Since Peters went down, Vaitai has held his own, but last night… Last night was bad. Vaitai got wrecked almost every single play, causing Wentz to have maybe two seconds in a clean pocket. What does this mean? Vaitai will have to play better going forward. He was exposed in every way, and the Eagles offense will not be able to get going if Vaitai continues to play like he did last night. This also means that the Eagles will more than likely be eyeing an offensive lineman come draft time.

OFFENSIVE PLAY CALLING

The play calling offensively was very questionable. Many times, Philly had great opportunities to go deep and didn’t, most of the pass plays were quick outs and slants, which is not what you want to do against a Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman-less Seattle team. You could also tell the Eagles committed to throwing it all over the Seahawks, which is understandable. The Secondary was tested early without two of their best, and they responded well. I believe if the Eagles would have gotten the run game going early and let it open up the pass, I would be writing a much different article right now.

RUSSELL WILSON

Hats off to Russell Wilson. He should have been sacked 10 times, but every time the pass rush got back there, Wilson found a way to escape. This is a good thing and a bad thing. Any other quarterback would have had a miserable game because the Eagles defensive front once again dominated, but Wilson is the best quarterback in the league when it comes to escaping pressure. Many will say the Secondary had a rough game, but you simply can’t expect them to guard receivers perfectly when Wilson is running for his life for 10-15 seconds. As long as the Eagles don’t see the Seahawks in the playoffs again, they are safe from a performance of that nature from an opposing quarterback.

CONCLUSION

Is this the end of the world? No. Gang Green is still one of the best teams in football. In areas, they were exploited last night, but Russell Wilson proved his MVP candidacy. The Eagles still have a historic defensive line, an MVP caliber quarterback, and multiple playmakers on both sides of the football; which makes any team a Super Bowl threat. However, the pressure is on. This week against the Rams will prove a lot about these Eagles.

 

Photo Credit: Joe Nicholson/USA Today

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