The experts on NFL Network all picked the visiting Philadelphia Eagles to win Thursday's game at CenturyLink Field in a matchup of 4-7 clubs. Their consensus was that the home team, the Seattle Seahawks, weren't a very good one.
News flash—neither are the Eagles. In fact, they're even worse after suffering a 31-14 drubbing at the same hands of those not-so-good Seahawks.
Seattle converted four interceptions by Philadelphia QB Vince Young into 21 points, didn't give up any turnovers of its own, didn't commit a ton of penalties, held the lead once it got it and got 148 yards and two TDs on the ground from beast back Marshawn Lynch.
Quite a turnaround from the week before, when the Seahawks squandered a 10-point advantage in suffering a six-point loss to the Washington Redskins.
They also became the first home team to claim a victory in the last five meetings between Seattle and Philadelphia.
Seattle QB Tarvaris Jackson completed 13 of 16 passes for 190 yards with no interceptions, plus a touchdown toss to sophomore WR Golden Tate in the back of the end zone in the third quarter to boost Seattle to a 24-7 advantage.
This was the same Golden Tate who didn't know he was supposed to be on the field for the Seahawks' first play from scrimmage—but hey, better late than never.
LeSean McCoy cut the lead to 24-14 with his second TD run of the night for Philadelphia, with more than 12 minutes remaining in regulation. Seattle LB David Hawthorne then killed one final deep Eagle drive by picking off a Young pass intended for McCoy and returning it 77 yards for the clincher with less than five minutes left.
Lynch was the real story, as he rushed for 100 yards for the 10th time in his NFL career. He also boosted Seattle to a 7-0 lead as he escaped from a pileup in Eagles territory to rush 15 yards for his first score of the night.
He later found paydirt on a 40-yarder after he broke free on the right side and outran a convoy to the end zone to put Seattle ahead, 14-0.
"We came out victorious," he said in the Seattle Times. "Everybody's happy. Now, we're onto our break. Thank you."
Lynch, who will be a free agent in 2012, is just 146 rushing yards short of 1,000 for the season. The Seahawks haven't had a 1,000-yard rusher since Shaun Alexander was NFL MVP in 2005.
The Seahawks improved to 5-7, and could now be 7-5 if they had finished business against the Redskins and managed to score a touchdown in a sloppy 6-3 loss at Cleveland. The Eagles' "Dream Team" dropped to 4-8 on the year, in what could very well be head coach Andy Reid's swan song.
In this battle of the birds, it was the Seahawks who ruled the nest.
The Seahawks haven't done a terrific job of upgrading and maintaining parts as players from their Super Bowl team of six seasons ago got hurt, moved on, or retired—but at least on this December night, the parts they had seemed to work pretty well.
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/965241-nfl-seahawks-win-battle-of-birds-dismantle-eagles-31-14
Jhan Marinez Anibal Sanchez John Baker Brad Davis Logan Morrison Mike Stanton
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen