Russell Wilson leads Seahawks over Eagles, 24-14

By foxsports
Published

PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Seattle Seahawks had the perfect blueprint for shutting down Chip Kelly's offense: Keep the Eagles off the field.

Russell Wilson threw two touchdown passes, ran for another score and the Seahawks set a franchise record for time of possession in a 24-14 victory over the Eagles on Sunday.

Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and the rest of Seattle's ''Legion of Boom'' defense held the Eagles to 139 total yards, the fewest under Kelly. Wilson and the offense held the ball for 41:56 and Philadelphia ran just 45 plays.

''We didn't give them many plays, that's not what they're used to, so the tempo wasn't a problem,'' Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said of Philadelphia's fast-paced, no-huddle offense. ''We never thought we would hold them to (under) 50 plays.''

Wilson had 263 yards passing and ran for 48 to help the Seahawks (9-4) win their third straight game. The defending Super Bowl champions have victories over NFC West-leading Arizona (10-3), San Francisco (7-6) and Philadelphia (9-4) in the last three weeks.

The Eagles host Dallas (9-4) with first place in the NFC East at stake next week. They had won 10 straight regular-season games.

''If you don't get as many opportunities, you have to make the ones you get count and we didn't do that,'' quarterback Mark Sanchez said. ''We expected to do a lot of things better.''

Carroll was the winner in his first NFL matchup against Kelly. In the coaches' only other meeting, Kelly's Oregon Ducks beat Carroll and USC 47-20 on Oct. 31, 2009.

''I have total respect for everything Chip does,'' Carroll said. ''Our defense, for the third straight week, did the job for us.''

Sanchez, who played for Carroll in college, threw for 96 yards, two TD passes and one interception.

Marshawn Lynch had 86 yards rushing and a 15-yard TD catch for Seattle.

The Seahawks hadn't allowed a touchdown since a 24-20 loss at Kansas City on Nov. 16 before Sanchez tossed a 1-yard TD pass to Jeremy Maclin in the first quarter. They beat division rivals Arizona and San Francisco by the same score, 19-3, in the previous two games.

Some things we learned in Seattle's convincing win over the Eagles:

BIG-PLAY BALDWIN: Doug Baldwin had a 23-yard TD catch, caught a pass for nine yards to set up a field goal before the end of the first half and drew a 44-yard pass interference penalty.

''Those guys are electric for us,'' Wilson said of Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse. ''When they make plays like that, it's hard to beat us.''

CONTAINING WILSON: Russell Wilson avoided pressure, scrambled for yards, threw the ball away at times and hurt the Eagles with his legs. He seemed on his way to his fourth career 300-yard passing game, but the Seahawks ran the ball most of the fourth quarter.

''That's what he does,'' Eagles defensive coordinator Billy Davis said. ''It wasn't a surprise to us. They find ways to make plays and they made a lot more than we did.''

MCCOY'S STRUGGLES: LeSean McCoy has lost fumbles in consecutive games and finished with 50 yards rushing, the fourth time he was held to 50 or fewer this season. But the two-time All-Pro set a franchise record for most career yards, passing Wilbert Montgomery on a 4-yard run in the third quarter.

''It was probably one of my worst game since I've been here,'' McCoy said.

PLAYOFF PREVIEW: The Eagles have lost to Green Bay (9-3), Arizona (10-3) and Seattle (9-4) so those losses hurt their chances of getting a first-round bye should they win the division. The Seahawks could end up playing in Philadelphia again in a wild-card playoff game in a 3-6 matchup.

''Hopefully we see them again,'' Eagles linebacker Brandon Graham said. ''Hopefully we clean up what we did wrong so we can go out there and do our thing.''

ROAD WARRIORS: The Seahawks have won consecutive road games at San Francisco and Philadelphia after losing three of their first five games away from home. They'll have a first-place showdown at Arizona on Dec. 21.

''We are really connected right now, really in sync,'' safety Earl Thomas said. ''It seems like when somebody makes a play, everybody makes a play.''

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