Seahawks Enemy Overview: Scuffling Eagles Still Eyeing NFC's Top Seed
While the Seattle Seahawks find themselves in a more dire situation currently sitting outside of the playoff race, as the two teams prepare to collide on Monday Night Football, the Philadelphia Eagles are in a similar stage soul searching in the aftermath of back-to-back blowout losses.
Only three weeks ago, Philadelphia held the top seed in the NFC with a 10-1 record and had just captured signature wins against Dallas and Buffalo before avenging a Super Bowl defeat by beating Kansas City on the road. But after suffering devastating losses to San Francisco and Dallas in which the team surrendered 75 combined points, coach Nick Sirianni's squad suddenly has dropped out of first place in the NFC East and into the fifth seed as a wild card team.
Still tied with the Cowboys and 49ers for the best record in the conference, the Eagles will fly to the Pacific Northwest with plenty of urgency to turn things around against the Seahawks and no shortage of talent. From electric quarterback Jalen Hurts to receiver A.J. Brown to pass rusher Haason Reddick, Sirianni's squad boasts a fun blend of young stars and seasoned veterans with championship pedigree.
Prepping for a must-win game against an opponent with their own degrees of desperation, coach Pete Carroll expects to see Philadelphia clicking on all cylinders, which will call for a championship effort from Seattle that he believes they are more than capable of achieving. In particular, starting with Hurts' dual-threat capabilities and Brown's explosive playmaking skills, a high-octane offense presents challenges few other teams can match.
"We have to put together a great week to prepare and make sure that we get this done. It’s going to be a great challenge, this is a fine football team with a winning mentality and all of that," Carroll said on Wednesday. "But that’s the kind of challenges we have to take on to get there. It hasn’t changed much; it’s been kind of like this for a while. I’m not concerned about our ability to take up a challenge and do the things we need to do to get it done."
With both teams riding multi-game losing streaks and looking to improve their respective standings in the playoff race, here's a look at the Seahawks upcoming Week 15 opponent in prime time, including series history, additions/departures, a deep dive into scheme, and Carroll's evaluation of the high-flying Eagles.
*All statistics courtesy of Pro Football Focus unless otherwise noted.
Series History
12th regular season meeting. The Seahawks hold a 12-7 all-time record against the Eagles, including defeating them on the road in the wild card round of the 2019 NFL playoffs. Under Carroll, Seattle has never lost to Philadelphia, posting a perfect 7-0 record with the most recent victory coming on the road during the 2020 season. The Eagles have won just three of the past 12 games between the two teams since the turn of the century.
What's New?
Departures: Lacking the cap space to retain all of their key players from last year's Super Bowl run, the Eagles suffered substantial losses in free agency, including losing Pro Bowl defensive tackle Javon Hargrave to the 49ers. Among their other defections, running back Miles Sanders bolted to join the Panthers, guard Isaac Seumalo signed with the Steelers, and linebackers T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White left for the Bears and Cardinals respectively, leaving the team short-handed in the middle. Former first-round tackle Andre Dillard signed a multi-year deal with the Titans. Sirianni also had to replace both of his coordinators, as offensive coordinator Shane Steichen took the Colts head coaching job and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon accepted the same position with the Cardinals.
Undergoing knee surgery this week, the Eagles will be without their best cornerback in Darius Slay for a tough road matchup in Seattle.
© Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Additions: In free agency, the Eagles were relatively quiet, taking fliers on safety Terrell Edmunds, linebacker Zach Cunningham, and linebacker Nicholas Morrow on one-year deals. The team also brought in former Seahawks running back Rashaad Penny on a one-year deal for extra backfield depth. While general manager Howie Roseman didn't do much signing outside free agents, however, he remained aggressive in the trade market, dealing a pair of day three draft picks to the Lions for running back D'Andre Swift during the 2023 NFL Draft. Prior to the deadline, the franchise also swung a deal for former All-Pro safety Kevin Byard to reinforce their secondary. After the departure of Steichen to Indianapolis and Gannon to Arizona, Brian Johnson was promoted as the new offensive coordinator and former Seattle assistant Sean Desai came to town as the new defensive coordinator.
Injury Report
Philadelphia has lost a few key defensive players to potential season-ending injuries, as slot cornerback Avonte Maddox tore a pectoral muscle in September and linebacker Nakobe Dean underwent surgery for a lisfranc injury in November, landing each player on injured reserve. Star cornerback Darius Slay underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this week and will be out on Monday night, while linebacker Zach Cunningham (knee) and guard Cam Jurgens (pectoral) will also be sidelined.
Inside The Scheme
With A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith leading the way, the Eagles primarily use 11 personnel on early downs with three receivers, one running back, and one tight end on the field, ranking eighth in the NFL using such groupings at a 66 percent rate. They rank in the middle of the pack using 12 personnel with two tight ends on the field 24 percent of the time and rarely use other personnel groupings with two backs or three tight ends on the field.
Play calling-wise, with Johnson now calling the shots as a first-time offensive coordinator, Philadelphia has leaned heavily towards zone run game concepts. Playing to the strengths of Swift and Kenneth Gainwell, they have called zone schemes nearly 67 percent of the time this season. Surprisingly, Hurts has not been one of the more efficient play action passers in the NFL this season, ranking 22nd in completion percentage, 11th in touchdown passes, and fourth in interceptions.
But even with a bruised knee bothering him for long stretches this season, Hurts has still be an effective runner with the ability to create damage throwing the ball after escaping the pocket. Behind a physical offensive line and thriving with the "Tush Push" quarterback sneak play, he has scored 12 touchdowns, more than any other non-quarterback this season. This will undoubtedly present a challenge that complicates what the Seahawks can and cannot do schematically on defense on Monday night.
"Jalen is such a unique player. They’re able to do all kinds of stuff and he’s a threat," Carroll said of Philadelphia's dual-threat signal caller. "He’s almost rushed for 500 yards already at this point. He’s a threat back there, he’s a terrific scrambler, he’s got accuracy, he’s completing almost 67% of his passes at this point late in the season. He does a lot of stuff, and they use him. It’s not a mystery, they know when to use him and how to use him, and it makes it very difficult because you have to account for him in all situations."
On defense, Carroll and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron will be testing wits against a familiar face with Desai now running the Eagles' defense. With him at the controls, Philadelphia hasn't blitzed a lot, sending extra rushers on only 23.2 percent of defensive snaps, which ranks 19th just ahead of the Seahawks. But they have been one of the best teams at harassing quarterbacks while sending four or less most of the time, amassing 45 quarterback knockdowns and a 23.8 percent pressure rate for a top-10 ranking in each category.
Boasting talent off the edge with rush specialists Haasan Reddick and Josh Sweat as well as a deep and formidable interior, Carroll holds great respect for the havoc Philadelphia's defense line can create pressuring quarterbacks.
“They’re loaded up front," Carroll said. "Reddick is a fantastic edge rusher as is Sweat, and then they’ve got the monsters up inside that are so physical and tough and quick getting off the rock. They just cause all of the problems that a front can cause. They have all of the variations, the different looks that they do to utilize all of their guys and it’s a real challenge.”
Sticking to the principles learned coaching under Vic Fangio in Chicago alongside Seahawks defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt, Desai has called Cover 1 with man coverage underneath 24 percent of the time and leaned on Cover 6 at a higher rate than most teams at 14.7 percent. More likely to run middle of field closed concepts, the Eagles sit around league average deploying Cover 3 schemes 36.6 percent of the time compared to only 6.9 percent for Cover 2 and 10.2 percent for Cover 4 or "quarters" coverages.
