Our upcoming game.

[Wings]

There is a CB that plays for Seattle that scares the shit outta me when i look at this game. I don't want Sanchez to just ignore Shermans side, but don't let that guy bait ya into a stupid pass. That guy can flat out kill ya. I'm gonna tell ya right now how I think Chip Kelly is gonna attack that Seahawk defense...
run option Shady, run option Sanchez, run option Polk.....Come Stop it! Think ya stopped it....run option quick pass to Sproles gash that defense. Our Offensive line is gonna line up mano y mano and smash up into them. Just when Seattle begins to move the safeties up BOOM Matthews DEEP, notice I said Matthews, that is because I expect Sherman to be on Maclin a lot !

funny thing is I see Seattle doing almost the same damn thing to us with Beast Mode and Wilson.
I think this game comes down to special teams, and we have the best in the NFL.

Eagles 24
Seahawks 23

37 yard FG to win the game!

 

[Uhsplit]

There is a CB that plays for Seattle that scares the shit outta me when i look at this game. I don't want Sanchez to just ignore Shermans side, but don't let that guy bait ya into a stupid pass. That guy can flat out kill ya. I'm gonna tell ya right now how I think Chip Kelly is gonna attack that Seahawk defense...
run option Shady, run option Sanchez, run option Polk.....Come Stop it! Think ya stopped it....run option quick pass to Sproles gash that defense. Our Offensive line is gonna line up mano y mano and smash up into them. Just when Seattle begins to move the safeties up BOOM Matthews DEEP, notice I said Matthews, that is because I expect Sherman to be on Maclin a lot !

funny thing is I see Seattle doing almost the same damn thing to us with Beast Mode and Wilson.
I think this game comes down to special teams, and we have the best in the NFL.

Eagles 24
Seahawks 23

37 yard FG to win the game!

Lots of good info in your post.
I would like to offer a few things related to it.
My guess is Seattle is the best at the R/O play in the NFL. To make it work a team needs a feared RB (which we both have but IMO Lynch>McCoy) and a QB who can run very well (No contest between our 2 QBs).
In most games when we utilize the R/O often Lynch usually carries the ball.
I doubt Matthews will have any deep luck against us. We excel at covering big WR's. Fitz, Megatron, Julio Jones, Boldin, Crabs, ect. Yet the LOB was hurt some this year but they are almost at 100% for our game. Also covering the deep ball is the best FS in the game in Earl Thomas.
We have our biggest problem covering smaller, quick WR's. Maclin could go off.
A couple of you have mentioned the Eagle ST's as if they are leaps and bounds better than Seattle's ST's. Please tell me where your ST's are definitively better than the Seahawks. Again, I say they are essentially a toss up on who is better.
Damn, this is going to be a good game.

 

[Uhsplit]

A couple of you have mentioned the Eagle ST's as if they are leaps and bounds better than Seattle's ST's. Please tell me where your ST's are definitively better than the Seahawks.

I did see that your team is better at the return in both kicking and punting than just about every team out there. On those stats I spaced that we did not resign Tate who was a solid punt returner last year and we dusted Harvin who was also outstanding at kick returning. I could not find any data on our coverage units but the kickers and punters for both teams look fairly even.
Yes, factoring in the return men Phi looks to have the best ST's in the NFL.

 

[John]

Off the top of my head, the Eagles have, at least, 2 kickoff return TD's, 1 or 2 punt return TD's, and at least 2 blocked punt TD's.
Cody Parkey, if his leg isn't hurt, can kick field goals from over 50. Most of his kickoffs will not be returned.
Compared to when they play at home, the Seahawks have been mediocre on the road, while the Eagles have won 10 straight home games.
After being injured for most of the year, the Eagles offensive line is now healthy. Jason Peters is arguably the best LT in the league. LG Evan Mathis is a Pro-Bowler. Jason Kelce is the best center in the league. RG Lane Johnson just keeps getting better.
Let's not forget that the Seahawks run defense leaves something to be desired. DeMarco Murray had a field day against them IN Seattle.
If the Seahawks cannot stop the Eagles running game, the pace of the Eagles offense will wear down their defense, and they will end up losing by a lot. You can think that the Seahawks know what playing against a team with a no-huddle offense is like, but I assure you, they have NOT seen a pace like the Eagles will show them.

 

[Birds4life81]

This is such a fascinating game to me. If this was last year I would say the Seahawks would come in here and roll us. This Eagles team is different, most notably our front 7 has become very good. We're stout against the run and we can pass rush effectively. We will struggle against teams that are pass-first. Teams who have good QB and WR play, and can pass protect. I think our strong suit is playing against a run first team, only thing is…this run first seattle offense has 2 great runners in Wilson and Lynch. We have to play disciplined defense and everyone just needs to do their job and keep their gap integrity. On pure passing plays we have to keep Russell in the pocket, if he breaks out and gives his WRs time to improvise it could smell trouble -- our secondary can cover for only so long. Though, we have been playing extremely disciplined of late. I could see us using Connar Barwin in a QB spy role like we did against Cam Newton.

I see this game as more of a defensive battle than we have been used to with this high flying Eagles team. Seattle's defense is rounding into shape and while they aren't as dominate as last year they're still very good. I could see them stacking the box to stop the run and forcing Sanchez to pass against this LOB. Our slot WRs, TEs and RBs (out the backfield) will be our best bet to attack in the passing game, as their outside corners are very good. Then you have to worry about Earl Thomas flying around and Kam Chancellor crushing players over the middle. Our offense is playing at an extremely high tempo and that can tire any defense out, that is the key. Seattle likes to rotate their D-line and our up-tempo offense could prevent them from doing that. Sanchez will have to make enough plays to get those first downs early on, so we can keep the pedal to the metal and tire out this Seattle defense. Even if we don't score TDs early, if we can sustain drives out the gate and gas this Seattle defense, settle for some FGs -- we will become more effective in the 2nd half as their players suck wind. Sanchez has been very sound, coming off his best game yet….but he still scares me because of his turnover potential, especially against a very opportunistic and talented seattle defense.

This will be a close, exciting and frustrating game. I can see both defenses coming out and playing very sound, especially in the first half. I don't expect a bunch of pts like normal Eagles games.

Mebane was a big loss for the Seahawks and our offensive line is finally playing at a high level. We need to have success on early downs getting around 4 yards a pop. Putting Sanchez in shorter downs to allow for easier completions -- then hope he puts it on the money.

I love our ST unit. We're the best in the league all around -- Kick/Punt returns, Coverage, Punting, Kicking, Blocking.

Prediction:
Eagles 23
Seahawks 20

This is going to be a huge test!!

 

[Uhsplit]

Off the top of my head, the Eagles have, at least, 2 kickoff return TD's, 1 or 2 punt return TD's, and at least 2 blocked punt TD's.
Cody Parkey, if his leg isn't hurt, can kick field goals from over 50. Most of his kickoffs will not be returned.
Compared to when they play at home, the Seahawks have been mediocre on the road, while the Eagles have won 10 straight home games.
After being injured for most of the year, the Eagles offensive line is now healthy. Jason Peters is arguably the best LT in the league. LG Evan Mathis is a Pro-Bowler. Jason Kelce is the best center in the league. RG Lane Johnson just keeps getting better.
Let's not forget that the Seahawks run defense leaves something to be desired. DeMarco Murray had a field day against them IN Seattle.
If the Seahawks cannot stop the Eagles running game, the pace of the Eagles offense will wear down their defense, and they will end up losing by a lot. You can think that the Seahawks know what playing against a team with a no-huddle offense is like, but I assure you, they have NOT seen a pace like the Eagles will show them.

Where are you getting your data, off one game by Murray?
No disrespect but I would take Seattle's D in both run D and pass D over Philadelphia's. Your team has more sacks but we are much more complete.
Some of you have mentioned that we have not gone up against a hurry up such as yours. You may be right. I offer your team has not gone up against a D such as ours yet this year.
Last year we heard gobs about how we can't run with Denver in the big game. That team had quite an offense too.
There is nothing wrong with being a homer, but be accurate.

 

[Mariners_44]

I'm glad I came over to the board, great conversation here; good job opening it up Uhsplit. So far it seems that the Philly side of this equation is leaning toward their high powered offense scoring well above the average points allowed by the Hawks. I also see a Philly defense being able to shut down the Hawks offense due to their smothering D. Correct me if I am wrong in how I have read these overall points thus far in this thread?

My thoughts on those points. The Philly offense no doubt is a scary one to have to overtake, much respect there. With that being said, two of Phillies losses came at the hands of the Niners & Cards. Two teams with high rated defenses, but non of which are as good as the Seahawks. Granted you had to play them on the road and the Hawks just had the Cards at home, but the Hawks just annihilated those teams defensively while having 5 scoring drives in each of those games. Those offenses aren't even close to your offense, but their D was able to keep your high powered offenses in check when you had a better QB at the helm. Then the topic of your defense and how they are stacked at the line, why and how did they allow those offenses score 20+ while being average at best on offense? The Hawks offense is far better than both of those teams so to expect to hold them when they couldn't stop two mediocre offenses is debatable. I agree with most of you that if you stop both Wilson and Lynch we are in trouble, but is that likely? What happens if the Seahawks D stops your running game, do they really need to be worried about Sanchez? As it stands, Seattle is ranked #1 in overall defense while Philly is ranked #24. I say Seattle shuts down Phillies run game making them one dimensional on offense and take this game:

Seahawks: 26
Philly: 17

Good luck, it's gonna be a great game!!

 

[old duke]

I think Arizona's defense when we played them earlier, was playing at a very high level, better than Seahawks, I believe. Anyway, both of our teams are playing at their highest levels, as you can tell by the power ratings: ESPN has the Eagles @ #4, and Seahawks @ #5. It doesn't get much better than this, I think. "Get your popcorn ready!!

 

[Taz]

I'm glad I came over to the board, great conversation here; good job opening it up Uhsplit. So far it seems that the Philly side of this equation is leaning toward their high powered offense scoring well above the average points allowed by the Hawks. I also see a Philly defense being able to shut down the Hawks offense due to their smothering D. Correct me if I am wrong in how I have read these overall points thus far in this thread?

My thoughts on those points. The Philly offense no doubt is a scary one to have to overtake, much respect there. With that being said, two of Phillies losses came at the hands of the Niners & Cards. Two teams with high rated defenses, but non of which are as good as the Seahawks. Granted you had to play them on the road and the Hawks just had the Cards at home, but the Hawks just annihilated those teams defensively while having 5 scoring drives in each of those games. Those offenses aren't even close to your offense, but their D was able to keep your high powered offenses in check when you had a better QB at the helm. Then the topic of your defense and how they are stacked at the line, why and how did they allow those offenses score 20+ while being average at best on offense? The Hawks offense is far better than both of those teams so to expect to hold them when they couldn't stop two mediocre offenses is debatable. I agree with most of you that if you stop both Wilson and Lynch we are in trouble, but is that likely? What happens if the Seahawks D stops your running game, do they really need to be worried about Sanchez? As it stands, Seattle is ranked #1 in overall defense while Philly is ranked #24. I say Seattle shuts down Phillies run game making them one dimensional on offense and take this game:

Seahawks: 26
Philly: 17

Good luck, it's gonna be a great game!!

That will be the day the Eagles only score 17 points at home. The Seahawks are coming into a hornets nest in Philly. Just like the SeaHawks have a huge home field advantage because of the noise so do the Eagles. The Eagles offense and special teams are considerably better than the Seahawks and the Eagles defense is a lot better than the rankings give it. They are by far on the field the most out of any defense in football because of the speed of the offense we run, it skews the stats. This game is going to come down to the line of scrimmage and the Seahawks have two huge holes, one is at the center position where they lost Unger and are on their third string center and on defense losing Mebane is going to really hurt trying to stop Shady, Sproles and company.

Eagles 28
Seahawks 13

 

[Mariners_44]

I think Arizona's defense when we played them earlier, was playing at a very high level, better than Seahawks, I believe. Anyway, both of our teams are playing at their highest levels, as you can tell by the power ratings: ESPN has the Eagles @ #4, and Seahawks @ #5. It doesn't get much better than this, I think. "Get your popcorn ready!!

How can the Cards have been playing better defense than the Hawks when the stats say otherwise? This Hawks defense is giving up less yards this year then they did all of last year, and that D shut down the greatest offense in the history of the NFL. You are welcome to your own opinion, but none of us are allowed to our own facts. For what it's worth regarding the power rankings, that's an opinion poll that is completely irrelevant. There are two teams ranked higher than the Seahawks for which they have already beat this year, and they only have one more win. I just don't take them very serious. Good luck to you guy's!!

 

[DutchBird]

I'm glad I came over to the board, great conversation here; good job opening it up Uhsplit. So far it seems that the Philly side of this equation is leaning toward their high powered offense scoring well above the average points allowed by the Hawks. I also see a Philly defense being able to shut down the Hawks offense due to their smothering D. Correct me if I am wrong in how I have read these overall points thus far in this thread?

My thoughts on those points. The Philly offense no doubt is a scary one to have to overtake, much respect there. With that being said, two of Phillies losses came at the hands of the Niners & Cards. Two teams with high rated defenses, but non of which are as good as the Seahawks. Granted you had to play them on the road and the Hawks just had the Cards at home, but the Hawks just annihilated those teams defensively while having 5 scoring drives in each of those games. Those offenses aren't even close to your offense, but their D was able to keep your high powered offenses in check when you had a better QB at the helm. Then the topic of your defense and how they are stacked at the line, why and how did they allow those offenses score 20+ while being average at best on offense? The Hawks offense is far better than both of those teams so to expect to hold them when they couldn't stop two mediocre offenses is debatable. I agree with most of you that if you stop both Wilson and Lynch we are in trouble, but is that likely? What happens if the Seahawks D stops your running game, do they really need to be worried about Sanchez? As it stands, Seattle is ranked #1 in overall defense while Philly is ranked #24. I say Seattle shuts down Phillies run game making them one dimensional on offense and take this game:

Seahawks: 26
Philly: 17

Good luck, it's gonna be a great game!!

A number of points:

- When the Eagles played Arizona and in particular San Francisco, the Eagles O-line was an absolute mess. Not sure if it still holds up, but for most of the season, the Eagles had fielded the most different O-line combinations, starting O-line combinations, as well as the most O-linemen fielded of the whole league. And it was not even close. Right now, they are on their EIGHTH different O-line combination for the season (of which last weekend was only its second consecutive start); IIRC against San Francisco they missed Lane Johnson (one of the best young RT's in the league), and an All-Pro calibre C and LG. Not surprisingly, with those three players getting back, the Eagles have done a whole lot better (most notably visible in LeSean McCoy's rushing numbers). It has also helped in pass protection.

- Against Arizona, the Eagles offense racked up over 500 yards on offense. If not for a rookie mistake, as well as Nick Foles mailing INT's straight to Arizona DB's (none of the Arizona INT's required the DB to make any considerable effort other than NOT dropping the ball) that game would possibly/probably not even have been close. In general, the way Foles has been playing this season, Sanchez is definitely NOT a worse QB than Foles; the way Sanchez played against Carolina and Dallas he was better than Foles was in any single game this season (against Washington he was NOT good, his redeeming quality was not falling apart under the hits he took that game).

- At the time we played Arizona, it was arguably/probably playing better than the Seahawks D at the time, and possibly as good as the Seahawks D is doing now...

- I think you seriously underrate the Eagles D. Against San Francisco, the Eagles defense was hung out to dry by the offense (IIRC the offense did not score a point that game, and only crossed midfield during the final drive). Against Indianapolis it was little better. Against Arizona - apart from two broken pass plays - the Arizona offense pretty much was shut down by the Eagles defense. And arguably the Eagles defense has improved since then.



It will be a close game, but pretty much it will be strength against strength, and weakness against weakness.

 

[Mariners_44]

That will be the day the Eagles only score 17 points at home. The Seahawks are coming into a hornets nest in Philly. Just like the SeaHawks have a huge home field advantage because of the noise so do the Eagles. The Eagles offense and special teams are considerably better than the Seahawks and the Eagles defense is a lot better than the rankings give it. They are by far on the field the most out of any defense in football because of the speed of the offense we run, it skews the stats. This game is going to come down to the line of scrimmage and the Seahawks have two huge holes, one is at the center position where they lost Unger and are on their third string center and on defense losing Mebane is going to really hurt trying to stop Shady, Sproles and company.

Eagles 28
Seahawks 13

I agree, the home field will play a factor no doubt. I just have state once again, aside from AZ & SF you have played against mediocre defenses all year. Yet, two of your three losses were against those two teams. Mebane aside, you have to face the best defense in all of football who is allowing the least amount of years per game and third least points per game. This includes wins against high powered offenses such as GB (who you got whooped by) and Denver. Speaking of holes, where does a backup QB come in at in terms of holes? All I am saying is that history shows that defense wins championships, and I think some of you may be underestimating that.

 

[Mariners_44]

Eagles 28
Seahawks 13

Just to add to that really quick, the Eagles D allowed these scores on their D:

Jacksonville- 17
Washington- 34
Rams- 28
Panthers- 21
Titans- 24

ALL BEING AT HOME, but yet they are gonna hold the number one rush offense in football to 13 points. Really?

 

[Mariners_44]

I think you seriously underrate the Eagles D.

I really don't underestimate them, I think they are ranked #24 in overall D for a reason. Look at the post I just posted regarding some of the worst offenses in football, and what they were able to do against your D at home. The Eagles have allowed on average 20.6 pts to opposing teams at home, and the Seahawks have averaged scoring 21 pts on the road. If the Eagles D allows the Hawks to score in the 20's, all the while giving that the Hawks D play as lights out as they have been, I think the D wins it for the Hawks.

 

[LambeauLegs]

I agree that if Phi can control Lynch and keep Wilson in check, your team should win. The book is out on how to beat us and every team tries to do exactly that, stuff both Marshawn and Russell. Most teams fail in their attempt because at least one of those guys seems to go off.
Note that Seattle has not lost by more than 9 points since the middle of the 2011 season. Winning EASILY would be quite an accomplishment

If they dont controll them the Seahawks may be able to put up a 50 burger on them like the Packers did

 

[LambeauLegs]

I agree, the home field will play a factor no doubt. I just have state once again, aside from AZ & SF you have played against mediocre defenses all year. Yet, two of your three losses were against those two teams. Mebane aside, you have to face the best defense in all of football who is allowing the least amount of years per game and third least points per game. This includes wins against high powered offenses such as GB (who you got whooped by) and Denver. Speaking of holes, where does a backup QB come in at in terms of holes? All I am saying is that history shows that defense wins championships, and I think some of you may be underestimating that.

Sorry the Packer offense the Seahawks saw in week one and the one the Eagles saw a few weeks ago are not even close to being the same. The Seahawks would not want a rematch

 

[Mariners_44]

Sorry the Packer offense the Seahawks saw in week one and the one the Eagles saw a few weeks ago are not even close to being the same. The Seahawks would not want a rematch

I agree, but with all due respect this isn't the same seahawks team the Pack saw in week one. I would love a rematch because if you want to be the best you have to beat the best.

 

[DutchBird]

Just to add to that really quick, the Eagles D allowed these scores on their D:

Jacksonville- 17
Washington- 34
Rams- 28
Panthers- 21
Titans- 24

ALL BEING AT HOME, but yet they are gonna hold the number one rush offense in football to 13 points. Really?

I really don't underestimate them, I think they are ranked #24 in overall D for a reason. Look at the post I just posted regarding some of the worst offenses in football, and what they were able to do against your D at home. The Eagles have allowed on average 20.6 pts to opposing teams at home, and the Seahawks have averaged scoring 21 pts on the road. If the Eagles D allows the Hawks to score in the 20's, all the while giving that the Hawks D play as lights out as they have been, I think the D wins it for the Hawks.

As pointed out before:

(a) You are using the MOST USELESS and distorting defensive stat - total yardage - to bolster your argument. This holds even more true, simply because of the TOP disparity as a result of the speed of the offense (IIRC they were dead last in TOP last year. Currently they rank 27th in the league, amidst Tennessee and Oakland), which means that the defense will be on the field more often. Looking at much more useful stats, like yards per play, they rank 11th (Seattle ranks 4th). But even that game still is distorted by garbage time yards. When looking at Football Outsider's DVOA rankings (which ought to compensate for that, as well as strength of opponent), they rank 8th (Seattle ranks 6th).

(b) Somehow, despite the Eagles being dead last in the league in turnover margin before this week by a wide margin, somehow the Eagles defense has been good enough to keep the offense in the game and give them the opportunity to win the game in all but one game this season (GB). The only answer to this anomaly is to conclude that the defense is able to stop the opposing offenses from capitalizing on Eagles turnovers. The Eagles being 9-3 with while being dead last in turnovers in the league comes close to being a statistical impossibility. Credit HAS to go to the defense for making that near impossibility a reality.

(c) You ignore the fact that the Eagles defense is 2nd in the league in sacks, with 42. More than DOUBLE what the Seahawks defense has gotten so far (20).

(d) You ignore the fact that the Eagles defense LEADS the league in forced fumbles (20 fumbles forced, compared to Seattle's 16). To make matters even more fun, Wilson apparently has 9 fumbles this season (according to NFL.com), and Marshawn Lynch so far is doing better than in previous seasons holding on to the ball, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep that up.

(e) The strength of the defense is the run-defense. I know how everybody predicted how Foster and Murray would run all over us. The opposite was true. The big problem is going to be containing Wilson, and keeping him in the pocket. This will be a challenge. They have only given up ONE 100 yard rusher (119 yards to Frank Gore, with SF controlling the ball over 42 minutes!), and one additional game where they got run over (Indianapolis, with two runners over 70 yards).

(f) The weakness of the Eagles defense is giving up the big play in the passing game. Now it so happens that the weakest part of the Seahawks offense is the passing game. If the Eagles can keep Wilson in the pocket, things could get interesting. Especially since the defensive backfield has been improving over the past few weeks in general.

(g) The Eagles defense and ST have been very good at scoring; before this weekend they had scored 10 TD's, the rest of the league combined had scored 12 ST/Defensive TD's.

(h) Jacksonville was the first game of the season, and shut down in the 2nd half of the game. The Panthers and Rams scored most of their points in garbage time.


O yeah, for what it is worth, Football Outsiders has for weighted DVOA (which intends to quantify how a team is playing right now) the Eagles ranked 5th, and above Seattle (ranked 7th); Seattle ranks higher for the season as a whole.


As said before, this will be an interesting game, and probably a close game which the Seahawks could well win, without it being an upset.

And for those referring to the GB game, that was a complete team melt down (in all phases) while running into a buzz-saw of currently the best team in the league probably playing its best game of the season.

 

[old duke]

If they dont controll them the Seahawks may be able to put up a 50 burger on them like the Packers did

Yeah, right! :rollseyes:

 

[Uhsplit]

As pointed out before:

(a) You are using the MOST USELESS and distorting defensive stat - total yardage - to bolster your argument. This holds even more true, simply because of the TOP disparity as a result of the speed of the offense (IIRC they were dead last in TOP last year. Currently they rank 27th in the league, amidst Tennessee and Oakland), which means that the defense will be on the field more often. Looking at much more useful stats, like yards per play, they rank 11th (Seattle ranks 4th). But even that game still is distorted by garbage time yards. When looking at Football Outsider's DVOA rankings (which ought to compensate for that, as well as strength of opponent), they rank 8th (Seattle ranks 6th).

(b) Somehow, despite the Eagles being dead last in the league in turnover margin before this week by a wide margin, somehow the Eagles defense has been good enough to keep the offense in the game and give them the opportunity to win the game in all but one game this season (GB). The only answer to this anomaly is to conclude that the defense is able to stop the opposing offenses from capitalizing on Eagles turnovers. The Eagles being 9-3 with while being dead last in turnovers in the league comes close to being a statistical impossibility. Credit HAS to go to the defense for making that near impossibility a reality.

(c) You ignore the fact that the Eagles defense is 2nd in the league in sacks, with 42. More than DOUBLE what the Seahawks defense has gotten so far (20).

(d) You ignore the fact that the Eagles defense LEADS the league in forced fumbles (20 fumbles forced, compared to Seattle's 16). To make matters even more fun, Wilson apparently has 9 fumbles this season (according to NFL.com), and Marshawn Lynch so far is doing better than in previous seasons holding on to the ball, and it will be interesting to see if he can keep that up.

(e) The strength of the defense is the run-defense. I know how everybody predicted how Foster and Murray would run all over us. The opposite was true. The big problem is going to be containing Wilson, and keeping him in the pocket. This will be a challenge. They have only given up ONE 100 yard rusher (119 yards to Frank Gore, with SF controlling the ball over 42 minutes!), and one additional game where they got run over (Indianapolis, with two runners over 70 yards).

(f) The weakness of the Eagles defense is giving up the big play in the passing game. Now it so happens that the weakest part of the Seahawks offense is the passing game. If the Eagles can keep Wilson in the pocket, things could get interesting. Especially since the defensive backfield has been improving over the past few weeks in general.

(g) The Eagles defense and ST have been very good at scoring; before this weekend they had scored 10 TD's, the rest of the league combined had scored 12 ST/Defensive TD's.

(h) Jacksonville was the first game of the season, and shut down in the 2nd half of the game. The Panthers and Rams scored most of their points in garbage time.


O yeah, for what it is worth, Football Outsiders has for weighted DVOA (which intends to quantify how a team is playing right now) the Eagles ranked 5th, and above Seattle (ranked 7th); Seattle ranks higher for the season as a whole.


As said before, this will be an interesting game, and probably a close game which the Seahawks could well win, without it being an upset.

And for those referring to the GB game, that was a complete team melt down (in all phases) while running into a buzz-saw of currently the best team in the league probably playing its best game of the season.

Dutch, I get it.
You think the Eagles D is better than the Seahawks D.
It's ok to believe whatever you want.