Grayson’s Grades: Eagles at Seahawks
SEATTLE - The Philadelphia Eagles failed to clinch the NFC East thanks to the Seattle Seahawks. The Eagles began a two-game west coast swing in Seattle with a 24-10 loss.
The Seahawks frustrated the Eagles offense while Russell Wilson bought all kinds of time and eventually sliced and diced the Eagles defense. The loss snapped the Eagles nine-game winning streak and dropped them into a tie for first in the NFC at 10-2 with the Minnesota Vikings.
The Eagles will make their way to Anaheim where they will practice for the week leading up to next Sunday's game with the Los Angeles Rams.
Easily this is one of the worst report cards in a while for the Eagles. Here is Grayson's Grades:
A
Nelson Agholor - Agholor had a great game with most of his success coming in the second half. He had a great fourth quarter drive catching two passes for 78 yards and a touchdown on that drive. Agholor finished with six receptions for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Donnie Jones - Jones is typically overlooked. I wanted to single him out in this game. In the first half he had three really good punts to help flip the field. Those three punts were downed at the 10, the 15 and the 3 respectively. He helped make sure the Seahawks had a lot of field to cover to score points.
B
Brandon Graham - Graham had a great stop for a loss of one on the first play of second Seahawks possession. Later that possession, he picked up a big sack. He got into the backfield several times and chased Wilson out of the pocket, but struggled a few times to keep him contained in there. Graham overall played well. He finished with five tackles including 1.5 sacks, two tackles for a loss and two quarterback hits.
Ronald Darby - Darby was called for a costly pass interference giving the Seahawks the ball on the Philadelphia 16 yard line. That drive ended with a touchdown. Other than that he was pretty good in coverage. He finished with three tackles and three passes successfully defended.
C
Carson Wentz - Wentz did not look sharp at all in this game. That being said, he did have some moments of greatness. Wentz bobbled a snap on third down on the opening drive, but didn't panic. He picked it up and eventually ran for a first down while also picking up a 15-yard late-hit penalty by the Seahawks. He also had a great first down run after nearly stumbling short of the marker on third down. Wentz started showing signs of getting back on track when he fled the pocket and made an amazing throw after stumbling as he was just getting hit in the knees. He found Nelson Agholor for a 51-yard gain. Later that drive he hit Agholor for a 27-yard touchdown. One of the bigger mistakes in the game happened when Wentz ran for the endzone and fumbled the ball just before the goal line. The ball went through the endzone for a touchback and a costly turnover. Wentz completed 29 of 45 passes for 348 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a fumble. He also carried the ball six times for 30 yards.
Jalen Mills - Mills had a rough night for the most part. He missed a tackle on Tyler Lockett after a catch. That went for a 16-yard gain on the Seahawks opening drive. Mills also lost coverage on a third quarter touchdown pass on third and goal from the one. He finished second on the team with seven tackles.
Rodney McLeod - McLeod bit on a move by Doug Baldwin that resulted in a 46 yard gain to the one-yard line. The Seahawks scored three plays later. Other than that, McLeod played okay. He finished with five tackles.
D
Mychal Kendricks - Kendricks had a tough night in coverage. He lost track of Running Back Mike Davis and that led to a 23 yard reception, most of it after the catch. Kendricks later bit on a stutter-step move and got beat for a wide-open touchdown in the 4th Qtr. He played well against the run and that helped him lead the team with nine tackles including one tackle for a loss.
F
Halapoulivaati Vaitai - Vaitai had been playing pretty well at left tackle for the injured Jason Peters. But this was not a good night for him. Big V missed numerous blocks leading to hits and mostly sacks on Wentz. The Seahawks appeared to confuse him and Vaitai was slow to react to the man he was supposed to block. Those sacks killed the Eagles and put them in long situations.
Doug Pederson - I thought Pederson managed the first half well. He chose to punt on a fourth and one on the opening drive. I agreed with that since it was so early in the game and on the road in a hostile environment like this. However, I thought he failed in the second half on a couple of instances. Pederson should not have gone for it in the third quarter on fourth and three while in field goal range. I also thought he should have challenged a key play by Russell Wilson converting a third down on an apparent lateral that looked to be an illegal forward pass on replay. That drive ended in a touchdown for the Seahawks.