Seahawks Land Eagles

After two years’ worth of disappointing injuries that kept him off the field for some glorious playoff moments, quarterback Carson Wentz had been the constant for the Philadelphia Eagles this season. He remained healthy and in the lineup while the offense around him became depleted by injuries to others, and he led the Eagles to the NFC East title with four straight victories to close the regular season.

But his NFL playoff debut was cut short Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field after he suffered a first-quarter head injury. Without him, the Eagles made things interesting but exited the postseason quickly with a 17-9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in a first-round NFC playoff matchup.

“I feel for him,” Eagles Coach Doug Pederson said. “I feel bad for him. … I’m disappointed for him because I wanted this for him, obviously, and I think a lot of his teammates did, too. And the team, the organization, did. He’s battled through a lot. But we’ll learn from it. We’ll move on.”

The fifth-seeded Seahawks advanced to a divisional-round game next weekend at Green Bay.

“It was fun, but it was scary at the same time,” said Seahawks rookie wide receiver DK Metcalf, who caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Russell Wilson as part of a seven-catch, 160-yard performance. “The way this season has been going as a team, I didn’t want this to be our last time playing football.”

The Seahawks had to play on the road despite having two more regular season wins than the Eagles. Seattle was a wild-card team after it fell inches shy of a go-ahead touchdown in the closing moments against the San Francisco 49ers a week earlier in a game in which a victory would have clinched the NFC West crown. The fourth-seeded Eagles, as a division winner, were guaranteed a postseason home game under a playoff format the NFL has no intention of ditching.

But the Seahawks went 7-1 on the road during the regular season, including a triumph in Philadelphia in November. And they kept winning away from home.

Tailback Marshawn Lynch, in his second game back with the Seahawks after being lured out of retirement because of injuries to other Seattle running backs, bulldozed his way to a five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Wilson threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Metcalf in the third quarter as part of an 18-for-30, 325-yard passing day.

The Seattle defense limited the Philadelphia offense to three field goals by kicker Jake Elliott. Veteran backup Josh McCown took over for Wentz and completed 18 of 24 passes for 174 yards.

“It’s remarkable, for me, to see our guys battle, how the defense kept us in this football game and the offense moved the ball but just failed to score,” Pederson said. “To still be within a score, at least with a two-point conversion, to tie the game just shows a lot of character and resiliency with this team.”

Pederson passed up a potential fourth field goal by Elliott and left his offense on the field for a fourth-and-four try from the Seattle 24-yard line with just less than 6½ minutes remaining. It failed when rookie running back Miles Sanders dropped a swing pass by McCown with open field in front of him.

“We did some good things,” Pederson said. “We just kind of stalled out in the red zone a little bit tonight. We had opportunities. We just got back to some of the core stuff with Josh.”

The Eagles got the ball back and, after a 39-yard pass interference penalty on the Seahawks, tried again on fourth and seven from the Seattle 10-yard line. But McCown was sacked by the Seahawks’ Jadeveon Clowney with 1:56 to play. The Seahawks took possession and ran out the clock, thanks to a leaping catch by Metcalf for a 36-yard gain on a third-and-10 play.

“All year Russ has been telling me: ‘Don’t let the ball come down. Don’t let the ball come down. Attack it,’” Metcalf said. “That’s all I was thinking.”

Wentz was placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol after he was hit, helmet to helmet, in the back of the head by Clowney just before landing on the ground and having his head strike the turf. Clowney was not penalized on the play.

Wentz was taken to the medical tent on the Eagles’ sideline and then escorted to the locker room by members of the team’s medical staff. Wentz’s wife reportedly was taken later to the Eagles’ locker room area.

It was the latest injury-related setback for Wentz. He missed the Eagles’ run to a Super Bowl title in the 2017 season because of a knee injury suffered late in the regular season. He missed last season’s late push to the divisional round because of a back injury. Nick Foles replaced Wentz and was the Super Bowl MVP. Foles has a statue outside Lincoln Financial Field depicting the famed “Philly Special” play-call with Pederson during the Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots.