The Seattle Seahawks arrived at Lincoln Financial Field needing a win to stay in the hunt for a first-round bye. Facing a Philadelphia Eagles team with its playoff hopes on the line, the Seahawks rode their running game and turnovers to victory.
Seattle’s offense missed plenty of scoring chances early. Between missed throws by Russell Wilson and receivers dropping passes, a normally explosive passing attack lacked much of its bite. Fortunately, Rashaad Penny came through with the game of his life.
On the other side, Philadelphia’s offense felt the absence of its top receivers and offensive lineman. Of course, Carson Wentz only made things worse with countless missed throws, poor reads of Seattle’s secondary and costly turnovers.
Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Seahawks’ 17-9 win over the Eagles on Sunday.
Winner: Rashaad Penny, Seattle Seahawks
Penny came into Week 12 as an afterthought. He received only six touches in the last two games and sat firmly behind Chris Carson on Seattle’s depth chart. Penny came alive against the Philadelphia Eagles with a game-deciding performance.
The 2018 first-round pick displayed some outstanding balance and strength by ripping off chunks of yards early. Of course, it’s his jaw-dropping, 58-yard touchdown run that gave the Seahawks a two-score lead. After setting a career-high with 129 rushing yards, especially with Chris Carson’s fumble woes returning, Penny will get a lot more chances in the weeks to come.
Loser: Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles
While some pointed to an underwhelming receiving corps for Wentz’s struggles coming into Sunday, there’s no excuse for this performance. He looked like a quarterback who didn’t belong on an NFL field.
It started on the opening drive on a missed throw over the middle to Zach Ertz to end the series. On the next drive, inside the red zone, Wentz airmailed a throw to Miles Sanders for a potential touchdown. He missed another open throw to Sanders in the second quarter and turned the ball over four times, including two ugly interceptions. It’s the worst Wentz has looked in years and it came at the worst possible time.
Winner: Ziggy Ansah, Seattle Seahawks
Seattle needed its entire defense to overcome Jadeveon Clowney’s absence. While plenty of credit should go around to everyone, Ansah played particularly well. In fact, he looked like the All-Pro pass rusher we saw in 2015 with the Detroit Lions.
Even on plays when he didn’t hit Wentz, Ansah’s pressure created opportunities for his teammates to get sacks and it created poor throws. He still got hits, though, finishing with 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss. If Clowney misses more time, Seattle’s defense is proving it can still create turnovers and pressure quarterbacks.
Loser: D.K. Metcalf, Seattle Seahawks
On a day when both teams struggled to make plays consistently, Metcalf delivered one of the most frustrating performances. Wilson hit him deep twice to give the rookie big-play opportunities and he couldn’t hang on either time.
The first drop came in the first quarter when Wilson rolled out of the pocket and unleashed a deep strike to Metcalf, who promptly dropped it. He got a shot at redemption before halftime with a potential touchdown to grab momentum and he let it slip through his hands.
Winner: Malcolm Jenkins, Philadelphia Eagles
While no one could step up on Philadelphia’s offense, Jenkins did everything in his power to win this game on the defensive side. The Eagles used the veteran safety to spy Wilson and also sent him on the blitz.
Jenkins played a massive role in Wilson experiencing one of his worst performances of the season. He felt the safety’s presence throughout the day and got hit far more than usual. Jenkins finished the day with four quarterback hits and two sacks. It just wasn’t enough to make up for Philadelphia’s offensive woes.