The Seattle Seahawks advanced to the NFC divisional round with a 17-9 victory over the NFC East champion Philadelphia Eagles. They’ll head to Green Bay to take on the Packers as they inch closer to yet another Super Bowl appearance in the Pete Carroll era.
The 17-9 final was the same score these two teams had in their Week 12 meeting, and also similar to the last matchup, the first half saw a lot of punts and very little offense. A Marshawn Lynch touchdown late in the second quarter was one of the few exciting plays, and brought the score to 10-3.
It was Lynch’s first playoff touchdown since 2014.
The biggest story was Philadelphia’s loss of Carson Wentz, who exited with a head injury in the first quarter and did not return. Backup Josh McCown didn’t quite go full Matt Schaub on the Seahawks, but he did find ways to be successful in short yardage situations, particularly by using tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. He finished with 18 completions for 174 yards.
However, Seattle’s defense continued their longstanding tradition of bending but not breaking, giving up a lot of yards on offense but each time managing to limit Philadelphia to a field goal.
Seattle appeared to break things open when Russell Wilson hit rookie receiver DK Metcalf for a 53-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, giving them a 17-6 lead.
While things remained close from there on out, the Seahawks managed to hold on. Now, they will head to Green Bay next weekend to take on the Packers.
Kickoff will be at 3:40 p.m. PT on Sunday, January 12.
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