Veteran K.J. Wright: Seahawks defense knew what plays were coming from Eagles
At times it looked like the Seahawks knew what was coming from the malfunctioning Eagles.
That’s because the Seahawks knew what was coming from the malfunctioning Eagles.
So says K.J. Wright. Seattle’s Pro Bowl veteran linebacker said following his team’s not-that-close, 17-9 shut-down of Philadelphia he and the Seahawks defense were calling out some of Carson Wentz’s plays before the quarterback took the snap.
“Yeah,” Wright said. “I wish I was mic’d up, so y’all could, like, know what I be saying out there. You’d get it.
“We were just on it. We knew what they were doing.”
Wentz committed four of Philadelphia’s five turnovers Sunday. It was the most turnovers produced by Seattle’s defense in more than two years. They had five takeaways Oct. 8, 2017, against the Rams.
Wentz had just 176 yards passing in the game’s first 57 1/2 minutes. He threw for 80 yards on a final drive to a cosmetic touchdown in garbage time with 20 seconds left in the game.
Wright looked particularly dialed in to what the Eagles were doing. The longest-tenured Seahawk at age 30 tied his season high with 12 tackles. He also had a tackle for loss and hit Wentz once after a pass.
It’s not that the Seahawks completely shut down Philadelphia’s offense. The Eagles ran for 106 yards on top of Wentz’s 256 yards passing. They had 23 first downs, to Seattle’s 14.
But turnovers decide games in the NFL. Three of Philadelphia’s five happened on the Seahawks’ side of the field.
The Eagles (5-6) made Seattle’s deciphering job easier.
Philadelphia was without their top three wide receivers; DeSean Jackson is on injured reserve, plus Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor were inactive because of injuries. So were lead running back Jordan Howard and starting right tackle Lane Johnson. Rookie Andre Dillard from Washington State started in place of Johnson. He got benched because he couldn’t slow down Seahawks defensive end Ziggy Ansah in the first half. Left tackle Jason Peters limped through much of the game. Right guard Brandon Brooks got sick and left the game.
That left Wentz essentially with just two proven options for plays: short passes to tight ends Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert.
And the Seahawks knew it.
Asked what play in particular they saw coming, Wright said: “The tight-end screen.
“I didn’t say that one out loud. I said it to myself, because I knew it was coming.”
Ertz and Goedert had 22 targets, about half of Wentz’s 45 passes. They combined for 19 of Wentz’s 33 completions. Ertz scored the only touchdown for Philadelphia, that inconsequential TD with 20 seconds left.
I asked Wright if the Seahawks were calling out Philadelphia’s plays because the Eagles’ offense was tipping them off, or because of the Eagles’ depleted situation on offense and Seattle’s film study of tendencies last week.
Wright just stared back blankly for a moment. He didn’t want to reveal locker-room secrets.
“It’s just, historically teams run certain concepts,” he eventually said. “And, you know, you just figure it out. And you can see it when it happens. Down and distance gave it away. And we did a good job sniffing stuff out.”
This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 8:33 AM.
