PHILADELPHIA - “You think you play fast? We know we play fast. Let’s go!”
Good luck keeping up with the Seahawks
Seattle’s slog through the post-championship doldrums is over. Pete Carroll’s team outpaced the Eagles for another big win this week.
Safety Kam Chancellor said that in the Seattle Seahawks' locker room, his summary after his team zipped past the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-14, Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. And that said it all, because the Eagles' no-huddle offense had no juice against the Seahawks' no-huddle defense.
The Seahawks moved in this game like blinding comets -- the Eagles like rolling fog.
“Our defense took it upon themselves to say they would dictate the tempo of this game and that our no-huddle attack on defense would win,” Seahawks’ coach Pete Carroll said later. “We’ve captured something here in recent weeks. We’ve got to keep it.”
That would be the defense playing fast. And then faster.
The defense hitting harder. The defense playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pressure. Turnovers. Sacks. Big plays. The defense grasping control and quarterback Russell Wilson and his offense playing the perfect complement.
That is the formula the Seahawks used to win the Super Bowl last year. It is the one they have begun to assert again in reaching a 9-4 record while dropping the Eagles to the same record.
Sometimes defending Super Bowl champions get bored. Sometimes it is simply hard to stay motivated at different points of a long season that follows one of fancy champagne and bling. If a defending champion can just get to December standing, then the prize once again appears clearer and closer.
This is how the Seahawks look.
Closer now, motivated, done with the boredom of September and November and jacked at the closure December brings along with the renewal of the playoffs.
"We're hungry, we're starving now," Seattle defensive end Michael Bennett said.
They look it.
Seattle held the Eagles and coach Chip Kelly’s speedy and furious offense to 139 total yards, the fewest for Kelly as Eagles coach. Seattle held the Eagles to only 45 plays and to only 2-of-11 in third-down conversions.
Philadelphia led 7-0. But then Seattle scored the next 17 points. They did it with hard hits and quick feet. With a faster gear not only on defense but also on offense. Wilson ran for a 26-yard touchdown and also passed for 263 yards. Eagles' quarterback Mark Sanchez managed only 96 passing yards.
But more than any numbers, the stark contrast was how much faster and quicker and confident the Seahawks were. They were quicker to the ball and quicker to the point.
It was shocking to see how they did this to the Eagles when this is the tactic the Eagles have showcased all season.
“You have to give them credit,” Kelly said. “They’re a very good defense and they rose to the challenge today and we didn’t.”
Kelly also has to be concerned that his team's four losses -- to Arizona, Green Bay, San Francisco and now Seattle -- have all come against NFC teams in the playoff mix. Any Super Bowl road the Eagles hope to travel will have to go through one, if not more, of those teams. He knows, with his team now tied with the Dallas Cowboys atop the NFC East, that Dallas arrives here next: "Our attention has to go to Dallas and winning the NFC East," Kelly said.
For now, it cannot be on the speed of the Seahawks. The way they played faster and with more confidence.
Kelly would love see his team do that against Dallas.
Seattle is certain it can do it again when it plays its division rival, the 49ers, next Sunday.
The Seahawks have already beaten the 49ers in San Francisco and now the 49ers come to Seattle, struggling. The Seahawks look primed for that fight and for more flight.
Carroll has seen it before. His players last year coalesced and sprinted to the ball and past playoff teams and to a championship. Their tempo was like an inferno. He said he has witnessed moments of that occurring this season and more of it lately. He recognizes it.
It is a confidence and unity of purpose. An ability to snatch an opponent’s strength and sometimes duplicate it. A dominant, assertive way of playing football where his defense lets everyone involved know the terms.
Then everything else follows and flows.
“We take a lot out of this,” Carroll said. “This was a really nice effort across the board. Our defense came back again for the third week in a row - just playing the way that we hoped we would play and really set the stage for the game.”
When Carroll said this, you knew he was all in on his defense: “They took this challenge very, very much to heart. These guys on defense can do a lot of stuff now. They can really play when they’re playing like this and there’s really nothing that they can’t do when they’re playing this tight and this close together.”
Like win it all -- again.
In a blur.
★★★
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