Takeaways from Seahawks 20-17 win over Eagles

SEATTLE - With less than two minutes to play and 92 yards to go to save Seattle's season, backup quarterback Drew Lock seized the moment and authored a signature moment for the Seahawks.

Lock delivered a perfect 29-yard touchdown strike to Jaxon Smith-Njigba with 28 seconds remaining to give the Seahawks a vitally important 20-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles that snapped a four-game losing streak.

"Nobody will forget that game," head coach Pete Carroll said.

Prior to the final drive, Lock had managed just 116 passing yards in 58 minutes. On the final drive, Lock completed 5-of-10 attempts for 92 yards and the game-winning score to Smith-Njigba. The drive included two conversions on third-and-10s, including the touchdown strike to Smith-Njigba.

"That was a lot of fun. I mean, it was more than fun," Lock said. "I can't find the right word for it right now. It was a blast. One of those classic NFL games."

The Seahawks had been playing from behind all night as the Eagles marched straight down the field on an opening 15-play, 75-yard drive that gave them a 7-0 lead. A Ken Walker III touchdown run tied the game back up at 10-10 on the opening drive of the third quarter, only for Philadelphia to immediately answer with another long sustained scoring drive to take back the lead.

The Eagles were maybe one more first down on offense away from being able to run out the clock, but a third down pass from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert was terrifically defended and forced a punt to give Seattle one last chance. And with the opportunity available, Lock and the Seahawks crashed through the door to steal a victory.

"Just beautiful football," Carroll said. "The poise we talked to you about last week. That's where he's been. He's been on it. He's been in command. There's a couple incompletes in that drive, came right back and hit it, converted and made the first downs and all to throw the football to win the game. Amazing stuff."

Here are the takeaways from a critical 20-17 victory over the Eagles:

– Drew Lock delivers.

It's not easy to sit and watch every week when you want to play.

And make no mistake, Lock wants to play. 

He also knows that he's not the starting quarterback of the Seahawks. That's Geno Smith's job and he's just keeping the seat warm. Carroll even reiterated after the game that if Smith is healthy next week, he will be back in the starting lineup against the Tennessee Titans.

But that didn't mean Lock couldn't capitalize on the opportunity in front of him on Monday night against the Eagles.

"You don't get very many opportunities in this league," Lock said. "With every opportunity you get, you need to be as ready as you can be bcause you don't get a ton of them. For us to come out tonight and play the way we did and get a win, one of two opportunities I had this year to start, I was excited. I was emotional. I was emotional for myself, but I was emotional for these guys in this locker room. It's been a rough couple weeks. We needed a win to pull us back, get our spirits back up. That's what we did here tonight as a team. We did it as a team."

The smile on Lock's face after Smith-Njigba scored could likely be seen from the upper deck of Lumen Field. Lock was shown sharing a moment with Smith, who was rooting for him from the sidelines after the score as well.

"That's like an unsung hero in these last two weeks," Lock said of Smith. "The encouragement he's given me, the pep talks here and there, helping in the film room. It was cool when roles flipped, I was going to have to be the starter, he was doing the same thing for me as I was trying to do for him. That's just an unselfish dude in there. I appreciate him more than words can describe. Talking to me before the two-minute, You're the best player on this field, you're going to lead us down this field right now, go get it done, things like that. It's really cool."

Lock hit DK Metcalf for 18 yards to get Seattle's final drive started. Another third down conversion to Metcalf came with a circus catch from Metcalf as he kept the ball off the turf pinned to his side despite coverage from Eagles cornerback James Bradberry. Then another throw to Metcalf for 34 yards on third-and-10 pushed the Seahawks into Philadelphia territory as the clock ticked under a minute.

Then after consecutive incompletions on throws for Tyler Lockett, Lock found the one-on-one matchup between Smith-Njigba and Bradberry and attacked. Smith-Njigba ran right by Bradberry and Lock dropped a throw over the top of the Eagles defense that Smith-Njigba caught with his fingertips for the winning score.

"We ran that call on the first third down, first drive," Lock said. "We didn't use the element of one-on-one go ball to Jax on that. We had man (coverage) that first time. My plan going into it was we're going to work the concept side first, first third down I get this call. 

"I'm breaking the huddle. Shane [Waldron] gives me the reminder in the headset, don't forget Jax is one on one if you got him. All right, turn around, 'hey, you're getting the ball if you get one-on-one here.' We already played that front side. Who knows how they're going to play that concept that they've kind of seen and felt the same thing earlier in the game. Sure enough, they gave us one-on-one. Kind of a perfect look. We had an off corner, Jax kind of tempo'd it off the ball, hit the jets, put that thing in the back corner."

The end result was a victory that snapped the team's four-game losing streak, came against one of the best records in the NFC, and greatly bolsters the Seahawks' chances of playing into the postseason.

"We rallied behind him and we believe in him," running back Ken Walker III said. "It’s cool to see him out there. He practices hard. He knows everything. He’s getting his opportunity, and it’s great to see."

And speaking of Walker…

– Ken Walker III with a standout performance trying to keep Seattle in it.

While the passing game struggled to do much until that final drive of the game, it was the success of Ken Walker III on the ground that helped Seattle generate the points they did.

Walker finished the night with 86 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries along with three receptions for 26 yards. But that doesn't adequately capture what Walker was able to accomplish. On several of his carries, Walker took plays that seemed destined to go nowhere and turned them into something positive. That could have just be a couple yards on one run, or a breakout gain on another.

"I loved the way we ran the ball in the third quarter. It changed the game," Carroll said. "That drive and then the drive after that we ran the ball well again. Kind of took the game in our control for us, so it was the game we wanted to play against these guys. So it worked out beautifully. So many guys made things happen in a special way. Kenny played a great football game for us tonight. He was all over the place. Just a fantastic game running and catching."

Walker was responsible for 55 of Seattle's 75 yards gained on their game-tying touchdown drive to open the third quarter. Walker's 23-yard touchdown run came on a cutback run that saw him juke Sydney Brown to get to the sideline and picked up a block from Lock at the goal line on Eli Ricks to get into the end zone.

"I feel like we just executed," Walker said. "That’s what we need to do. We need to trust the run game. I feel like we did that tonight"

– Julian Love plants his flag on starting safety job.

Julian Love has forced four turnovers for the Seahawks defense in the last two weeks, including two fourth quarter interceptions of Jalen Hurts on Monday night to help carry Seattle to a victory.

In Pete Carroll's "Always Compete" program, there should be zero question as to who starts the rest of the season alongside Quandre Diggs.

"That's four turnovers he's been involved in in the last two weeks. Holy cow. Holy cow," Carroll said.

"He did an incredible job of playing. He had some other tackles up by the line of scrimmage. Both those catches were challenging, difficult plays. He made them look easy. Again, here is another kid that was so comfortable with that moment. He would go out and make another one if you gave him a chance. He just was not moved by it, beyond total poise and composure and all. Really impressive."

Love was back starting with Jamal Adams out with a knee injury. Quick editorial note, maybe I missed seeing him on the broadcast or on the sidelines during the game, but it did not seem as though Adams was at the game with the team on Monday night. Usually he's hard to miss with the way he bounces along the sidelines when he's not playing, but I did not notice him.

Coming off last week's game against the San Francisco 49ers, Carroll seem to be frustrated with two player: Adams and Riq Woolen. Adams had allowed Deebo Samuel to run behind him for a long touchdown, and Woolen had got caught on a run fake that allowed George Kittle to get behind the defense for a touchdown as well. Against the Eagles, Adams was inactive (with an injury) and Woolen didn't start as he was replaced with Michael Jackson.

With the way Love has played, there seems to be little reason to take him off the field. Love intercepted Brock Purdy once last week and forced a fumble on Brandon Aiyuk that helped keep the Seahawks in the game into the fourth quarter. His two fourth quarter picks on Hurts on Monday night were even more critical.

"This is huge," Love said. "December football is critical. You just need some energy and some motivation and some momentum going into the end of the season. I think we needed this game. Nothing is guaranteed going forward, we know that. We got to carry this juice going forward. A few plays, here and there, the past couple weeks have really brought us down. This, I already know, is going to revitalize us."

Love made a terrific play to run stride-for-stride with Eagles receiver Quez Watkins and get his head turned around to pick off Hurts in the end zone with just over eight minutes remaining. Love said he heard Diggs shout at him that the ball was in the air and let him know so he could turn to make a play.

"I had a bead on it, I had good positioning. I just looked up, the ball was floating, and I came down with it," he said.

The final interception sealed the win for Seattle. It involved undercutting a deep ball for A.J. Brown that hung in the air far too long.

"I just had a good feeling that they were going to go to number 11," Love said. "A.J. Brown is a real deal receiver, and I was honestly watching him that entire play. I was in the post, I saw the double move, and I just took off. I saw the ball floating, and I must be living right, because I got my feet in, thankfully."

Regardless of Adams' injury, Love is just purely a better football player right now. He has to be the starter moving forward even if Adams is healthy because he plays at a consistently higher level. It would be doing the team a disservice to put Adams back in the lineup over Love given the level of play each has shown this season.

– Timeout/challenge/field goal sequence

It ultimately didn't end up factoring too much into the outcome of the game on Monday night, but Carroll bungled a game management situation with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Seahawks lined up to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Eagles' 18-yard line with just over 10 minutes left to play. Instead of getting the play off before the play clock expired, Carroll called a timeout to give the offense a chance to reset before a key moment in the game.

The problem with that call was it gave Philadelphia more time to take a look at the prior play, which had previously been ruled an incomplete pass from Lock. Rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter tore by Seattle rookie guard Anthony Bradford and forced a desperation throwaway attempt from Lock. Carter got Lock to the ground before the throw got away and the Eagles were able to see it on replays.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni challenged the play and got the 5-yard sack from Carter after review. That forced Seattle to settle for a 43-yard Jason Myers field goal instead that cut the lead to 17-13.

"Time running down, I called timeout with one second left," Carroll said. "After I called the timeout, they challenged the play. I was a little screwed up on the rules on that one. I was trying to get the timeout back. In essence, because we called timeout, they had extra time to look at it."

The Seahawks had called timeout before the Eagles decided to challenge the play, so they did not get their second timeout back from the decision. Additionally, the overturned call forced them into going for a field goal that kept them trailing instead of possibly going for it on fourth down to try to push for the end zone.

Carroll tried to get the timeout back to no avail.

"That's what (the official) was hammering me about because they always get hammered, so when they get a chance, they get after you when you're not right," Carroll said with a smile. "That's what occurred there. That was I'm sure the right thing. I was fighting it anyway."

Seattle never had to use their final timeout as they got the ball back with two minutes left and managed to drive for the game-winning score with plenty of time remaining. The gaffe did force them into a field goal decision they seemingly didn't want to make as it gave Philadelphia the chance to review Lock's sack further, but the team rallied to make it a moot point.

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