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Seahawks 3 Stars: Rashaad Penny is money in road win over Philadelphia

Nov 24, 2019, 2:48 PM | Updated: Nov 25, 2019, 9:07 am

Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny...

Seahawks RB Rashaad Penny led the Seahawks' offense with 129 rushing yards and a TD. (Getty)

(Getty)

It wasn’t the prettiest game, but the Seahawks are now 6-0 on the road this season after pulling out a 17-9 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, which puts them at 9-2 heading into a Monday night showdown with the Minnesota Vikings in Seattle.

Recap: Seahawks win | Wilson makes history | Rost on Wilson | 710 reacts

The Seahawks did some good things, primarily on defense where they forced five turnovers – four of them by Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz – despite missing star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, who was inactive with a hip injury.

The ugly for the Seahawks was predominantly on offense. Seattle was able to move the ball fairly well overall, but turned the ball over twice, had a few key drops from rookie receiver DK Metcalf and missed out on two should-have-been touchdowns. Quarterback Russell Wilson was also sacked six times.

You could argue that the Seahawks should have won the game 21-9, or even 21-3, but a win is a win and as you would expect from a victory, players had to show up.

Here are three stars from the Seahawks’ victory:

Honorable mentions

Punter Michael Dickson had a rough first punt but ended up having a nice game, with two punts being downed at the Eagles’ 1-yard line.

Linebackers K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks led the team in tackles with 12 and 11, respectively, and made some really nice plays in the open field.

Defensive linemen Quinton Jefferson, Poona Ford, Al Woods and Jarran Reed also contributed in both the run and pass game. Woods recovered a fumble and Reed had half a sack, though Reed left the game with a sprained ankle. Shaquem Griffin got extended playing time as well rushing the passer and was constantly generating pressure.

Malik Turner got the scoring started for Seattle on a trick play. Running back Chris Carson took the ball from Wilson, then tossed it back to Wilson, who threw a perfect pass to the end zone for Turner’s first career touchdown.

Third star: Cornerback Tre Flowers

Yes, the Eagles were missing a lot of their skill players on offense, and yes, Wentz looked lost at times, but starting cornerback Tre Flowers had himself a heck of a game.

Flowers finished with seven tackles, three pass breakups and an interception. Along with that, he did a great job in coverage and helped Seattle limit Wentz and the Eagles’ passing attack to 256 yards, much of which came on the team’s final drive.

Flowers’ interception (watch here) was the Eagles’ fifth and final turnover, and he played the ball perfectly.

The rest of the secondary played well, too, as safety Quandre Diggs forced a fumble that he also recovered, safety Bradley McDougald had an interception and cornerback Shaquill Griffin played well in coverage and broke up a pass.

Flowers and company have a tough matchup next week, as the Vikings have one of the best wide receiver tandems in the league in Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. Hopefully the Seahawks’ secondary will carry the momentum from the past two weeks over to Week 13.

Second star(s): Defensive ends Ziggy Ansah and Rasheem Green

As mentioned, the Seahawks were without Clowney because of a hip injury. Clowney had an incredible Week 10 against the San Francisco 49ers, earning himself NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors, and looked primed to feast on an injured Eagles offense.

That didn’t happen as he was inactive, but others on the defensive line stepped up, especially on the outside. Because of that, we had to give the second star to two guys who hadn’t done a whole lot this season up until Week 12.

Rasheem Green and Ziggy Ansah were the team’s starters at defensive end with Clowney out and they stepped up in a big way, combining for 2.5 sacks, six total tackles, four quarterback hits and two forced fumbles. They were frequently in the Philadelphia backfield and were key in the defense’s great performance.

Green is in his second NFL season and didn’t contribute much last year, but he made his presence felt getting the start in Clowney’s absence and made life very difficult for Wentz and the Eagles’ offensive line. Green often lined up against rookie Andre Dillard, who was starting at right tackle for the injured Lane Johnson, and Dillard was benched at halftime due in large part to his inability to block Green.

On the other side of the line, Ansah finally flashed the ability he showed earlier in his career as a member of the Detroit Lions. Ansah often lined up against veteran left tackle Jason Peters and frequently beat him to put pressure on Wentz. Ansah also had a sack and a forced fumble wiped out because of a penalty.

Ansah had largely been a non-factor for the Seahawks defense this season, having just one sack heading into Week 12, but a good performance like this coming off the team’s bye paired with Clowney’s hopeful return next week bodes well for the Seattle defense going forward.

First star: Running back Rashaad Penny

The Eagles have been one of the better run defenses this season and have just an average pass defense. Because of this, many expected the Seahawks and Wilson to air it out. That didn’t happen, partly due to less than ideal passing conditions, so the run game stepped up.

Surely that means that Carson, the team’s starting running back, had a good game, right? Wrong.

Carson had just 26 rushing yards and 31 receiving yards, and his fumbling became an issue again. On one rush in the fourth quarter, Carson fumbled and the Seahawks recovered. On the very next play, Wilson put the ball right in Carson’s chest for a run play, but it appeared as if Carson was expecting it to be play-action. The result was another fumble, and this time the Eagles recovered it.

While Carson struggled, second-year running back and 2018 first-round pick Rashaad Penny shined.

Penny had a career high 129 yards rushing on just 14 carries, good for 9.2 yards per rush. He showed good burst and speed and he scored on a 58-yard run that helped seal the victory.

Penny also flashed excellent speed during the game. On his 21-yard run, Next Gen Stats tracked Penny running at 20.78 miles per hour. Penny is now the fastest ball carrier the Seahawks have had in 2019.

Penny’s play, as well as Carson’s fumbling issues, may open the door for him to see more action going forward. He looked awfully explosive with the ball in his hands and the offense moved better with him on the field.

Penny was all smiles after his impressive game, as shown on the Seahawks’ official Twitter account.

The Seahawks will host the Vikings on Dec. 2 in a game that may help decide NFC playoff seeding. Both teams currently hold wild card spots and are fighting for their respective division titles.

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