Philadelphia Eagles Wild Card: Killing 3 myths about Seattle
By Hunter Doyle
2. The Eagles have too many injuries to overcome.
This has been the story for the past three seasons. No one believes the Eagles can overcome the countless injuries that ravage their starting lineup. Yet, every year it’s the ‘next man up’ mentality, and the Eagles find ways to have success.
Since 2017, we’ve seen guys like Nick Foles, Corey Clement, Dannell Ellerbe, Josh Adams, and Cre’Von LeBlanc filling the voids left by elite starters. Recently, it’s been guys like Boston Scott, Greg Ward Jr., and Sidney Jones who have stepped up. This year, the ‘injury bug’ hit the Hawks’ just as hard.
Seattle lost its top three running backs for the rest of the season, causing them to bring Marshawn Lynch out of retirement. In his first game back (Week 17), he only ran for 34 yards on 12 carries. Travis Homer had some impressive runs but only got ten carries. Lynch, Homer, and Robert Turbin have all combined for just 30 carries this season.
When Jordan Howard went out, Miles Sanders stepped right in and helped Carson Wentz carry this team to the playoffs. When Sanders exited on Sunday, Scott carried the load with 138 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns.
Seattle’s receiving corps was also banged up as they were down to four receivers with Jaron Brown and Malik Turner out this past Sunday. Starting receiver Tyler Lockett has had to exit multiple games with injuries including a brief exit on Sunday. He returned without any problems, but he was held to one catch versus the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, and he didn’t catch a pass over 14 yards versus the San Francisco 49ers indicating that he might not be one-hundred percent.