Seahawks-Eagles preview

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Pete Carroll and Mark Sanchez will hold a USC reunion Sunday when Carroll's Seattle Seahawks travel to the Sanchez-led Philadelphia Eagles.

Sanchez elected to leave Carroll's clutches early, putting his name down for the NFL Draft after the Trojans' victory over Penn State in the 2009 Rose Bowl. Coach Pete Carroll disagreed with that decision publicly, though both have denied any rift still between them.

"I love Mark," Carroll said this week. "We just had a difference of opinion at the time, in that regard. I wasn't going to hold him back."

Sanchez went under center for the Eagles (9-3) after starter Nick Foles broke his clavicle in the team's Week 9 victory at Houston. 

Philadelphia has gone 4-1 under Sanchez, 3-1 with him as starter, as the former Trojan and New York Jet has thrown for 8 touchdowns and 1,404 yards.

He led the Eagles on two first quarter drives of 80 and 88 yards, and a quick 14-0 lead over the Cowboys in their 33-10 rout of their rivals in a much-anticipated Thanksgiving meeting. That game decided first-place in the NFC East, as likely will the rematch when they host Dallas one week from Sunday.

LeSean McCoy rushed for 159 yards and a touchdown against the Cowboys, his best mark this season. After a sluggish start that had many questioning his ability, he has gained 289 yards in his last two outings, averaging 6.3 per attempt. That, after 3.7 during his last ten games.

"I think when people starting talking about him earlier in the year, I felt very confident with him. I think that's showing," Eagles coach Chip Kelly said of McCoy's earlier troubles.

McCoy comes out of an Eagles backfield that averages 130 yards per game, the 6th-most of any team in football. Darren Sproles has added 5 rushing touchdowns and leads the game both in kickoff return yards (480) and returned touchdowns (2).

The Eagles' rebound on the ground and the resultant control at the line of scrimmage has opened the way for the Eagles' speedy receivers, and their suddenly speedy quarterback.

"I think he's playing fast," Carroll said of Sanchez. "He's playing with a lot of confidence in the system. It's obviously a system that helps the quarterbacks perform at a high level. The fact that Mark's come off the bench and performed at a high level is really a statement about the program as well as the players."

Jeremy Maclin leads the Eagles receiving, and is 8th league-wide, gaining 1,088 yards through the air this season with 9 touchdowns, the fourth-most in the NFL. Rookie Jordan Matthews has impressed, following with 7 touchdowns and 686 yards.

They will oppose the Seahawks' best-ranked receiving defense, as the defending champions allow a league-low 209 yards every Sunday from wide-outs.

"They're really explosive," Carroll said of the Eagles offense, which averages an offensive snap every twenty-two seconds. "They've got a real style about them. You have to mention Chip [Kelly], and his concepts and approach, when you talk about this offense because it is what he has constructed over the years. It's innovative and it's well-run and designed beautifully."

He should know, after Kelly handed him his worst yardage defeat during his time at USC, a 47-20 loss at the Coliseum when the Oregon Ducks gained 613 total yards.

That experience may have driven him to build what many believe, and what many statistics prove to be, the finest defense in pro football.

Seattle (8-4) also enjoyed a winning Thanksgiving, bullying the 49ers into a 19-3 decision hours after the Eagles' triumph in Texas.

Cornerback Richard Sherman would star in that contest, securing two interceptions, including the game-clincher. Since 2011, he has 23 picks, the most of any man in football, and also the most by a man in his first four seasons in the past quarter-century. 

He was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week five days after safety Kam Chancellor was named to the honor following their defeat of the then- 1-loss Cardinals, also by a 19-3 score.

"We're having a good time," Sherman said of the team's title-defense. "We're dedicated to one another right now. When you're on the field playing for one another, we're playing like some 9-year-old, 10-year-old kids, not worrying about the outcome, not worried about individual stats or anything like that."

Their team stats will impress Philadelphia enough.

Seattle boasts the 3rd-best pass defense in football (199.4 ypg) and the 5th-best rush defense, holding backs to only 86 yards on the ground and 3.5 per attempt. 

Philadelphia earns the fourth-most total yards every game (416.2), but Seattle allows the fewest (285.8), and have not permitted a touchdown in the previous two weeks. 

The Eagles score on average the third-most touchdowns per game (3.5), though Seattle allows the 2nd-fewest (1.8).

They have held opposing rushers to under 65 yards in four of their last five games, and in a six game stretch have forced 11 turnovers. Mark Sanchez alone is responsible for eight this season (6 INT, 2 lost fumbles). 

Marshawn Lynch leads the Seahawks backfield, a group that leads football in rushing (168.6 ypg). Lynch has 12 touchdowns on the year, and his 9 rushing give him the best mark in the game alongside DeMarco Murray of Dallas.

That similarity gives the Eagles' defensive front-seven hope, as last week they held Murray to 73 yards on the ground, his season-low, and only the second time this year he was held to under 100 yards.

Lynch has rushed for 100 yards in four appearances this season for Seattle.

"Nobody runs the ball harder," was the assessment of Billy Davis, who coaches the 12th-best rush defense in the NFL, allowing 108 yards from tailbacks.

"It's nice that we're facing those two big downhill runners back to back," Davis said of playing against Lynch and Murray in succession. "We know what it's about. It takes a swarm tackle. You can't arm tackle Marshawn Lynch. It's got to be a fully body swarm with all the effort to get the ball."

Davis' eleven lead the league in defensive-caused fumbles (5), though themselves have lost a 2nd-worst 1 per game, behind only the Giants.

"He breaks a lot of tackles and he fights for those extra yards. I think that's one thing he does better than any running back in this league," Eagles linebacker Casey Matthews said of the back this week. 

Lynch leads football with 61 broken tackles.

"You need a lot of guys at the ball bringing him down because he's tough to bring down with just one guy."

When Lynch won't have the Eagles on their toes, or on their backs, play-extender extraordinaire, quarterback Russell Wilson, will.

"He has great pocket awareness, and the one thing he doesn't do is he doesn't put himself in harm's way," Chip Kelly said of Wilson. "He's not looking to run people over, he's literally looking to go first down, touchdown, and get down."

Wilson has thrown 15 touchdowns, rushing for four more on the ground as the team's second-best rusher by scoring and yardage (679).

He was, however, sacked 11 times in his last two outings, and on Sunday will be chased by the league's second-best and NFC's foremost sacking unit (42).

A group that easily found their way past the Cowboys' vaunted front-five last Thursday, getting to Tony Romo four times, adding seven hits. 

Connor Barwin's 12 1/2 sacks are the best in the NFC and second-best in football. 

Through the air, it will be a battle between the sub-standard, Wilson's 29th-ranked pass, and the pathetic, the Eagles' 26th-ranked pass defense (258.6 ypg). Given time, though, Wilson may strike against perpetual long-bomb victims Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams, the Eagles' woeful corners.

Doug Baldwin leads the Seahawks receiving with 519 yards and two of Wilson's touchdowns, and his 7 receptions of 20 or more yards leads the team. 

Seattle's remaining road games are against opponents with a 12-0 record. Philadelphia is 6-0 at home this season.