NFL: #1 One-Man-Show vs. #1 All-Around-Game?

In the Sunday Night Game of Week 13 in Seattle there will be a duel between two teams with clear play-off ambitions, but also a duel between two quarterbacks, who can count on serious chances in the race for the MVP Award. While Russell Wilson conjures up 7-4 for the Seahawks behind a fragile offensive line, Carson Wentz is one of the best in his second year at the hot Philadelphia Eagles 10-1, which the league can offer on the Playcaller position. The duel will take place on Monday from 2.25 a. m. live on DAZN.

An O-Line, which allows for shocking pressure on his quarterback all year round. An offense that has to get by almost entirely without production from the running game. In addition, there are the shocking injuries of defensive superstars such as Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor or Cliff Avril. And yet nobody really wants to write off the Seahawks in the playoff race.

Thanks once again to Wilson, whose escape abilities keep Plays alive like no one else can. Despite the continual collapse of the line, Wilson, for example, places top quarterback ratings against the flash (101.5 – fifth-best value) and outside the pocket (93.0 – 7th). He is also the most successful runner in the Hawks team.

Seattle’s Run Game is one of the most ineffective of the league. In 27 percent of all running play moves, the Running Back senses enemy contact before or at the Line of Scrimmage. Only three teams are more vulnerable here. Wilson’s passes or runs are responsible for 3,430 yards of the 3,994-yard Seattles Offense this season. This is a remarkable 85.9 percent and, if it remains in existence, an absolute high since the beginning of the Super Bowl era.

“I don’t know if you can do better than that in terms of numbers,”said Pete Carroll during the week,”He plays a fantastic season and he’s doing great things. It’s great to see him healthy. You can clearly see the difference from previous years.”

Already in those same years, Wilson himself took over-average shares of the offense into his own hands. This year, however, in addition to the increased responsibility in the running game, he is also well on his way to setting career highs in the Passing Yards, Completions and Passport Trials categories. No wonder that he is one of the favourites for the MVP Award.

“If you don’t want to be the best, then what are you here for? In my position, you have to make your ten teammates look better, and that’s why I take care of it every time I step on the court.”

When Wilson gets to the field on Sunday, he is confronted with a Top 4 pass defence and a Top 3 run defence. The Eagles allow a register rating of 74.0, only the Jaguars and Ravens are better. Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox will make life difficult for Wilson in his pocket. Against the run, however, a spy should be the answer.

Few linebackers in the league are equipped with such athletic abilities to bring Wilson to the ground as Mychal Kendricks. In the second year of Jim Schwartz’s Defensive Scheme, he finds himself in a much better position than in the last one and gets more and more snaps. Kendricks is believed to have a very high responsibility towards the Seahawks, namely to deter Wilson of Scrambles.

Without great weapons in the Seahawks’ screen game, he can concentrate on his opponent’s number 3. Kendricks will have to demonstrate the necessary instinct to attack Wilson with the Escapes or stay in the zone. If he succeeds in keeping the quarterback behind the Line of Scrimmage, Seattle’s only hope remains his receivers.

The situation is different with the Eagles, although not in the quarterback position. Because where the Eagles have one of the league’s most potent running games, in which both Power Backs such as LaGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi as well as the agile Wendell Smallwood and Corey Clement play supporting roles, Wentz has similar elements in his game to Wilson.

The Eagles-QB also manages to get passports out of the movement and even with a better rating than Wilson (111.3). If he gets time, Wentz is also able to leave a great distance behind him with his legs. But apart from all that, Wentz is most impressed by the calm with which he pulls the strings in Philly after a mixed first year.

“I think he’s handling the challenge he faces here very well,”Pete Carroll observes his upcoming opponent,”he has all the elements to be a great player with leadership, rigour and attention he needs to be a great player,” and Carroll knows what he’s talking about. He has formed a quarterback himself, who won the Super Bowl in his second year.

Without his best defensive backs, the task against a fully functioning offense becomes an enormous one. Sherman’s abstinence has made itself felt in the last two games. Seattle played 63 percent of the cases here in zone defense and only 14 percent of the cases were lightning. Unusually low figures.

Bobby Wagner therefore has even greater responsibility. The Seahawks linebacker, like Kendricks on the Eagles side, could be used as a quarterback spy and try to minimize scrambles of the opponent’s playcaller. Seattle’s Front Seven is still one of the best in the league. Wagner and Co. the Eagles pose the biggest challenge that Philly men have faced so far this season.

Seattle Seahawks (7-4) – Philadelphia Eagles (10-1) (Monday, 2.25am live on DAZN)

The SPOX NFL betting game, Week 13:

Pascal

De Marco

114-62