Eagles vs. Seahawks Matchup Statistics, Wild Card round

It is true that statistics can lie or at least obscure the truth we need to see, but on the whole, they can give us a decent idea how teams are attacked on average. If a team gives up a ton of rushing yards, we can infer that their opponents have a reason to run against them. Maybe they just can’t stop the run or their pass defense is so good teams need to run or maybe game flow has them trailing more often than not and teams look to salt away the game on the ground. At this point in the season we can feel somewhat confident in what a team’s strengths and weaknesses are.

These stats should help us when we go to set our DFS lineups, especially the Showdown slate for this game. Below I have given us the statistics allowed for each position on the season and just below that, for the last eight games of the season for some context on how team defenses are doing more recently. I’ve also opened up the comments on these posts if you have any questions about the statistics.

Below we will look at the Eagles and the Seahawks.

The Eagles and Seahawks both have been middling against quarterbacks on the season and slightly better over the last half of the season. Football Outsiders has the Eagles ranked 16th in DVOA and the Seahawks ranked 15th. When these teams met in November, neither quarterbacks had a good game as Russell Wilson and Carson Wentz combined for two touchdowns, three interceptions and three lost fumbles in a 17-9 Seahawks win. Wentz’s top target that day was Zach Ertz, who is iffy to play this week with a lacerated spleen.

Wentz has had a tough time keeping an offense upright around him this season, but he has gotten the job done for the most part:

The Eagles have been a Top-10 defense against running backs all season while the Seahawks haven’t. Football Outsiders DVOA has the Eagles as the fourth-best defense against the run while the Seahawks are 26th. That bodes well for Miles Sanders if he is healthy. If he isn’t, Boston Scott was the go-to back last week — but there is a chance Jordan Howard gets back in the action as well. Seattle has allowed the fourth-most receiving yards to running backs and we will likely see Miles Sanders and Boston Scott used extensively as receivers with dearth of pass catchers on the team.

When these teams met last, the Seahawks put up the most rushing yards of any team against the Eagles, but that was on Rashaad Penny’s breakout game and neither him or Chris Carson are healthy and they will likely be without offensive lineman Duane Brown. Travis Homer and Marshawn Lynch will again lead the backfield this week and get a tough matchup overall.

The Eagles rank 29th in DK points allowed to wide receivers while the Seahawks rank 17th. Over the second half of the season those numbers are much closer and both teams have been poor against wide receivers. The Eagles don’t actually have many receivers who are capable of playing in the NFL but they’ll go with what they’ve got, which puts Greg Ward near the top of their depth chart while the tight ends and running backs see a lot of work through the air.

Seattle should be able to get something going to their receivers, which is the Eagles biggest weakness. The Seahawks will try to get the running game going but will likely have trouble doing so, which will push Russell Wilson into more work, giving his wide receivers more targets in a game which should be close.

Pro Football Focus has their fantasy points allowed to receivers by where they line up as:

The Eagles have been the best in the league against slot receivers, so Tyler Lockett will have some trouble but he does move around enough to get schemed open and they will likely need him. DK Metcalf is set up to benefit the most as he lines up outside while Malik Turner (if he’s healthy) and David Moore should both have their chances this week with Jaron Brown out.

The Seahawks are worst against receivers on the left and middling against slot receivers. Greg Ward should have plenty of opportunities from the slot while Robert Davis and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside move around quite a bit between left and right formations. Neither has done much of anything to hang our hat on though.

The Seahawks rank 31st in DK points allowed to tight ends while the Eagles rank fifth. This is a big disparity and it bore out the last time these teams met when Jacob Hollister was corralled while Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert had 19 receptions. If Ertz can’t go, Joshua Perkins would see an uptick in usage behind Goedert.