Seahawks' trick play fools Eagles, results in Wilson TD catch

SEATTLE - Not content to cruise to victory on the basis of their superior skill position players and the Eagles' mistakes, the Seattle Seahawks became the Harlem Globetrotters Sunday at CenturyLink Field, and they made the visitors into the Washington Generals.

Midway through the third quarter of their 26-15 victory, the Seahawks held a 16-7 lead. On first and 10 from the Eagles' 15, quarterback Russell Wilson tossed the ball back to wideout Doug Baldwin, then Wilson looped out to the left side. Baldwin set his feet, ignored Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham's rush from his right, and threw a perfect touchdown pass to his quarterback, who scored as Nigel Bradham flew in too late for the tackle.

Game, set, match, not that there had been a whole lot of suspense, after the Eagles bungled what should have been a halftime lead into that 16-7 deficit.

"It was fun," Baldwin said. "I've been begging for that play for the past two or three weeks. They doubted my arm ability, they doubted I could make that throw, so I'm glad that I could prove them wrong . . . perfect spiral, dropped it in the bucket."

He laughed, indicating that wasn't necessarily the case.

"Honestly, I just kind of chucked it up there, and Russell made it look pretty."

Wilson said he asked Baldwin on the sideline if this was his first-ever touchdown pass.

"He thought about it and was like, 'I think so. That's my first touchdown pass ever.' I was talking to him, saying we can switch jobs if he wants . . . He got some heat over there on the right side, and he still made a great throw," Wilson said.

It was not Wilson's first career touchdown catch - he said he caught one from Montee Ball at Wisconsin, against Indiana.

When Jason Peters left the game for arm X-rays, Allen Barbre moved from left guard to left tackle for a few series. Then he moved back to left guard when Peters returned. Then right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai went down, and Barbre finished the game there.

He said he'd never played three offensive line positions in the same game before. This all became necessary because with Barbre returning from a two-game hamstring injury absence, somebody who has been active had to be inactive. Doug Pederson likes using rookie guard Isaac Seumalo as an extra blocker. So Seumalo and fellow guard-center Stefen Wisniewski were the only reserve offensive linemen active; Matt Tobin, usually active as a backup tackle, did not dress.

The Eagles' pans to emphasize the run were left in tatters after both Ryan Mathews (knee) and Darren Sproles (ribs) left before the end of the first half. Mathews had 31 yards on seven carries, Sproles 15 on two. Rookie Wendell Smallwood ended the day with 13 carries, for the second week in a row, this time for only 48 yards. Kenjon Barner ran three times for 17 yards . . . The Eagles gave up a 72-yard touchdown run to rookie C.J. Prosise on the game's first series, which was not the start they needed.

@LesBowen

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