Seahawks, Vikings win NFL wild card games

At the end of another excruciating evening in the football career of Carson Wentz, another playoff opportunity lost due to injury, the hard-luck Eagles quarterback was already looking ahead.

Knocked out of the NFC wild card game in the first quarter after a headshot hit inflicted by Seattle defender Jadeveon Clowney, Wentz tried to pick up his teammates.

Sure, the NFC East champs had just lost 17-9 to the Seahawks, a valiant fight if neutered by an offence decimated to injury. But Wentz, presumably still feeling the effects of his concussion, was waiting in the locker-room to console, congratulate and commit to better times ahead.

“He went to every person at their locker and congratulated them, every single one,” said running back Boston Scott. “It shows how much he cares. He’s an incredible leader, an incredible teammate.”

And, it turns out, a victim of incredibly rotten turn of fortune when the NFL post-season rolls around.

“I feel bad for him,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “I wanted this for him. He’s battled through a lot.”

Credit the Seahawks for taking advantage of a wounded foe and limiting the work that overmatched, 40-year-old Eagles backup Josh Mccown could muster. An efficient if unspectacular road win has earned them a divisional-round date with the Packers in Green Bay next Sunday.

For the third consecutive season Wentz has been stricken at the most inopportune time. And in Philly they’ll be pairing that empathy with outrage over the way it all went down.

Two years ago, Wentz blew out his knee late in the season allowing backup Nick Foles to commandeer the run to the franchise’s Super Bowl title.

And last winter it was an injured back that kept him out. On Sunday, he lasted all of half a quarter before the knockout blow from Clowney ended his post-season.

How crucial was the loss of Wentz on Sunday? Pederson admitted it likely cost his team the game, a reasonable claim based on his starting QB’S performance down the stretch that included a four-game winning streak to secure a spot in the playoffs.

“I would say yes,” Pederson said. “If he’s healthy, with the game play that we had, I think so.”

The Clowney blow — a helmet-to-helmet hit that had potential to be determined as targeting — incensed the sellout crowd of 69,796 at the Linc.

They won’t be soothed by the post-game reaction from both either Clowney or game officials.

“I was just playing fast and he turned like he was running the ball so I was trying to get him down,” Clowney said. “I thought it was just a small hit but everybody was going crazy on the sidelines. I was just trying to finish the play.”

This being Philly, the hit will fuel considerable and animated debate during the off season, no doubt accelerated by the NFL’S post-game defence of the call.

“He was a runner and he did not give himself up,” was referee Shawn Smith’s explanation to a pool reporter. We saw incidental helmet contact and we didn’t rule that to be a foul.”

Just how “incidental” a blow that concussed one of the bestpaid players in the league and essentially ended the Eagles chances at victory is a tough one to sell.

The Philly faithful were further incensed later in the game when they saw what the officiating crew did rule to be a violation on a quarterback. When Eagles defensive end Derek Barnett was given a roughing-the-passer penalty on Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, the crowd went bonkers.

With a first and goal at the five — rather than having to settle for a field goal — Marshawn Lynch rumbled in for a touchdown on the next play to increase the Seahawks margin to 10-3, a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

The fans became further agitated the deeper the game wound down and their team could muster no more than three field goals from five drives that advanced deep in Seattle territory.

That’s not necessarily a knock on Mccown either. The man had taken just 15 snaps this regular season, after all, and made only five pass attempts as an Eagle.

Good for Mccown for doing his job, but the task was always going to be a tall one, even against a Seahawk team that wasn’t exactly sharp in the early going.

Consider that in 17 NFL seasons, the veteran had thrown 98 touchdown passes while in his at-times brilliant four campaigns, Wentz has thrown for 97.

That the latter was once again denied a shot at playoff glory certainly carried the game’s storyline.

With Pederson keeping things simple for Mccown — limiting the playbook’s more agility required plays better suited to Wentz — the Eagles emphasized the running game.

“It’s tough,” Mccown said. “Carson Wentz has put a ton into this season and to get to this moment and especially with the things that he’s gone through … He’s sitting there not feeling right and he knew he had to get checked.

“It’s a tough way to end it.”