Connor Barwin’s becoming leader on defense

PHILADELPHIA » You won’t hear veteran Connor Barwin say it but as he goes, so does the Eagles’ defense.

Barwin has stepped up after the season-ending injury to DeMeco Ryans, notching 4 1-2 sacks to lead the Birds to a 3-1 record since the loss.

“This was four solid games,” Barwin said. “And four solid games when our defense all played well.”

Barwin has a career-high 12 1-2 sacks this season with the Eagles, tied with Elvis Dumervil (Ravens) behind league-leader Justin Houston (Chiefs), who has 14 quarterback drops.

You would think the sacks would wake up the Pro Bowl electorate.

“I have no idea what I have to do,” Barwin said. “We’ll see what happens. But that’s something we’re not thinking about right now.”

Barwin leads the Birds with 15 quarterback hurries and 13 tackles for loss. An Eagles win Sunday over the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks, who have the top-rated defense in the league, and the voters almost certainly will notice Barwin and such teammates as Fletcher Cox and Malcolm Jenkins.

“It’s a representation of people taking notice about how well we’re all playing on defense,” Barwin said. “Fox is doing a story on the front seven which is great. I mean, we’re all playing well but the front seven is great. That Dallas game, it was the three guys in the interior that won every single matchup in that game. That’s what’s good is, people are starting to take notice of our defense as a whole.”

The Eagles rank 24th in yards allowed, surrendering 366.2 per game. They’re giving up 23.8 points, 20th in the league.

The Eagles allow opponents to convert on just 38.1 percent of third downs compared to 40.9 percent for the Seahawks.

“It’s a big game,” Barwin said.

••• Eagles rookie nose tackle Beau Allen had a locker next to Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson while both were at Wisconsin.

Allen lines up opposite Wilson for the first time in the NFL Sunday.

“It’s going to be just last week I lined up across Travis Frederick, who I played against every day for three years,” Allen said of the Cowboys center. “It’s just kind of like, ‘Oh, hey, Russell, what’s up man?’ And then back to business. I said that to Travis last week af-

“We’re all wearing like our team-issued sweats and he’s like in business casual clothes. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He’s really professional. All business, all the time. He’s a great guy and really put himself into what he was doing.”

ter a play. Like, ‘What’s up, bro?’”

Though clothes don’t always make the man, Allen knew there was something special about Wilson by the way he arrived for practice at Wisconsin.

“This might sound kind of stupid, but I think the entire season he didn’t wear anything but nice slacks and a button down, stuff like that, to the stadium every single day,” Allen said. “We’re all wearing like our team-issued sweats and he’s like in business casual clothes. That’s just the kind of guy he is. He’s really professional. All business, all the time. He’s a great guy and really put himself into what he was doing.” NOTES » Eagles pass rushers Vinny Curry and Trent Cole are the only teammates in the NFL with at least six sacks and three forced fumbles each … Eagles cornerback Bradley Fletcher leads the NFL with 20 passes broken up … Fletcher has committed seven penalties, trailing only offensive tackle Jason Peters (nine) for the team lead. Trent Cole also has seven penalties. Offensive tackle Lane Johnson is next with six … Mychal Kendricks leads the Eagles with 54 tackles.Malcolm Jenkins is next with 52 … Bill Vinovich is the referee today. The Seahawks, by the way, are averaging 10 penalties in road games compared to seven in home games … The Seahawks also are averaging 21 points on the road compared to 28.6 at home, and 164 yards rushing as opposed to 180 at CenturyLink Field … Defensive Michael Bennett and cornerback Tharold Simon have been whistled for 11 penalties apiece, the most on the Seahawks. Physical cornerback Richard Sherman has been flagged just three times; for a hold, interference and tripping. PHILADELPHIA » You are what your record says you are.

Then there are the Eagles, who have beaten so many losing teams this season you’re not sure what to ex pect when they step up in class and oppose the Seattle Seahawks Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field (4:25 p.m., Channel 29, WIP 94.1-FM).

The Eagles are 9-3 overall, but just 2-3 against winning teams. They’re 7-0 against losing or nonwinning teams, including 5-0 at home.

“We’ve won a lot of games, not necessarily against winning teams,” of fensive t a ck le Lane Johnson said. “But we’ve got some wins. And you know Green Bay was kind of an embarrassment so this will be a good test of where we’re at.”

The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks (8-4) are 4-3 against winning teams and 4-1 against losers. They’re just 3-3 on the road, where they average 21 points and 1-2 on the road against winning teams.

Considering the t iebreaker ramif ic ations, this is a pivotal game for both teams.

The Eagles are 5-3 in the conference, the Seahawks 6-2.

The Packers (9-3), who blew out the Eagles, are 6-3 in the NFC and of course own the head-tohead tiebreaker.

The Arizona Cardinals (9-3) are 7-2 in the conference, the San Francisco 49ers (7-5) 7-4. Both beat the Eagles.

Even the Detroit Lions (8-4) are a threat as they’re 6-2 in the NFC.

A loss could turn the Eagles into scoreboard watchers. The Dallas Cowboys, who the Eagles entertain next week, are 9-4 overall including 6-4 in the NFC. The Birds have them in the division tiebreaker with a 3-0 record versus 2-2 for the secondplace Cowboys.

The Seahawks (2-0 division) are in the same boat although they trail the Cardinals in the NFC West.

“T he y k now we’ ve played prett y well up to this point but this is a big game,” tight end Brent Celek said of the Seahawks. “We need this. They need this. It’s a big one.”

The Eagles average 31.2 points, fourth in the NFL.

The Seahawks check in at 24.8 points, 11th overall, but allow just 18.4 points, third in the league.

Look for both teams to r un, the Seahawks with Marshawn Lynch, who’s just 44 yards away from 1,000, and the Eagles with LeSean McCoy (1,018 yards), who needs 48 yards to become the all-time franchise rush-