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ABOVE .500 and still in the basement of the NFC East. You have to love the irony. Back in April I picked us to go 9-7 (at least) and win the division. Many told me I was nuts, and that we’d win no more than 5 games. Well, it would seem that were on pace for that 9-7 mark, but the division…eh, not so much.

Considering how well we’ve played vs teams we weren’t supposed to beat (Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Atlanta, all of which I told you we’d win), I have to say, I’m less worried than most fans are, about this week’s game.

Can we do it again? Last week we won by pushing Atlanta into a phone booth, shutting the door behind us, and pounding on them until the refs fired a starter pistol to get us to stop. Atlanta isn’t built for such rough treatment. They tried to respond, but it’s just not who they are. For Philly inhabitants and our teams, the ability to hang in fist fight is a birthright. It’s in our air and in our water. If you can’t hang, your ass is as good as grass.

Seattle on the other hand, is our huckleberry. If we want to be tough guys, and trade short area blows, they don’t mind at all. Why, that’s just their game. If we’re going to beat these characters at their own…how do you say “forte” in French? Doesn’t matter. If we’re going to beat Seattle at the style that won them a Super Bowl, then there are certain things we have to do.

So let’s talk about the Four Things we need to look for, Week 11 versus Seattle :

1) Attack the left with RB Darren Sproles. Due to injury LOLB Brock Coyle is starting for Seattle. While he might hold his own vs our TE’s , there is no way he can stay with Sproles on any route run beyond the line of scrimmage. That doesn’t mean make Sproles our bell-cow, just make sure he’s on the field a lot.

2) Spread ’em out. We can run inside much easier if we use formations that pull the LB’s to the outsides of “the box”. If Seattle chooses to walk a Safety down, instead of walking a LB outside, that leaves 1-on-1 on the outside for someone. 

3) Challenge their CB’s. The biggest knock on our WR’s is that they don’t get separation. Fine. To hell with separation. WR’s Jordan Matthews (if he plays) and Dorial Green-Beckham are king-sized wideouts. Why not use that as an advantage instead of ignoring it week in and week out. Who needs separation when you can box-out on a Hitch route, or out-jump a smaller man? Use those big bodies like they’re big bodies.

4) Set the edge. Seattle’s run game is garbage this year, so it won’t take much to shut that part of their offense down. What we need to focus on, is not giving them gifts, via unforced errors (so to speak). A form of “mush-rush” should be effective against QB Russell Wilson, as his vision would be obscured due to his height.

This game will be lost if we come out there being cute. Seattle is not as good as they were 2-3 years ago, but they still are not an outfit that suffers fools. If we bring them the same weak-ass game that we brought Detroit, we will get blown out by a team that’s only 21^st in scoring. We have to come out there ready for this to be a street fight. Because that’s exactly what Seattle will be bringing us.