This weekend, the Eagles will face the Seattle Seahawks at Lincoln Financial Field in a Wild Card Round matchup. These two teams have been dealing with a laundry list of injuries over the past few weeks, which might ultimately decide the outcome of this game.
The Eagles released their final injury report this afternoon, and in terms of game status this is probably the shortest report they have had in a long time:
WR Nelson Agholor (knee): Agholor has missed five of the last six games because of this knee issue. A few weeks ago the beat reporters were mentioning that his knee has swelled up to the size of a softball, which sounds like it will be hard for him to recover from any time soon. Greg Ward has been a pleasant surprise filling in for him the past three games, so isn't the worst thing in the world that Agholor continues to remain out of commission.
TE Zach Ertz (ribs, back): If Ertz remains out on Sunday, there will be a massive hole in the Eagles offense. Dallas Goedert will need to step up big time if the Eagles offense is to sustain some success with Ertz out. There seems to be some mystery involving Ertz's back injury; Speculation is that it is actually a kidney laceration, and if that is the case it is extremely unlikely Ertz plays at all in the playoffs. Any further injury to a lacerated kidney could lead to the removal of the kidney, at nobody has ever played football with just one kidney. I doubt Ertz would jeopardize the rest of his career for a wild card game. The team recently brought in Richard Rodgers, so the three tight ends for Sunday might be Goedert, Rodgers and Josh Perkins.
T Lane Johnson (ankle): Johnson will do everything in his power to return from his high-ankle sprain, but the odds are against him. He suffered his injury about three and a half weeks ago, and a bad ankle sprain usually takes about 4-6 weeks to fully heal. If he does play on Sunday, he certainly won't be at 100%, so we should not be surprised if Halapoulivaati Vaitai ends up being the right tackle on Sunday.
The Seahawks have a pretty lengthy and significant final injury report:
T Duane Brown (knee/biceps): Brown had surgery on his knee and it is unclear if he will recover in time to play in this game. George Fant is Brown's backup, and Fans has started seven games this season at tackle.
WR Malik Turner (concussion): Turner is still in concussion protocol, so he will not pass it in time for Sunday's game. Turner had 15 receptions for 245 yards and a touchdown this season in 242 offensive snaps. Rookie John Ursua (one reception for 11 yards this season) will likely take his potential snaps.
LB Mychal Kendricks (knee): Kendricks tore his ACL in Week 17 and is out for the rest of the season. The former Eagle had found some success in Seattle, racking up 71 tackles, three sacks and an interception this season. Shaquem Griffin is listed as Kendricks' backup on Seattle's unofficial depth chart. Griffin recorded just two tackles and three QB hits in his 96 defensive snaps this season.
WR Jaron Brown (knee): Brown is listed as Tyler Lockett's backup. He played 374 offensive snaps this season, catching 16 passes for 220 yards and two touchdowns. He he can't play, then rookie John Ursua or David Moore will see a spike in snap counts.
G Mike Iupati (neck): Iupati is the starting left guard for the Seahawks. If he is unable to play or limited in his availability, his role will go to rookie Jamarco Jones. Jones has played 29% of the Seahawks' offensive snaps this season, and has started three games already before.
