PHILADELPHIA — The Seattle Seahawks once again look like the team that won the Super Bowl last season. That’s not good news for the NFC in general and, on Sunday, for the Philadelphia Eagles in particular. The Seahawks scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half and went on to beat the Eagles 24-14 at Lincoln Financial Field in a battle of two of the NFC’s top teams.

“We knew coming in that this was going to be a battle for four quarters and it was,” Seattle wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. “That’s a pretty good team over there, but we’re a pretty good team, too. When we play like we did today, especially on the defensive side of the ball, we’re a very tough team to beat.”

Seattle (9-4) kept pace with first-place Arizona (10-3) in NFC West after the Cardinals beat Kansas City 17-14 on Sunday. Seattle beat the Cardinals 19-3 earlier in the season and the two teams meet again on Dec. 21 at Arizona.

The Eagles (9-4) fell into a first-place tie with Dallas in NFC East, although the Eagles hold a tiebreaker because the beat the Cowboys 33-10 on Thanksgiving Day. The two teams play again next Sunday in Philadelphia.

“We had our chances today and a couple of plays made the difference,” Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “Give them credit, because they made those plays and we didn’t.”

Quarterback Russell Wilson made a lot of those plays for the Seahawks. He had a good day passing (22 of 37 for 263 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions) and a very good day running (10 carries for 48 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown). And it seemed like all of Wilson’s runs picked up key first downs.

What the Seahawks said:

“I might be the most uptight guy on the defense, but even I was dancing today.” — S Earl Thomas.

What the Eagles said:

“Credit to them. They were better than us today. They played a better game than we did. We just couldn’t get anything done on offense. There were opportunities out there, but we didn’t get the job done.” — WR Jeremy Maclin.

What we learned about the Seahawks:

1. This is a team nobody will want to face in the playoffs. The Seahawks struggled some in the beginning of the season, but they’re hitting on all cylinders now. Their defense has always been strong, but now the offense is starting to click and that means trouble for the rest of the NFC.

2. They showed that they can win even if RB Marshawn Lynch doesn’t dominate like he usually does. The Eagles were obviously focused on stopping Lynch and they did a pretty good job. Lynch finished with 86 yards, but needed 23 carries to get them and his per-rush average of 3.7 yards per carry was below his career average of 4.2 yards per attempt.

–QB Russell Wilson is known as one of the best scramblers in the NFL and the Eagles knew that going in, but he was still able to burn them several times with his legs, including a 26-yard TD run in the second quarter. Wilson finished with 48 rushing yards, just two fewer than Eagles All-Pro RB LeSean McCoy. “We knew he was going to run around,” Eagles DE Fletcher Cox said. “We wanted to keep him in the pocket, but of course he got out a few times and made some plays with his feet and a few (on passes) downfield.”

–CB Richard Sherman is used to challenges and he had another big one on Sunday, when he had primary coverage on the Eagles’ best receiver, Jeremy Maclin. Well, Maclin was never a factor, catching just three passes for 21 mostly meaningless yards. “He did some complaining and stuff early in the game, but it ended up being a good battle between us,” Sherman said. “He’s a good receiver and we’re both competitive, so it was a lot of fun today.

–WR Doug Baldwin doesn’t pretend to be clairvoyant, but he had a flash of insight on Sunday, right before he scored what was the biggest touchdown of the game. Seattle led by just 17-14 in the third quarter when Baldwin saw that the Eagles were going to blitz and he would have one-on-one coverage from S Malcolm Jenkins. Baldwin beat Jenkins to the end zone and hauled in a 23-yard TD pass from QB Russell Wilson. “I knew it immediately — I might have known it before Russell,” Baldwin said. “I was trying to hurry him up so he could give me the signal, because when you see that as a receiver you get really anxious and really excited knowing it’s going to be wide open. It worked out perfectly for us.”

What we learned about the Eagles:

1. Apparently, coach Chip Kelly didn’t trust QB Mark Sanchez against the Seahawks’ vaunted pass defense. Sanchez only attempted 20 passes in the game, even though the Eagles trailed the entire second half, and Sanchez only took a couple of deep shots down the field and one of them was intercepted.

2. Their defense, which was their weak spot last season, hung tough against the defending Super Bowl champs and proved that it’s good enough to help the Eagles go deep in the playoffs. That will be especially important when the weather gets colder and the opposition gets tougher.

–Eagles coach Chip Kelly is known for his high-powered, high-scoring offense, but his offense has never been contained like it was on Sunday by Seattle, even when Kelly coached in college. The Eagles had 139 yards of total offense and no Kelly team has ever had that few. It’s also the fewest yards by the Eagles at home since they had 79 yards in a 23-0 loss to the New York Giants in 1983. The Eagles, who came into the game with an NFL-best average of 73 plays per game, ran off just 45 on Sunday (Seattle ran 85 plays) and had the ball for just 18:04 (Seattle had it for 41:56.

–RB LeSean McCoy should have been in a good mood since he had just become the Eagles’ all-time leading career rusher. But the Eagles’ All-Pro was in a foul mood because his team lost and, in his opinion, he didn’t do enough to help it win. McCoy passed Wilbert Montgomery, who ended his Eagles career in 1984 with 6,538 rushing yards, but McCoy had just 50 yards on 17 carries against Seattle and he had a costly fumble on the first play of the second half that the Seahawks turned into a touchdown. “It means a lot and it’s something special. I just wish we could have been in a different situation — us winning and me not having a terrible game,” McCoy said. “It’s obviously a great accomplishment, but it’s hard to really enjoy it on a day like this.”

–LB Connor Barwin was disappointed that the Eagles defense couldn’t stop the Seahawks when it counted, but he also said his team can’t feel too bad because it lost to the defending Super Bowl champions. The Eagles are still tied with Dallas for first place in NFC East — and the Cowboys come to town next week. “We have a bunch of professionals,” Barwin said. “We know we have to play better and we’ll look at the film, just like we do every week, and we’ll get it corrected and move on to Dallas.”