Seattle Seahawks' Bradley McDougald proves to be more than fill-in for Kam Chancellor

SEATTLE -- Last offseason, the Seattle Seahawks were ecstatic to sign Bradley McDougald, knowing they probably were going to need the veteran safety to fill in at some point for Earl Thomas and/or Kam Chancellor.

With Chancellor likely out for the season due to a neck injury, the Seahawks have indeed needed McDougald, who signed a one-year deal after spending his first four years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And he turned in his best game of the season for Seattle in a 24-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night.

In his fourth start (one for Thomas, three for Chancellor), McDougald tallied a season-high 12 tackles, one behind Bobby Wagner for the team lead against the Eagles. The safety also knocked down two passes.

"He had a big night," Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said. "That's a huge night of activity for him."

McDougald got off to a rough start, getting penalized 15 yards for hitting a sliding quarterback Carson Wentz on the Eagles' third play. However, he quickly made up for it with two stops on the next three plays, including slicing in to tackle LeGarrette Blount a yard short on third-and-2.

McDougald also kept Pro-Bowl tight end Zach Ertz under wraps and was in on the pass breakup on the play that knocked Ertz out with a concussion in the third quarter.

"He had their best guy covered until he went out," Carroll said. "Zach didn't do a lot early in the game (two catches for 24 yards). I think it was a tribute, really, to Bradley, who played a very, very good football game."

McDougald said he was inspired partly by talk that the Seahawks are not the same stellar defense without injured stars Chancellor, cornerback Richard Sherman and defensive end Cliff Avril.

"Word did get back to me, and (the Eagles) did say some things that we're not the same defense," McDougald said. "We've got nothing to worry about. I think we went out and proved otherwise."

McDougald added of the Seattle unit that held the No. 1 scoring offense to a season low in points, "We're playing at our best right now. We're definitely playing at our best, and I've never seen anything like this with this defense."