Although the victory was certainly not pretty, the Philadelphia Eagles did hold their ground beat the Carolina Panthers 22-16 and tied the franchise record with their ninth straight win. The Eagles remain three games ahead of the NFC East lead and need just two more wins to clinch the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, even if they had to stop a final drive by the Panthers in the final minute.
The Eagles also kept pace with the Lions in the race for the No. 1 seed, staying one game behind Detroit. This was another week Saquon Barkley found himself in the Eagles’ history books, this time setting the franchise single-season rushing record in just the 13th game of the year for the Eagles.
Barkley passed LeSean McCoy for the franchise with a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter, as he has 1,623 yards on the season (McCoy had previously reached the milestone with 1,607 in 2013). Barkley finished with 20 carries for 124 yards that afternoon, an average of 6.2 yards per carry.
Here were the observations from Sunday’s game against the Panthers, with a quarter-by-quarter breakdown.
First quarter
Jalen Carter made his presence felt on the first series, applying pressure on the third play of the game and finishing with three quarterback hits on the first five plays. Carter has been dominant in recent weeks, clearly exposing a mismatch with the interior of the Panthers’ offensive line.
A slow start is still typical for the Eagles, as they made six plays of 19 yards and lost 10 yards due to a holding penalty. The Eagles have yet to score a touchdown in their opening thirteen possessions this season and have scored just twice in those thirteen possessions (and they were field goals). The Eagles are averaging 4.2 yards per play on their opening possessions.
Zack Baun continues his All-Pro chase with a third-down sack of Bryce Young on the Eagles’ second defensive series. On third-and-7 at the Eagles’ 48-yard line, Baun reached Young and pushed him back into Panthers territory, ruling out a possible fourth down attempt. Baun had two tackles, a sack and a quarterback hit in the first two series.
Matt Slocum/AP
Second quarter
Barkley has three carries for 30 yards on the Eagles’ third drive, putting them in Panthers territory for the first time. With Barkley getting the Eagles’ run game going, Jalen Hurts went 3 of 6 for 15 yards before breaking through with a 27-yard pass to DeVonta Smith to get the Eagles into the red zone. Hurts later punched it in on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead with 11:48 left in the second quarter. Hurts went 3 of 4 for 37 yards on the drive after going 1 of 3 for 5 yards on the Eagles’ first two possessions. Barkley had five carries for 37 yards on the 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive.
Hurts is the seventh player in NFL history with 13-plus rushing touchdowns in three consecutive seasons. Hurts is the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson (2002-2007) to accomplish the feat. This is Hurts’ third season with more than 13 rushing touchdowns. All-over quarterbacks always have two such seasons.
The Panthers have been playing better lately and the first half was no different. Carolina scored on consecutive drives after failing to score on their first two possessions, the second drive being a 14 play, 69 yard drive for a touchdown, giving them a 10-7 lead with 4:00 remaining to go in the second quarter. Young went 4-of-6 for 57 yards on those two drives, including a touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble on fourth down and a goal on the Eagles’ 3-yard line that gave Carolina the lead. A slow start from the Eagles allowed Carolina to stay in the game.
Matt Slocum/AP
Hurts was mediocre with his accuracy in this first half, making the easy throws look difficult. On the Eagles’ fourth possession, Hurts rolled to his left and appeared uncomfortable with the decision to run or flee as the rim became clogged. Hurts threw a jump pass out of bounds and then missed the 6-foot-3 Johnny Wilson on third down on an easy throw over the middle that should have been a first down. Hurts has started this game 4 of 9 for 42 yards through four possessions.
CJ Gardner-Johnson turned the half around when Young threw a deep ball that was intended for Adam Thielen but went well past his mark. Gardner-Johnson picked off the pass on third-and-3 and carried it 15 yards to the Panthers’ 44. Young wasn’t under pressure on the play, so it was just a bad throw that resulted in a turnover.
AJ Brown has his first two goals of the game on the Eagles’ fifth series, something Philadelphia will have to explain as to why it took so long for the Eagles to get him the ball. That seemed to open up Jalen Hurts, as he found DeVonta Smith for a four-yard touchdown, giving the Eagles a 14-10 lead with 14 seconds left in the half. Hurts went 5-of-5 for 28 yards and a touchdown on the drive, including a 15-yard run.
Third quarter
Jake Elliott is 0 of 5 on field goals of more than 50 yards this season and missed a 52-yard kick with 10:42 left in the third quarter, leaving the score at 14-10. Elliott missed this kick to the right and continued his inconsistency on those kicks, particularly on the north side of Lincoln Financial Field. This has been a problem for the Eagles all year and it’s not going away.
Young and the Panthers had a fourth-and-2 on the Eagles’ 11 and decided to go for it instead of kicking the field goal. Young didn’t have anyone open, but threw the pass over the middle when the ball was tipped. The tipped pass was actually collected by Thielen for the first down for a six-yard gain. That was a lucky break for the Panthers, but it kept the drive alive.
The Panthers did score on a 1-yard touchdown run by Chuba Hubbard, but wasted a timeout challenging Hubbard’s entry into the end zone on the previous play (Hubbard was at the half-yard line with two downs remaining). Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point as Carolina took a 16-14 lead with 2:19 left in the third quarter. Wasting two timeouts and missing an extra point are the little things that cost teams in one-possession games, and Carolina has done both, even with the lead.
Fourth quarter
Hurts found Grant Calcaterra on a third-and-goal from the Eagles’ 4 for a touchdown to put the Eagles ahead with 13:45 remaining. Elliott missed the extra point attempt, but the Panthers were offside and the Eagles elected to go for two at the 1-yard line. Barkley scored on the conversion and the Eagles took a 22-16 lead. Hurts has just 77 yards passing, but two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown (114.1 rating at this point in the game). This is one of his weirdest stat lines of the season.
The Eagles got a key fourth down stop at their 27-yard line to keep the score at 22-16. Carolina surrendered a field goal to cut the deficit from 22-16 to 22-19, opting to go for it on fourth-and-2. Young’s pass was low and into the ground, as Darius Slay Jr. the nearest defender was in coverage. The Eagles continue to hold a six-point lead as the defense finally got a fourth-down stop at the most crucial point in the game so far (Carolina was previously 2 of 2 on fourth down).
On a third-and-13 from the Eagles’ 47-yard line, Hurts made the biggest throw of the game with a 15-yard pass to Brown that gave Philadelphia a first down with 4:49 to go. Hurts found Brown on an out route and Brown made a move along the chains with a defender on him to extend the drive for the Eagles. Hurts has only passed for 103 yards to that point, but that was the biggest throw on a day where the Eagles quarterback was very inconsistent.
The Panthers had a chance for a game-winning drive of their own with 3:05 left, but give credit to Braden Mann for pinning them on the 3-yard line and forcing them 97 yards downfield for the victory. Mann has returned six punts inside the 20-yard line for the Eagles over the last two weeks. As bad as Elliott kicks the football, Mann is just as good against the football.
Young’s fourth-and-9 pass aimed at Thielen was incomplete with 29 seconds left, sealing the Eagles’ victory. There was a flag on the line, but it was an illegal blindside block by Carolina. Josh Sweat forced Young out of the pocket and to his left before Young had to make a throw on the run. The Eagles defense had another strong performance late.
