Five things learned in Panthers’ loss vs. Eagles: Mistakes outshine valiant underdog effort
The Carolina Panthers, despite a valiant effort, couldn’t close the gap against a significantly more talented Philadelphia Eagles squad Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Despite coming into the game as a 14-point road underdog, the Panthers did everything they could to upset the Eagles, who won their ninth consecutive game, beating Carolina 22-16.
Head coach Dave Canales and QB Bryce Young continued to put forth inspired performances, but a couple of blunders in the heart of the game ultimately made a major difference in the loss.
The Eagles are stacked with Pro Bowl players, and running back Saquon Barkley and QB Jalen Hurts are seemingly neck-and-neck in the NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year races. But the ragtag bunch from Carolina kept this one interesting until the final buzzer.
Sometimes, in the NFL, talent outweighs effort, no matter the strain. On Sunday, the Eagles didn’t dominate, but they did enough to defeat the Panthers, even while making some miscues of their own.
Here are five things we learned from Carolina’s loss to Philadelphia:
1. Young, Canales make some notable miscues in an otherwise solid performance
The Panthers kept this one close. And they can thank the Eagles (more on that later), at least partially, for that.
But a pair of blunders by Young and Canales stood out during the heart of the game.
Young had an awful overthrow to wideout Adam Thielen at the end of the second quarter. While Young had been playing relatively clean football to that point, he put the ball well out of Thielen’s reach and the pass was picked off by safety CJ Gardner-Johnson. The Eagles then came storming back for a touchdown that helped them take a 14-10 lead to halftime. While the Panthers eventually retook the lead, the interception gave the Eagles an extra first-half possession, and more importantly, an extra touchdown drive in a six-point game.
Then in the third quarter, the Panthers were forced to take an early timeout to avoid a delay-of-game penalty in the red zone. A few plays later, Canales challenged a play that ruled running back Chuba Hubbard short of the goal line. The call stood, taking away a second timeout from the Panthers with more than 17 minutes left to play. Hubbard scored from the 1-yard line on the very next play, so the Panthers got the result they wanted, but it took a timeout out of their pocket in a tight game.
Otherwise, it was a pretty solid outing for the faces of the franchise. Young, who has played well since Week 9, continued to look the part. He led three scoring drives while completing 55.9% of his passes for 191 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Young wasn’t perfect, but he kept the game close with his playmaking ability against a top-tier defense.
Similarly, Canales called a balanced game. He was down to just one running back by the end of the second quarter, but he kept feeding Hubbard to complement the passing game. The Panthers spread the ball around, as Thielen caught nine passes for 102 yards and David Moore snagged two passes for 25 yards.
Tight end Tommy Tremble caught his first TD pass of the year.
Canales was also aggressive. He went for it on fourth down on five occasions and was successful on three. There was no timidness from the rookie coach on the road, and he showed belief in his offense, in particular, throughout.
2. The Eagles kept the game close by overthinking offense in the first half
The Eagles’ running backs averaged 6.8 yards per carry in the first half. And yet, Barkley — the league’s leading rusher by a significant margin — and Kenny Gainwell only combined for nine runs in the first two quarters. QB Hurts threw 14 times for nine completions for 70 yards and a touchdown. He also contributed four runs for 15 yards, with all 15 coming on a run late in the second quarter.
The Panthers were giving up 166.7 rushing yards per game coming in. Carolina has the worst run defense in the league, and running the ball against it was working for the Eagles. But instead of just bullying the Panthers in the trenches for big gains on the ground, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni decided to call a complementary offense. That’s fine — the Eagles took a 14-10 lead to halftime and were heavy favorites; they ended up winning by six points.
But it felt like the only reason this game was close early was because the Eagles simply didn’t just lean on their strength against a massive weakness for the Panthers.
The running backs ran 14 times in the second half and Barkley finished with 124 rushing yards on 20 carries. Gainwell added 26 yards on three totes.
Hurts finished with 61 rushing yards and a touchdown on eight carries. He also completed 14 of 21 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns.
3. A tough one for the rookie class
It took 13 games, but first-round pick, wide receiver Xavier Legette, finally received his “Welcome to the NFL” hit against the Eagles.
Gardner-Johnson popped Legette with a vicious but legal hit to the ribs. Young tossed a bit of a hospital ball — it was high and Legette really couldn’t protect himself — as Gardner-Johnson speared into his side. Legette dropped the third-down completion on the opening drive and spent several minutes in the blue medical tent on the Panthers’ sideline.
He continued to have a brutal performance from there.
Later in the first quarter, running back Jonathon Brooks, the team’s second-round pick, went down without contact on a 3-yard loss during a carry. He got up holding his right leg and hopped to the sideline before falling down on the field. He then left the sideline on a cart. He was later ruled out with a knee injury, which is notable as he suffered a right ACL tear during his final season with the Texas Longhorns. Sunday’s matchup was only the third game of Brooks’ NFL career.
Legette finished with two catches for 39 yards on eight targets. He had a couple of drops among those incompletions, including a ruled incompletion on what would have been a wide-open score in the fourth quarter.
Tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders, who missed last week’s game with a neck injury, had just one target all game.
On defense, the rookie class had a mixed bag.
Rookie linebacker Trevin Wallace, the team’s third-round pick, had six tackles. but the run game got the best of Wallace and the front for most of the afternoon, as expected.
Sixth-round pick, defensive lineman Jaden Crumedy, made his NFL debut and had a tackle.
Nickel cornerback Chau Smith-Wade, starting for a second consecutive week, finished with four tackles. But he also had an offsides penalty on an extra-point attempt that led to a two-point conversion by Barkley. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott actually missed the extra-point attempt, but the Eagles were gifted a second chance and better field position and took advantage to give themselves an six-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Smith-Wade also played outside cornerback in the fourth quarter due to a groin injury for Jaycee Horn, and was targeted quite a bit to the Eagles’ favor.
4. Chuba Hubbard is still a stud out of the backfield
After his brutal overtime fumble last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, running back Chuba Hubbard bounced back in a big way against the Eagles. Canales went to him early and often, as Hubbard was the first passing target of the game on a designed easy completion for Young out of the backfield. Hubbard also steered the ship on the ground as well, picking up 63 rushing yards on 15 carries in the first half.
The Eagles were allowing just 104.8 yards on the ground per game, but Hubbard was able to make some big gains early.
Hubbard, who was the only healthy running back on the roster by the start of the second quarter, took on the bulk of the work in the backfield and continued to churn. He finished the game with 92 rushing yards, 15 receiving yards and on 30 combined touches.
It was nice to see Hubbard perform well after such a down moment for him. It was also encouraging to see Canales continue to go back to him over and over again.
5. Yeah, the run defense is horrific, but pass defense is getting better
The Panthers’ run defense is like an all-you-can-eat buffet for opposing running backs. But Carolina’s pass defense is starting to look pretty good in recent weeks.
That trend continued against Hurts and the Eagles. Despite having two of the top 20 wide receivers in the league, A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, Philadelphia finished with just 108 passing yards off 21 throws by Hurts. If you count the four sacks and the loss of yards on those plays, the Eagles only had 83 net passing yards.
Brown was targeted four times, while Smith received six looks. Brown finished with four catches for 43 yards, while Smith got 37 yards and a touchdown off four completions. Mike Jackson had two pass breakups, while defensive tackle Shy Tuttle chipped in another breakup.
The Panthers also had four sacks on the day. D.J. Wonnum had an early takedown, while linebacker Josey Jewell provided 1.5 sacks. Defensive end A’Shawn Robinson also added 1.5 second-half sacks on Hurts.
Robinson leads the Panthers with 4.5 sacks through 13 games.
Look, this isn’t some “attaboy” for a unit that is clearly among the league’s worst. But going up against one of the most explosive offensive groups in the NFL and only giving up 108 passing yards is impressive, even in a loss.
This story was originally published December 8, 2024 at 4:20 PM.
