Opponent perspective on Philadelphia’s upcoming matchup.
The Philadelphia Eagles are back at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday for the first time since November 14. It’s been a minute.
The Birds will be taking on the Carolina Panthers, who’ve been much more competitive than they were earlier this season.
In order to preview this Week 14 tilt, I reached out to our enemies over at Cat Scratch Reader. The wise Walker Clement kindly took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming tilt. Let’s take a look at the answers. [For my answers about the Eagles, stay tuned to CSR.]
1 – The Panthers seem to be playing much better recently. What’s all gone into that and do you expect them to keep it up?
Simply put, Bryce Young is playing astronomically better. It is really hard to quantify or even qualify the level of difference between Week 9-13 Bryce Young and 2023 through Week 2 of 2024 Bryce Young. They might as well be different people.
The current iteration of Young is a gun slinging, dart firing, assassin whose receivers are good old fashioned sex panthers. That is to say that 60% of the time, they catch the ball every time. The Panthers would be riding a four-game winning streak, success the likes of which they have not seen since 2019, if the receivers left on their roster simply caught the balls that hit their hands.
Drops can be worked on. Young’s development into a suddenly competent quarterback, however, is something we are all still taking with a grain of salt.
2 – On a scale of 1-10, what’s your confidence level in Bryce Young right now and why? With 10 being the most confident you could possibly be.
My confidence in Young as a quarterback capable of beating the Eagles is an 8 right now. He’s been that good in recent weeks. Look no further than the Panthers game against the Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago. It was the most impressive performance of Young’s career and, ignoring how low of a bar that cleared, could presage a lot of fun times to come.
My confidence in Young maintaining this recent level of play against the Eagles or in any week after is about a 3. It’s not that it couldn’t happen, it’s just that Panthers fans spent a whole season watching Young throw passes at the back of his linemen’s knees in 2023 and haven’t actually watched good football since the first half of 2017. We don’t have a lot of faith. Keep Pounding is the official team motto, but fans have adopted a second phrase to go with it: seeing is believing. Check back with us in 2025.
3 – The Panthers are allowing the most rushing yards per game in the NFL. Why’s that the case and do you expect Saquon Barkley to be able to take advantage of that weakness?
The Panthers injury report this week is headlined by Jadaveon Clowney, D.J. Wonnum, and Josey Jewell, none of whom are guaranteed to play this week. These are three of the starting four linebackers in Ejiro Evero’s largely 3-4 base defense They are also maybe the only three players left in the front seven that most Panthers fans can name.
There are other talented or promising players on the roster, to be sure, but the talent level has taken a serious hit due to injuries this season and it was never that high to begin with. The Panthers loaded up on offense to give Young the best evaluation that they could and the defense was left to play with matches in the corner.
4 – Which matchup do you like working in the Panthers’ favor?
Is Barkley about to be at the center of a giant point shaving scandal? Because that could work in our favor.
Jokes aside, I don’t like it but I think the team is going to have to lean into their rookie wide receivers. Xavier Legette, when he catches the ball at all, and Jalen Coker, if he’s healthy, have displayed tremendous ability to win contested catches in limited exposure. This is what Panthers fans qualify as optimism.
The Eagles are going to be up early, the Panthers are going to panic and lean on the passing game, and, going up against one of the best defenses in the league, that’s kinda what they have to work with. Their tight ends are either unheralded or injured, and their backs are either untested or better at pass blocking than pass catching.
Other teams have leaned away from their receivers to move the ball through the air. I’m not sure that’s going to be a successful strategy for the Panthers.
5 – Who wins this game and why? With the Eagles currently listed as 12.5-point home favorites, what’s your score prediction?
The Eagles will win because they are a better team. The Panthers will only win if true hilarity ensued on that football field. Absent that form of entertainment, I’m guessing we’ll see a 43-15 Eagles win.
