The Philadelphia Eagles are 11-2 after narrowly defeating the Carolina Panthers.
We can sit here and say “a win is a win.”
But that sure didn’t seem to be the prevailing sentiment from the postgame media availability. Multiple Eagles players expressed frustration with how the team performed.
The Eagles entered this game as 13.5-point home favorites. And they were a Xavier Legette drop away from being down to the Panthers with 44 seconds remaining.
This performance hardly means the Eagles aren’t legitimate Super Bowl contenders. We’ve seen that they’re capable of playing better than this.
But this showing did underscore some legitimate concerns that could prevent the Eagles from reaching their ultimate goal.
Time to hand out some winners, losers, and IDKs.
WINNERS
SAQUON BARKLEY
Oddly enough, Barkley becoming the Eagles’ new single-season rushing leader feels like more of a footnote than THE defining feature from this game.
But Barkley’s historical success shouldn’t go underappreciated. His 20 carries resulted in 124 yards (6.2 average).
With 1,623 rushing yards this season, Barkley is 483 yards away from surpassing Eric Dickerson for the NFL single-season rushing record. He’ll need to log at least 120.5 yards per game over the last four weeks to get there. With Barkley averaging 124.9 rushing yards per game so far, the feat is within reach.
ZACK BAUN
How many off-ball linebackers are playing better than Baun this season? Perhaps none?
Baun deserves more than just Pro Bowl recognition. He’s an All-Pro with the way he fills out the box score and makes impact plays on a weekly basis.
Against the Panthers, Baun logged 11 total tackles, three TFLs, two QB hits, and one sack. He’s a beast.
Zack Baun in 62 games with the Saints: 88 total tackles, 6 TFLs, 8 QB hits, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 2 PD, 0 FF
Zack Baun in 13 games with the Eagles: 129 total tackles, 9 TFLs, 5 QB hits, 1 INT, 3.5 sacks, 3 PD, 4 FF
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@brandonleegowton.bsky.social) 2024-12-08T23:36:49.606Z
C.J. GARDNER-JOHNSON
CJGJ sought to be a tone-setter with a HUGE hit on Xavier Legette to break up a third down completion and force a punt on the Panthers’ first drive. It felt very fitting that CJGJ laid the wood like that on the day where the Eagles had Sheldon Brown in the building as their honorary captain.
CJGJ also helped to spark the Eagles’ offense late in the second quarter; his interception allowed Philly to take over at the +44 yard line.
CJGJ went down with multiple injuries on Sunday but he was able to tough it out and finish the game. The Eagles really needed him out there with both Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown inactive and he delivered.
JALEN CARTER
He’s clearly such a disruptive force. Carter logged two TFLs and a team-high three QB hits.
A.J. BROWN
Brown didn’t see the kind of volume he deserves but he made the most of his limited opportunities by catching all four of his targets for 43 yards and four first downs. Those were four of the Eagles’ total seven passing first downs.
Brown could’ve had a much bigger day had Jalen Hurts not missed him several times, including for a potential 83-yard touchdown.
Brown is justified for expressing displeasure with the state of the Eagles’ passing attack. He’s not doing it because he’s selfish and he wants to accumulate stats that’ll help him get a new contract. Brown already got paid in the offseason. He’s doing it because he cares about winning and he knows the Eagles will have a better chance at winning if they do a better job of getting him involved. He’s way too good to only be getting four targets.
DEVONTA SMITH
Playing for the first time since Week 11, DeVonta caught four of his six targets for 37 yards and one touchdown. Not a sexy stat line but he deserves credit for getting open for the Eagles’ biggest completion (27 yards) and for their second touchdown to put Philly up four points at halftime.
DeVonta’s score was his first since he made that wild one-handed end zone grab against the Jacksonville Jaguars back in Week 9.
GRANT CALCATERRA
Playing in his 47th career game (including playoffs), Calcaterra caught his first career touchdown. Nice for him to finally have a moment in the spotlight.
Also, here’s a cool video of one of his siblings (did you know he’s a triplet?) celebrating the score:
KENNY GAINWELL
Kenny G produced 33 yards from scrimmage on five touches. You’ll take that from your backup running back.
He also made a good special teams tackle on the opening kickoff to keep the Panthers four yards behind the 30-yard touchback mark.
THE COMBINATION OF BRADEN MANN AND AVONTE MADDOX NEAR THE END OF THE GAME
Counting this as one winner.
Mann didn’t really have a great game prior his precision punt late in the fourth quarter but he did a nice job of placing that one for Maddox to be able to catch to pin the Panthers at their own 3-yard line.
Nice to see Maddox making a good play after mostly struggling this season. He also had to fill in for CJGJ at times and didn’t seem to get totally exposed?
THE PERSON WHO BET $3.1 MILLION ON THE EAGLES’ MONEYLINE
You can’t help but wonder what was going through their mind on the Panthers’ final drive.
Congrats to them on the ~$442,800 in winnings.
LOSERS
THE PASSING OFFENSE
I can’t get over the Eagles only having 83 net passing yards in this game.
83 net passing yards.
In the year 2024.
That’s just so incredibly unserious.
83 net passing yards against a Panthers defense that entered Week 14 allowing the ninth-most passing yards per game (225.3).
And a Panthers defense that was missing their sack leader (Jadeveon Clowney dodged the Eagles) and their top cornerback for a portion of the game (Jaycee Horn got hurt).
“But the Panthers are playing better recently!”
OK, sure, but here are their net passing yards allowed during this stretch:
- 230 in Week 9 (Derek Carr)
- 175 in Week 10 (Daniel Jones)
- 226 in Week 12 (Patrick Mahomes)
- 209 in Week 13 (Baker Mayfield)
Bryce Young helped the Panthers account for 184 net passing yards against the Eagles, who have a much better defense than Carolina does. And Young is working with a worse supporting cast.
The Eagles had A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and their entire starting offensive line healthy. They can’t be held to 83 net passing yards against the Panthers. That’s just not acceptable.
JAKE ELLIOTT
With a miss from 52 yards out, Elliott is now 18/24 on field goal attempts this season. Only four kickers who’ve played in at least 12 games have a worse made field goal percentage.
Elliott is 0/5 on kicks from 50+. Every kicker who’s attempted at least five from 50+ have made at least two.
Elliott also missed an extra point in this game, though it didn’t count since the Panthers were offside.
The Eagles have a kicker problem at the moment. That Nick Sirianni wasn’t willing to trust him late in the game was telling about the team’s lack of confidence in Elliott.
COOPER DEJEAN
This is the first game where DeJean really looked like a rookie. His struggles contributed to Adam Thielen leading the Panthers with nine catches for 102 yards. There’s every reason to believe he’ll bounce back but today just wasn’t his day.
I DON’T KNOWS
JALEN HURTS
THE GOOD
- Didn’t turn the ball over once again. Just two giveaways in his last nine games.
- Made some big plays with his legs. Avoided a sack to run for 15 yards to put the Eagles in the red zone late in the second quarter. Stepped up in the pocket and took off running for 35 yards to turn 3rd-and-10 at the +44-yard line into 1st-and-goal at the 9-yard line.
- Good TD throws to DeVonta and Calcaterra.
- Had a really nice 3rd-and-13 completion to A.J. Brown on a comeback for a first down during the Eagles’ penultimate drive.
THE BAD
- Played a big role in the Eagles only having 83 net passing yards.
- Checked down to Jahan Dotson for five yards despite having A.J. Brown open deep for a potential 83-yard touchdown on the Eagles’ first drive. Brown looked frustrated that Hurts didn’t hit him. That play could’ve really changed the feel of the game from the jump. Instead, the Eagles ran six plays for just nine yards and had to punt.
- Held the ball FOR. EV. ER. Hurts just did not seem to see the field well.
- Made two pretty significant mistakes on the Eagles’ penultimate drive.
- 1) The first mistake was sliding for a 9-yard loss instead of throwing the ball out of bounds. Speaking after the game, Hurts defended that decision by saying he wanted to avoid the penalty. But the penalty would’ve been more favorable than the slide. And how wasn’t he aware of that much after previously making the right decision to do that against the Ravens in Week 13?
- 2) The second mistake was losing track of the clock and taking a delay of game penalty. That penalty turned 2nd-and-8 at the plus 36-yard line into 2nd-and-13 at the plus 41-yard line. On second down, Hurts threw a tad late to DeVonta on a comeback to have his pass broken up. On third down, Hurts checked down to Calcaterra for five yards. Instead of being at 4th-and-8, the Eagles could’ve been facing a much more convertible 4th-and-3.
Hurts is capable of playing better than he did in this game. But I don’t know if the passing game is really going to get fixed soon.
NICK SIRIANNI
Two big game management decisions to highlight. I don’t know that they were no-brainers but I do think Sirianni ultimately failed to give his team an edge.
Sirianni decided to have Elliott attempt a 52-yard field goal instead of going for it on 4th-and-4 from the plus 34-yard line. I would’ve been in favor of being aggressive. You’re up four points. If it’s a turnover on downs and you limit the Panthers to a field goal, you’re still up by a point. Even if you allow a touchdown, you’re only down by a field goal. And if you get it, hey, you have a chance to go up two possessions or at least kick an easier field goal. Upside is pretty good, downside isn’t that bad.
Facing 4th-and-8 at the plus 36-yard line on the penultimate drive, Sirianni had three options:
1) Keep the offense on the field to go for a first down that effectively would’ve sealed the game with the Panthers out of timeouts.
2) Bring Elliott in to kick a 55-yard field goal to try to go up two possessions.
3) Punt the ball to play the field position game.
Sirianni chose the third option. As my old BGN Radio co-host Jimmy Kempski framed it, that was the only choice that guaranteed the Panthers would get a chance to go on a long TD drive to potentially win the game. And that’s almost exactly what happened.
Sirianni said his decision to punt was informed by how Braden Mann and the Eagles’ punt coverage unit did a good job of pinning the Ravens back deep in Week 13. Making a key decision with that kind of anecdotal evidence doesn’t feel like a great process.
Sirianni also talked about trusting in his defense. There’s certainly some sense to trusting them over Hurts and Elliott in that spot. But if you really trusted them, you shouldn’t have to worry about field position so much, right? Trust them enough to get a stop if Hurts can’t pick up a first down or Elliott misses another kick. The worst case scenario isn’t the Panthers getting the ball and scoring a touchdown at all. It’s them getting the ball and scoring a touchdown in a fashion where they leave little time left on the clock. And that’s almost exactly what happened.
Sirianni’s questionable game management and the Eagles’ passing struggles are two of the bigger question marks heading down the stretch. These issues have the potential to significantly hinder the Eagles in the playoffs.
DARIUS SLAY
Felt like this was a weird game for Slay.
He had some struggles before coming up with a fourth down pass breakup to force a Panthers turnover on downs on Carolina’s penultimate drive.
He then got beat by Legette for what might’ve been a game-winning touchdown had the rookie wide receiver not dropped the ball.
But then he broke up another Young fourth down pass to seal the deal for an Eagles win.
