The Carolina Panthers played through a referee show to pull off a road win over the depleted Philadelphia Eagles, 25-14.
First Quarter
The Panthers defense was on the field first and got off to a strong start. Bobby Okereke sacked Tanner McKee on the first play and then nearly intercepted him on the second. The Eagles punted away, and a strong return by Trevor Etienne in his return set the Panthers up with good field position. Chuba Hubbard picked up a first down with his first carry, then Bryce Young hit Tetairoa McMillan a couple times to quickly move into field goal range. The drive stalled out and Dave Canales elected to kick a field goal on 4th and 4 seemingly anticipating a defensive struggle.
Both teams exchanged a couple of ineffective drives that ended in punts. The quarter ended with the Eagles…I guess you could call it “driving” on the own side of their field.
Second Quarter
That drive almost moved when Tanner McKee completed an intermediate pass to DeVonta Smith, but it was called back for a holding in the backfield. That drive also ended a punt. Young completed a couple of passes to Jalen Coker to move the Panthers into Eagles territory. It looked like they had another big play to Mitchell Evans, but it was called back for a very inconsequential ineligible player down field call on Robert Hunt. A couple incompletions later, another punt. The defense forced another punt, and the punt was tipped and went out of bounds at the 35 yard line.
The offense responded by picking up a first down via an Eagles penalty. On the next play, Young was not called for an intentional grounding (twice), and then after some complaining, the officials discussed and changed their mind and threw a flag like three minutes later. Young responded by completing a pass to McMillan while benefiting from a roughing the passer penalty going the other way. On the next play, Young found Tommy Tremble wide open in the flat and he took it to the end zone to put the Panthers up 10-0.
The Eagles responded with a solid drive of their own. They were aided by a catch on what should have been an incomplete pass, but Dave Canales wasn’t able to get the challenge flag out quick enough. Two plays later, Will Lee was called for a phantom pass interference in the end zone. Another two plays later, Dameon Pierce punched it in.
David Moore returned the kickoff out to midfield, but nothing eventful could happen in this game without a flag. The return was called back for a hold. On the next play, Chuba Hubbard’s nice run was called back for a hold. On the next play, the Panthers were called for ineligible players down field, but that one was declined. Young found Tetairoa McMillan to pick up a first down either way. Dave Canales turtled from there and elected to let the clock run out. Neither team called any timeouts, and the game went into the half with the Panthers holding a 10-7 lead.
Third Quarter
The Panthers picked up a couple of first downs on the first drive. One needed a Canales challenge to get the spot moved to a first down. The offense couldn’t muster more than that, but they did give Ryan Fitzgerald a chance to convert a 52 yard field goal to put the visitors up 13-7.
The defense held the Eagles to another punt, but the offense stalled out around midfield once again. Devin Lloyd sacked Tanner McKee on the Eagles next possession while Will Lee had a couple of really nice coverage reps against DeVonta Smith to force yet another punt.
The Panthers got backed into the shadow of the end zone, but Young found Jalen Coker breaking free in the middle of the field, and he scooted away for a 32 yard gain. Coker picked up another decent gain later in the drive, and Chuba Hubbard had a few hard runs. One of those came on a 4th and 1 to extend the drive into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Young scrambled to the two yard line to bring up another 4th and 1. The offense stayed on the field, and Young was able to get them to jump on a hard count. Two plays later, Hubbard strolled off the left side for a touchdown. The offense stayed on the field for a 2-point conversion, but Young’s pass was knocked away.
The Panthers eased off defensively, and that gave Tanner McKee the space to orchestrate a long drive without taking too much time. Devonta Smith briefly left the game after a hard fall, but he returned to catch a long touchdown over Will Lee.
The Panthers bungled the kickoff and ended up deep in their own territory. The offense did nothing, then Sam Martin botched the punt. It looked like things were unraveling for Carolina, but the Eagles came to the rescue. A bad snap on first down put the Eagles way behind the sticks. The defense forced a punt, and Anthony Tyus broke through the line to block the punt.
The offense finally took advantage of the field position. They picked up a first down with a Hubbard run, and an unnecessary roughness penalty tacked on more yardage. On the next play, Young found Tommy Tremble completely uncovered down the field for a touchdown. Tremble was called for taunting because he had the audacity to point in the general direction of an Eagles player. Ryan Fitzgerald missed the long extra point.
The Panthers defense let the Eagles start moving the ball again, but Ejiro Evero dialed up the pressure when the Eagles got to midfield. Tre’von Moehrig notched a sack. On fourth down, McKee launched a jump ball to Smith, but Zaire Wheatley was able to range over and break up the pass.
Chuba Hubbard grinded out a first down then David Moore took a bubble screen 27 yards inside the 15 yard line. One more first down run from Hubbard iced the game.
Overview
It was far from pretty, but a win is a win. The Panthers set a franchise record for penalty yardage in a game (149) but were able to overcome that and put up a solid 25 points against a vaunted Eagles defense. Chuba Hubbard had an admirable workhorse performance with 28 carries for 120 yards, and Bryce Young put together a quiet 281 yards passing, even if the completion percentage wasn’t great.
On defense, Will Lee IV did a very good job on DeVonta Smith, who was basically the only offensive weapon the Eagles had left. The group did what they should have done against an opponent with a makeshift offensive line and dearth of play makers. They limited the Eagles to just 3.6 yards per play. The penalties are really the only thing that kept the Eagles in the game.
The Panthers move to 3-2 with the win. It’s their first winning record since they started the 2021 season 3-0. They’ll try to keep that momentum going when they host the division rival Buccaneers next Sunday.