Weekly Wrap
The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Carolina Panthers 21-18. It was not pretty, but it looks the same on paper. The Eagles record their second win of the season, improving to 2-3 while the Panthers fall to 3-2.
This was a team win, heavily led by the defense. After giving up over 40 points in back to back weeks, Philadelphia’s defense and defensive coordinator were under heavy fire. Credit to the defensive unit led by Jonathan Gannon. Adjustments were made which saw a lot more man to man coverage resulting in three interceptions. A few critical sacks were made in this one as well. The defense kept the team in the game the whole day, while the offense struggled for the better part of it.
Play calling from HC Nick Sirianni continues to be an issue. Resorting to ineffective screen passes as opposed to running the ball, the Eagles struggled to get anything going in this one. The offense started out with back to back three and outs before a huge interception by Darius Slay set them up in the red zone.
Unfortunately this only led to 3 points, as penalties continues to play a factor. Yet another touchdown was taken off of the board due to an offensive pass interference call.
At the half, Jalen Hurts was averaging 1.8 yards per attempt. That is simply abysmal. We seemingly didn’t get a ball thrown downfield until Quez Watkins made a 53 yard reception which injected life back into this offense.
While it was a tough day overall, the offensive did score when they needed to. Jalen Hurts led and finished two drives in the end zone. A critical two point conversion saw the Eagles take a 3 point lead with 4 minutes in the 4th quarter; their first lead of the game.
As noted, none of that would have been possible without the tremendous play of the defense and a huge special teams blocked punt.
The Eagles closed this one out nicely. After getting the lead, the Eagles came up with another turnover and the offense was able to get a couple first downs to ice the game.
It was promising to see the team never give up in this one, and find a way to win. Not much time to celebrate however, as the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are coming to town on a short week for Thursday Night Football.