It looks like the two week wait was worth it.
Coming off of the bye, Carolina marched into Philadelphia and pulled off a road victory. Funnily enough, the Panthers were the second football team from the city of Charlotte to win at Lincoln Financial Field this weekend.
A big congratulations to my alma mater for finally getting their first win of the season.
This is a very significant win for Carolina. Yes, starting QB Jalen Hurts did not play, nor did the Eagles top three running backs, but a wire-to-wire victory in one of the most hostile environments in the league is no easy feat.
Carolina is now on a winning streak for only the third time in the Dave Canales era (‘24 Weeks 9-10, ‘25 Weeks 5-7). The Panthers also won for the first time following a bye week since Canales took over.
Acing the test on Sunday Night Football into a tough road win is a good start. Next, Carolina will host their first home division matchup of the season.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Despite the 25-14 victory in Philly, there were many blemishes the Panthers need to polish away this week in practice.
The Good
Bryce Young - What more needs to be said? Despite Hurts and Barkley missing the game, the Eagles All-Pro defenders still showed up for work on Sunday. Jalen Carter and the defensive front were able to pressure Young, but it didn’t really matter once the play-calling settled.
While some may grade the Eagles defense poorly in this contest, they still limited Bryce to a season-low 281 passing yards. Young’s decisiveness and accuracy across the middle of the field helped seal this win and earn him MVP chants from the Carolina faithful that made the trip.
If Young’s play continues, the sky is the limit for this offense.
Chuba Hubbard/Run Game - After asking for it during the first few weeks of the season, it seems like the Panthers have finally found their run attack to complement what Young does in the air. Hubbard now has back-to-back 120 rushing yard contests.
Getting players back on the offensive line definitely helped the run game come to fruition. If Carolina can continue to lean on the run late, fans will be seeing more double-digit victories for this team down the stretch.
Ejiro Evero’s Aggression - At this point, we know what the defensive front is going to give on game day. This is not a strong pass-rushing front four/five, but more of a run-stopping unit that can occasionally pressure opposing quarterbacks.
So, what does Defensive Coordinator Ejiro Evero do to make up for it? Blitz the other team to death. Just like against Detroit, Evero fired a linebacker at Philly seemingly every passing play. Backup QB Tanner McKee couldn’t handle it, and ultimately the Panthers were able to get home for three sacks, including the first play of the game.
This type of tone-setting play has never existed for an Evero defense in Carolina. If we can just dial back the 12-yard off coverage on 3rd and longs, this defense might be worthy enough to complement what Young and the offense have done thus far.
Relative Health - No team should have to endure what the Panthers went through in the first month as it pertains to injuries. Having a bye week seemed to have helped, as multiple players were able to return to play, including Jalen Coker, Taylor Moton, and Damien Lewis.
Fortunately for Carolina, the team walked out of Philly mostly unscathed. Former Eagles edge rusher Jaelan Phillips left the game with a hamstring injury, but was able to return.
The Panthers have used up their bye week. It’s gone, they aren’t going to get another one.
Maintaining the health of the team will be a challenge going forward, but coming out of Philadelphia with a win and a relatively clean bill of health is a massive step in the right direction.
Kick Coverages/Returns - Lastly, the special teams unit also needs a shoutout. Carolina has been one of the better coverage units this season, and that continued in the Linc.
On the other side, Carolina’s returns were a revelation when they weren’t called back for penalties. David Moore and Trevor Etienne were able to provide an extra boost that wasn’t there to start the season.
Good football in all three phases generally leads to wins. For the first time in a long time, that’s what the Panthers were able to produce.
The Bad
Situational Play-calling - Can we stop the 2nd and long run calls? Establishing the run is important, but not at the expense of moving the ball as a whole.
Early in this contest, it felt like the conservative play-calling and sequencing of when Canales was at the helm had returned. Many times on 3rd downs were runs called, followed up with subsequent punts on 4th downs.
Had this plan of attack continued into the second half, I’m not sure Carolina walks out of Philadelphia with the win. Conservative play-calling is the bane of successful offenses. If the Panthers want to be a real contender for the playoffs, they need to leave that mantra in 2025.
Rob Hunt - How many more penalties is Hunt going to accrue this season?
Entering the game, Hunt was one of the most-penalized players in the NFL. Unfortunately, this trend did not stop against the Eagles. Early in the second quarter, Young scrambles and hits Mitchell Evans wide open for 23 yards, only for the play to be negated by Hunt being downfield on the pass.
A lot of these are mental mistakes. If the penalties were holds, you could rationalize or explain them away. False starts and ineligible player downfield calls are backbreakers - and need to stop for this offense to be more potent.
Ryan Fitzgerald/Failed Two-Point Conversion - For whatever reason, the missed extra points have plagued Ryan Fitzgerald this season.
Following the blunder in Philly, this is now the fourth missed extra point for Fitz. Fortunately, Fitzgerald has not yet missed a field goal. However, if the misses continue to pile up, Carolina can ill afford to settle for an unreliable kicker.
The misses wouldn’t be as big of a deal if the Panthers could convert on two-point conversion attempts to nullify the misses. However, Carolina is now 0-2 on 2PCs this season.
For a team that thrived on being creative and able to convert short-yardage 4th down attempts last season, failing on two-point conversions is a bit perplexing.
The Ugly
Dave Canales Decision-making - Circling back to the play-calling, I have to imagine a lot of the 3rd down run calls were made to set up easier 4th down decisions. However, Carolina only attempted one 4th down, which the team did end up converting.
There were multiple instances in the first half where Canales turned down the option to extend the drive in favor of punting. It got to a point where Philadelphia brought the score within 3 points, partially because the Panthers didn’t sustain drives.
Perhaps the most frustrating decision from Canales came on Carolina’s drive before the end of the half. After nearly converting a 3rd down, Canales let almost thirty seconds run off the clock and end the half. The team was around mid-field.
Completely inexcusable stuff from a staff that was aggressive last year - it’s almost like they were playing scared against a team fielding a backup quarterback.
To his credit, Canales did take accountability for this mistake in his post-game presser.
That doesn’t absolve him from this blunder, however. Had this been a close game or even a loss, one of the first things you’d point to was this mismanagement. Hopefully this is a one-time mistake this season since Canales has more time to focus on this aspect of the game without dealing with play-calling.
149 Penalty Yards - If it felt like the Panthers were moving backwards a lot against the Eagles, that’s because they were. Over the course of the game, Carolina had thirteen penalties accepted against them for a total of 149 yards.
That number is the highest mark in franchise history. For perspective, in a win against the New York Giants on Sunday, Saints QB Tyler Shough passed for a comfortable 144 yards. The Panthers outgained a starting QB’s yardage with their own penalties.
Fans will always complain about penalties, but the refereeing in this contest was pretty fair in my opinion. The Eagles were called for eleven penalties themselves; it wasn’t a major one-sided affair.
Carolina’s issue is that the penalties they commit are costly. Pass interference calls are always automatic first downs. Calls in the return game heavily negate yardage and give poor starting field positions. And procedural calls on offense can wipe out massive plays.
This team has to be more disciplined going forward. Now that Carolina is tasting a bit of success, they will be scrutinized even more as the season progresses.
Jersey Combo - To me, this was the worst part of the game. One of the best facets of the Carolina Panthers are the colors the team gets to wear. Process Blue is the best blue in all of the NFL, and it pops no matter if the Panthers are under the sun or the lights at night.
So why does this team continue to go back to the one (1) poorly-designed uniform combo?
According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, this was the cast of gameday fits the Panthers put out last season. From the classic black top on silver pants, to the Process Blue jersey, to the newer black helmet in the mix, Carolina has a plethora of great options to choose from.
The one that sticks out like a sore thumb is on the bottom left of the graphic, and what the Panthers wore against Philly. White top on black pants looks like a practice uniform.
This uniform combo was also the main fit worn during the early 2020’s woeful years of the Panthers. Funnily enough, Carolina was also 0-1 last season wearing that combo.
Yes, Carolina was able to pull off the win against the Eagles wearing this uniform combination. But let’s not make it a habit - there are plenty of other, better-looking fits the Cardiac Cats can put on a show in.
Uniform rant aside, there were many positives to come away with from this game. One of the key themes of the 2025 Panthers was how the team was able to handle success.
Last season, after the 3-game win streak from Weeks 5-7, this team did not win any other consecutive games. After highs from each victory came the lows of defeats, a pattern that would continue for most of the season until the Panthers would lose their last three contests.
Now, coming off of consecutive wins with a bye week sandwiched in the middle, the Panthers will face a similar test. At the time of writing this, the Panthers are already more than field goal favorites against the division-foe Buccaneers next week.
Tampa Bay looks absolutely despondent this season, but a division opponent is a division opponent. This game won’t be a walk in the park by any means.
Can Carolina respond to success better than they were able to last season? That is the question.
I hate when Canales is playing conservatively.