Last time the Carolina Panthers played the Philadelphia Eagles, they were heavy underdogs as a 3-9 team facing an Eagles team that was 10-2 and riding an eight game winning streak. But the Bryce Young-led Panthers were scrappy and hung tight with the Eagles in what was not the most aesthetically pleasing game. Young tried to pull off some heroics, escaping from a possible safety while getting his shirt ripped to complete a pass. He led the Panthers down the field late in a one score game. With less
than a minute left, Young hit Xavier Legette with a deep ball to the middle of the field that could have won the game, but Legette let the ball hit the turf. The Panthers ultimately turned the ball over on downs and lost the game.
The lead up to this game is a little different. The Panthers currently have the better record between the two teams, and the vibes around the Eagles especially low for a team that’s 2-3. All time great right tackle suddenly announced his retirement a couple weeks ago, and the Eagles followed that by trading long time starting center Cam Jurgens. And they’ve lost three straight games while all of that has been happening.
The Panthers held up well in their matchups against the Lions, and that allowed them to pull off an electrifying win on Sunday Night Football. Let’s see what this week’s key matchups look like.
Derrick Brown vs Tyler Steen and Markel Bell
The Eagles offensive line has long been one of the strengths of the team, but this season they’re close to recruiting guys off the street to fill in the gaps. Markel Brown has had to fill in after the retirement of Lane Johnson, and he’s no Lane Johnson. Tyler Steen has been okay at right guard, but he got banged up last week and was limited in practice to start the week. Brown has been relatively quiet to start this season. The right side of the Eagles line is where they’re weaker, so it’s a prime spot for Brown to have his best outing of the year and wreck an Eagles offense that has had its fair of struggles.
Devin Lloyd vs Dallas Goedert
Tight end Dallas Goedert led the Eagles in targets against the Jaguars last week with all the injuries to the Eagles best skill position players. With Saquon Barkley and Devonta Smith both questionable this week, there’s a chance Goedert is once again the most established offensive weapon at Jalen Hurts’ disposal. He primarily operates in the short areas of the field. After whatever happened in Week 1, Lloyd has been outstanding in coverage when he’s played. If he can take away Goedert, he’ll take away Hurts’ safety blanket and make a whole lot more difficult for the Eagles offense.
Tetairoa McMillan vs Quinyon Mitchell
McMillan had the game of his life on Sunday Night Football against the Lions. He finished with 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns against a very bad Lions defense. This Sunday’s test is a lot tougher. Quinyon Mitchell has been one of the better corners in the league almost since he arrived in 2024. Jalen Coker is back to help take away some defensive attention, but the Panthers are going to need to trust McMillan to win some one on one matchups against Mitchell to open up things for everyone else.
Robert Hunt vs Jalen Carter
The Eagles defense has been keeping them in games while their offense stumbles around. Jalen Carter is a big part of that. He leads the team with three sacks in five games, which is a very high number for an interior lineman. He’s coming off a dominant performance against the Jaguars in which he was credited with two of those sacks and 1.5 run stuffs. All of the Panthers interior linemen will be responsible for keeping Carter in check, but it’s likely going to be Robert Hunt that handles the bulk of that assignment. Hunt has been a little shaky this season. He’ll need to regain his form from past seasons to limit Carter.
Eagles vs time zones
The Eagles played in London last week, and with the NFL playing so many international games now, that doesn’t always mean a bye in the following week. The London trip certainly seems a lot less daunting now that the NFL forced a couple of teams to play a game in Australia, but it’s still not nothing to travel across six time zones to play a game early in the morning for the body clocks. We’ll see if the Eagles are suffering from any jet lag coming back stateside, especially since they lost the game in heartbreaking fashion before making the long flight home.
