If you watched the Carolina Panthers' 25-14 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon, you probably noticed the striking presence of something that's been almost totally absent from this team over the last four years.
We're talking about a dirty little five-letter word called a "blitz."
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero is one of the league's more conservative defensive play-callers, reliably employing a zone defense no matter who the opponent is or how well their quarterback happens to be playing. That's what makes the extremely rare games when he embraces the pressure so successful.
Evero dialed up blitz after blitz after blitz in this week's victory, and it was about as effective as you can reasonably expect at this level—especially
for the Panthers' linebackers. According to Mike Kaye at ESPN, Devin Lloyd posted an 82-percent pass rush win rate, which is the highest for any player since they started tracking the stat in 2017.
From @espn Analytics and @NextGenStats:#Panthers LB Devin Lloyd posted an 82% Pass Rush Win Rate against the #Eagles.
— Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) October 19, 2026
According to ESPN Research, that’s the highest by any player in a game since ESPN started tracking win rates in 2017.
Obviously, it's easy to win your pass-rush matchup when nobody's blocking you—as was the case for Lloyd and Bobby Okereke for much of the afternoon. That's by design, though. Evero picked his spots for the blitz really well, and both linebackers timed their rushes perfectly more often than not.
All together, the Panthers defense got to Eagles starter Tanner McKee for three sacks and 11 hits—holding him to just 215 passing yards and a 34.4 quarterback rating.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers LB Devin Lloyd breaks ESPN pass rush metric in Week 6 win
