It's not about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
The Carolina Panthers might've taken that famous quote from Rocky Balboa to heart on Sunday . . . even though much of the hits they took were self-inflicted. Nonetheless, they finished up their business—and a banged-up Philadelphia Eagles squad—to grind out a 25-14 win.
Here are our biggest takeaways from a triumphant Week 6 . . .
Gotta clean it up
Even with the victory, Sunday's outing at Lincoln Financial Field wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.
By game's end, the Panthers drew 13 flags—all of which accounted for a franchise-record 149 yards off penalties. That messiness kept a clipped Eagles team, missing its starting quarterback Jalen Hurts and star running back Saquon
Barkely, alive for far too long.
What stung the most is that many of the mistakes were mental, something head coach Dave Canales alluded to afterwards.
"We have to clean that up," he told reporters. "We gotta do better with our hands, in different situations—particularly, if you're not at the point of attack for a play. We gotta be smarter, we gotta be cleaner with our screens, o-linemen down the field, all that."
The lapses from right guard Robert Hunt, who came in leading the team in flags, might've stood out most. Hunt committed not one, but two ineligible man downfield penalties.
Luckily, Philadelphia was also far from clean—with 11 penalties of their own. But Carolina's sloppiness, which isn't befitting for a playoff contender on the rise, could've cost them in a contest that they should've won comfortably.
Bryce is still nice
Sunday's offering from the NFL's leading passer was not his best here in 2026. Even still, he was nice with it.
Whether it came as a result of pressure, timing and/or accuracy issues, quarterback Bryce Young's performance left a bit to be desired. He completed a hair under half of his passes (20-of-39) and led his unit to just seven conversions on their 17 third-down looks.
But when it came time to deliver a knockout blow to the weary Eagles, he did so—finding tight end Tommy Tremble for a 19-yard touchdown to give the Panthers their 11-point edge late in the fourth quarter. All in all, Young threw for 281 yards—his fifth-straight game of at least 280 passing yards to begin the campaign—a pair of scores and zero interceptions.
To the Eagles' credit, they are still fielding a formidable defense—so we can chalk up at least some of Young's struggles to having faced a very worthy opponent. Considering that, his Week 6 display was certainly pretty enough—and showcased his continuing growth as the franchise guy.
Chuba keeps it chugging
Welcome back, 2024 Chuba Hubbard.
The sixth-year running back served as the engine of the offense. After putting a rough first half behind him, Hubbard finished the contest with 120 yards and a touchdown on a hefty 28 attempts.
With Jonathon Brooks still on injured reserve, AJ Dillon sidelined and Trevor Etienne just returning from a tweaked ankle, the Panthers put their ground game on Hubbard's back—and he carried it.
Over the past three weeks, he's run for 324 yards and three scores off 67 takes. His injury-plagued 2025 campaign saw him go for just 511 rushing yards and one touchdown over 15 games.
Hubbard, like he did two seasons ago, is proving that he's capable of being the bell cow for this budding offense.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Biggest takeaways from the Panthers' rocky Week 6 win over Lions
