By: Kylan Watson
Currently, the Philadelphia Eagles are the hottest team in football and faced the Carolina Panthers in South Philly today to extend their winning streak to nine games. The Panthers gave the Eagles all they could handle throughout this contest. However, when it mattered most the Eagles defense did enough to stop a last minute scoring attempt by the Panthers to beat them 22-16. As a result of beating Carolina Philly extended their win streak to nine games (franchise record) and got their 11th victory of the 2024-25 NFL Regular Season.
The Eagles once again could not get their offense off the ground in the first quarter this phenomenon has been consistent throughout this season. Philly is a bottom five team in points scored in the first quarter, but lead the league in scoring points in the other three periods. In this contest the reason they could not score a point in the first quarter was because the Panthers were able to possess the ball throughout most of the period. By the time the Eagles could get a drive off the ground the quarter was over. With the playoffs starting next month Philly will have to get these first quarter scoring issues fixed if they want to have a long postseason runs that ends in a parade down Broad Street.
Kellen Moore needs to use a balanced game script to get all of his playmakers going in the first quarter. Use a good mix of both running plays and passing plays to get the trio of Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith going at the beginning of a game. Instead of waiting until the second quarter to help them find their rhythm. Doing this should help the offense get out of the mud early in contests and help them rediscover their dominance. Not being able to put points on the board will bite them in the playoffs if they do not get this figured out before the playoffs start in January.
Despite the Eagles taking awhile to get going Philly’s defense was able to do just enough to keep the Panthers from scoring enough touchdowns to win this game. They got enough pressure on Bryce Young to speed him up and force him to make bad passes throughout this game. One of those bad passing attempts was picked off by Chauncey Gardner- Johnson, and Philly converted that turnover into a Jalen Hurts touchdown completion to Grant Calcaterra. That touchdown completion help the Eagles retake the lead heading into half time.
Philly was able to overcome a significant possessions advantage by the Panthers to win this game because their defense was able to stifle their offense when it mattered the most. With the game on the line and the Panthers were threatening to take this game away from the Eagles. Darius Slay was able to break up a pass attempt that would have put Carolina in the red zone with a really good chance to put points on the board and steal this game.
That was the stop that the Eagles were missing to seal this game and keep their win streak alive. The Eagles were only able to stop the Panthers explosive offense in this game about three times which is not a formula that wins any team many games. However, the Eagles were able to use their significant talent advantage to win this game over the Panthers.
This was by far the Eagles worst game during their nine game winning streak, but despite committing a number of mistakes in this game they were able to win it. As a result, of winning today’s game they were able to keep pace with the Detroit Lions in the race for the number one seed in the NFC playoff race.
The Eagles will now prepare to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the battle of Pennsylvania next Sunday afternoon. Philly will need to find their scoring form early and often next week if they want to keep up with Pittsburgh’s explosive offense. Using a combination of plays that gets Barkley, Brown, and Smith going early should help the Eagles stay on the field and put points on the board. In addition, on the defensive side Philly will have to put Russell Wilson on the ground multiple times throughout this contest. They cannot over pursue him because he will find the open man down the field. Staying disciplined and not committing dumb penalties will be a key factor in determining who wins this game next week. Implementing these things into next week’s gameplan should put the Eagles in great position to win their 12th game of the season and extend their win streak to 10 games.
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