PHILADELPHIA -- While the victory certainly wasn't pretty, the Philadelphia Eagles did hold on to defeat the Carolina Panthers 22-16 and tie the franchise record with their ninth straight victory. The Eagles remain three games up in the NFC East and need just two more wins to clinch the NFC's No. 2 seed, even if they needed to halt a final drive by the Panthers in the final minute.
The Eagles also kept pace with the Lions in the race for the No. 1 seed, remaining a game back of Detroit. This also was another week Saquon Barkley found himself in the Eagles' history books, this time setting the franchise single-season rushing record in just the Eagles' 13th game of the year.
Barkley passed LeSean McCoy for the franchise mark on a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter, as he has 1,623 rushing yards on the season (McCoy previously held the mark with 1,607 in 2013). Barkley finished with 20 carries for 124 yards on the afternoon, averaging 6.2 yards per carry.
Here are key observations from Sunday's game against the Panthers, with a quarter-by-quarter rundown.
First quarter
-- Jalen Carter made his presence felt on the first series, having a pressure on the third play of the game and finishing with three quarterback hits on the first five plays. The second-year defensive tackle has been dominant over the past few weeks and clearly exposed a mismatch against the interior of the Panthers offensive line.
-- Slow starts are still typical for the Eagles, as they went six plays for 19 yards -- and lost 10 yards due to a holding penalty. The Eagles have yet to score a touchdown in their 13 opening possessions this season, only scoring twice in those 13 possessions (and they were field goals). The Eagles are averaging 4.2 yards per play on their opening possessions.
-- Zack Baun continues his All-Pro pursuit with a third-down sack on Bryce Young in the Eagles' second defensive series. On a third-and-7 at the Eagles' 48-yard line, Baun got to Young and pushed him back into Panthers territory, taking a potential fourth down attempt out of the equation. Baun had two tackles, a sack and quarterback hit in the first two series.
Second quarter
-- Saquon Barkley has three carries for 30 yards on the Eagles' third drive to get them into Panthers' territory for the first time. While Barkley got the Eagles' run game going, Jalen Hurts has started 3 of 6 for 15 yards before breaking through with a 27-yard pass to DeVonta Smith to get the Eagles into the red zone. Hurts later punched it in on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead with 11:48 left in the second quarter. Hurts went 3 of 4 for 37 yards on the drive after starting 1 of 3 for 5 yards on the Eagles' first two possessions. Barkley had five carries for 37 yards on the 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive.
-- Jalen Hurts is the seventh player in NFL history with 13+ rush touchdowns in three straight seasons. Hurts is the first player since LaDainian Tomlinson (2002-2007) to accomplish this feat. This is Hurts' third season with 13+ rushing touchdowns. All over quarterbacks have two such seasons all time.
-- The Panthers have been playing better of late and the first half was no different. Carolina scored on consecutive drives after failing to score on their first two possessions, the second drive being a 14-play, 69-yard drive for a touchdown to give them a 10-7 lead with 4:00 left in the second quarter. Bryce Young went 4 of 6 for 57 yards on those two drives, including a touchdown pass to Tommy Tremble on fourth-and-goal at the Eagles' 3-yard line that gave Carolina the lead. A slow start by the Eagles has allowed Carolina to stay in the game.
-- Hurts has been poor in this first half with his accuracy, making the easy throws look difficult. On the Eagles' fourth possession, Hurts rolled to his left and looked uncomfortable in deciding whether to run or throw as the edge clogged up. Hurts threw a jump pass out of bounds than missed 6-foot-6 Johnny Wilson on third down on an easy throw across the middle that should have been a first down. Hurts has started this game 4 of 9 for 42 yards through four possessions.
-- C.J. Gardner-Johnson turned the half around as Bryce Young threw a deep ball intended for Adam Thielen, but was well past his target. Gardner-Johnson picked off the pass on third-and-3 and took it 15 yards to the Panthers' 44. Young wasn't pressured on the play, so it was just a bad throw that resulted in a turnover.
-- A.J. Brown has his first two targets of the game on the Eagles' fifth series, something Philadelphia will have to explain why it took the Eagles so long to get him the ball. That seemed to open Jalen Hurts up, as he found DeVonta Smith for a 4-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 14-10 lead with 14 second remaining in the half. Hurts went 5 of 5 for 28 yards and a touchdown on the drive, including a 15-yard run.
Third quarter
-- Jake Elliott is 0 of 5 on field goals of 50+ yards this season, missing a 52-yard kick with 10:42 left in the third quarter to keep the score at 14-10. Elliott missed this kick to the right, continuing his inconsistency on those kicks -- specifically on the north end of Lincoln Financial Field. This has been a problem for the Eagles all year and its not going away.
-- Bryce Young and the Panthers had a fourth-and-2 on the Eagles' 11 and decided to go for it instead of kicking the field goal. Young had no one open, but threw the pass across the middle as the ball was tipped. The tipped pass was actually caught by Adam Thielen for the first down for a 6-yard gain. That was a fortunate break for the Panthers, but it kept the drive alive.
-- The Panthers did score on a 1-yard touchdown run by Chuba Hubbard, but wasted a timeout challenging if Hubbard got into the end zone on the play before (Hubbard was down at the half-yard line with two downs to spare). Eddy Pineiro missed the extra point as Carolina took a 16-14 lead with 2:19 left in the third quarter. Wasting two timeouts and missing an extra point are the little things that cost teams in one-possession games, and Carolina has executed both --- even with the lead.
Fourth quarter
-- Jalen Hurts found Grant Calcaterra on a third-and-goal from the Eagles' 4 for a touchdown to give them the lead with 13:45 left. Jake Elliott missed the extra point try, but the Panthers were offsides and the Eagles chose to go for two on the 1-yard line. Saquon Barkley scored on the conversion and the Eagles took a 22-16 lead. Hurts has just 77 yards passing, but two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown (114.1 rating at this point in game). This is one of his weirdest stat lines of the season.
-- The Eagles got a key fourth-down stop at their 27-yard line to keep the score at 22-16. Carolina passed on a field goal to cut the 22-16 deficit to 22-19, opting to go for it on fourth-and-2. Bryce Young's pass was low and in the ground, as Darius Slay was the closest defender in coverage. The Eagles remain up six points, as the defense finally got a fourth-down stop at the most crucial point in the game so far (Carolina was previously 2 of 2 on fourth down).
-- On a third-and-13 from the Eagles' 47-yard line, Jalen Hurts made the biggest throw of the game with a 15-yard pass to A.J. Brown that gave Philadelphia a first down with 4:49 left. Hurts found Brown on an out route and Brown made a move past the chains with a defender on him to extend the drive for the Eagles. Hurts has just 103 yards passing to that point, but that was the biggest throw on a day where the Eagles quarterback was very inconsistent.
-- The Panthers had an opportunity for a game-winning drive of their own with 3:05 left, but give credit to Braden Mann for pinning them at the 3-yard line and forcing them to go 97 yards down the field for the win. Mann has six punts inside the 20-yard line over the last two weeks for the Eagles. As bad as Jake Elliott has been kicking the football, that's how good Mann has been punting the football.
-- Bryce Young's fourth-and-9 pass intended to Adam Thielen was incomplete with 29 seconds left, sealing the Eagles win. There was a flag on the play, but it was an illegal blindside block by Carolina. Josh Sweat forced Young out of the pocket and to his left before Young had to make a throw on the run. The Eagles defense had another strong performance late.
