This was over before it started.<\/p>\n
By the middle of the fourth quarter on Sunday, that reality finally reached the fans by the show of large sections of empty seats at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n
Get ready for a lot of that in the coming months, because the rest of the Eagles\u2019 2026 season will be devoted to evaluating who to keep and who to discard after the Eagles fell to the Carolina Panthers, 25-14, at the Linc.<\/p>\n
The Eagles are now 2-4\u2014and through, regardless of how bad the NFC East looks.<\/p>\n
It was the Eagles\u2019 fourth-straight loss, making it the first time they have lost four-straight games since Doug Peterson\u2019s 4-11-1 season in 2020\u2014and the first four-game losing streak in Nick Sirianni\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n
Going to the Linc are still great ways to fill autumn Sunday afternoons, sans winning.<\/p>\n
But after the greatest four-year stretch in Eagles\u2019 history, with the mounting cracks in the wall the Eagles were bound to collapse.<\/p>\n
The Eagles may be expecting Tanner McKee to be the next coming of Nick Foles (or Tom Brady, according to Zack Baun). The problem is this fanbase knows Nick Foles. It watched Nick Foles win a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
Tanner McKee is no Nick Foles.<\/p>\n
Tanner McKee is no answer to Jalen Hurts for the fools out there who thought he was.<\/p>\n
Eagles\u2019 fans, that loyal fanbase, get it. They abandoned the home team well before Panthers\u2019 kicker Ryan Fitzgerald\u2019s missed extra point went spinning right to the background of vast empty seats with 6:33 left to play.<\/p>\n
No one wanted to sit through the inevitable.<\/p>\n
The Eagles are falling with nothing available to pick them up. They were down to rookie Keyshawn James-Newby and Arnold Ebitketie as their edge rushers for the majority of the game after Nolan Smith was lost to a concussion in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Carolina\u2019s Bryce Young is blossoming into a franchise quarterback. He completed 20 of 39 for 281 yards and two touchdowns, while McKee struggled through major portions of the game, completing 26 of 45 for 215 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n
Against Carolina, the Eagles passed 45 times and ran the ball 13, against one of the NFL\u2019s worst rushing defenses. Right now, Eagles\u2019 offensive coordinator Sean Mannion is making Kevin Patullo look like Sid Gillman, if that\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n
It was interesting that Hurts was nowhere to be found on the sideline.<\/p>\n
Philly sports salvation is near. If anyone had not noticed, there is a new \u201cKing\u201d in Philly, LeBron James and the 76ers will open their season on Tuesday against the defending NBA champion New York Knicks. Numerous Eagles may be courtside.<\/p>\n
They should thank the Sixers, because the old king, the Eagles, are losing their glare and fading from the eye of the Philly sports storm.<\/p>\n
The Eagles\u2019 over-under apathy line is mid-November. By then, the Flyers may even double the Eagles\u2019 victory total.<\/p>\n
There was a pinch of good, undermined by piles of bad and a mountain of ugly in the Eagles\u2019 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n
The Eagles forcing a three-and-out with 9:46 to play after the DeVonta Smith score brought the Eagles to within 19-14.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s great leaping 19-yard touchdown catch with 10:42 left to play. It was a great pass thrown by McKee, who found Smith over the shoulder of Panthers\u2019 rookie cornerback Will Lee in the right corner of the end zone. It brought the Eagles within a score of the Panthers, 19-14. Earlier, Smith\u2019s 16-yard reception gave the Eagles a first down on a third-and-seven on the Eagles\u2019 sixth possession at the Carolina 40. It was the first positive in what was otherwise a dismal first half for the Eagles.<\/p>\n
The 18-yard reception to Dallas \u201cCheeks\u201d Goedert on the Eagles\u2019 second drive of the second half\u2014it was a rare second-half first down for the Eagles, who quickly squandered it with a two-yard run, six-yard McKee sack and a McKee incompletion.<\/p>\n
Jeremiah Trotter Jr. coming up with a touchdown-saving tackle on Bryce Young\u2019s eight-yard scramble on a third-and-nine from the Eagles\u2019 11 on the second play of the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Dameon Pierce\u2019s two-yard, second-quarter touchdown run with 2:42 left in the first half, thanks largely to the dubious 22-yard pass interference call on a pass to Goedert, who had his pants pulled down two plays prior. It snapped the 57-minute, 21-second home scoring draught the Eagles had under Sirianni, who last saw his team score at home on a Darius Cooper 10-yard touchdown reception with :03 left in the half on Oct. 4 against the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n
A pair of Pierce nine-yard runs on the Eagles\u2019 third possession, bringing the ball to the Eagles\u2019 49, the deepest penetration the Eagles had to that point.<\/p>\n
Nolan Smith\u2019s eight-yard sack on Carolina\u2019s second drive. It was the first good thing that happened to the hapless Eagles. It may have more to do with Bryce Young holding the ball too long than anything Smith did, but it was a minus positive play for the Eagles when everything was going backwards. Smith was lost in the second quarter due to a concussion.<\/p>\n
Receiver Dontayvion Wicks going down with yet another Eagles\u2019 injury after a 17-yard reception on a third-and-five play with 12:47 left and the Eagles down 19-7.<\/p>\n
The first half. The Eagles got plenty of help from eight Carolina penalties for 105 yards, including the big one when Goedert went quarter moon on a 22-yard interference call, which led to the Eagles\u2019 first score. The Eagles were outgained 178-110 in the half, and averaged 3.3 yards per play and 3.5 yards per pass play to 7 yards for the Panthers.<\/p>\n
Punter Braden Mann booting a rare bad 23-yard punt midway through the second quarter. The ball landed at the Eagles\u2019 35, and led to the first touchdown of the game, when Bryce Young hit Tommy Tremble for a 12-yard score with 8:08 left in the first half.<\/p>\n
With 11 minutes left in the first half, Carolina already had six plays of 10 yards or more to the Eagles\u2019 one. The Panthers came into the game No. 2 in the NFL with 20 plays of 20+ yards (behind Buffalo\u2019s 22 plays) and 67 plays of 10+ yards.<\/p>\n
The Eagles punted on their first five drives and went three-and-out on three of their first five drives.<\/p>\n
Tight end Johnny \u201cWho\u201d Mundt getting flagged for a 10-yard holding penalty, negating McKee\u2019s 20-yard completion to Cooper. It set the Eagles back to their 21 and eventually placed them in a third-and-12, which they typically failed to convert.<\/p>\n
Pierce dropping a pass while wide open on the Eagles\u2019 third drive.<\/p>\n
False start on Jordan Mailata on the Eagles\u2019 third drive. Not good when the only vested starter on the offensive line gets flagged for a false start.<\/p>\n
The Eagles giving up 26 yards to Trevor Etienne on the Eagles\u2019 first punt. It gave Carolina great field position to the Panthers\u2019 39, and eventually led to a 3-0 Panthers\u2019 lead on a Fitzgerald 47-yard field goal with 10:50 left in the first quarter, which banged off the right goal post and went through.<\/p>\n
In the second half of their six games this season, the Eagles have now been outscored 68-30, with just 10 points scored in the second half over their last four games. They scored 10 points and gained 149 yards in the second half against Washington, 10 points and 125 yards against Tennessee, 0 points and 54 yards against Chicago, 0 points and 66 yards against the Los Angeles Rams, 3 points and 84 yards against Jacksonville, and 7 points and 112 yards against Carolina, which averages out to 98.3 yards and an NFL-low 5 points a game in the second half. They have now converted 12 of 45 third downs in the second half.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it may seem like we\u2019re picking on poor Cooper DeJean here, but again, he failed in two clutch situations. On first-and-10 with the Panthers at the Eagles\u2019 19, because of a DeJean penalty, he completely blew a coverage failing to pick up tight end Tommy Tremble with 6:33 to play. Tremble blew right by DeJean, who knew he blew the coverage and went scurrying after him. By then, Tremble was wide open standing in the end zone. On a critical third-and-one with less than a minute left in third quarter, Chuba Hubbard ran right through DeJean for 19 yards to the Eagles\u2019 12, giving Carolina a fresh set of downs. One play prior to the Tremble touchdown, DeJean was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty with 7:00 to play after Hubbard converted a third-and-one at the Eagles\u2019 34. Cooper\u2019s 15-yard flag brought the ball to the Eagles\u2019 19. Not a good series for DeJean, who has not had a good year, yet gets rarely called out for it. <\/p>\n
Panthers\u2019 Anthony Tyus\u2019 partially blocked punt with 8:24 left to play, which resulted in Mann\u2019s nine-yard punt. Trotter was supposed to pick up Tyus and let him through, giving Carolina the ball at the Eagles\u2019 48.<\/p>\n
Center Jake Majors\u2019 low snap for minus-eight yards on first down on the drive after the Eagles held Carolina to a three-and-out and the Smith touchdown. It was a great way to kill momentum, which forced the Eagles eventually into a third-and-18. <\/p>\n
Moro Ojomo, among many others, getting called for a two-yard encroachment call early in the fourth quarter, giving Carolina a first down when the Panthers were facing a fourth-and-one. It led Carolina to a 19-7 lead with Chuba Hubbard\u2019s one-yard touchdown with 13:34 left to play.<\/p>\n
Zack Baun getting beat by Jalen Coker for 32 yards on a third-and-eight on Carolina\u2019s third possession of the second half to the 42. <\/p>\n
For the sixth-straight time this season, the Eagles went three-and-out on their first drive of the second half.<\/p>\n
Quinyon Mitchell has been great all season, but not here, when Young found Tetairoa McMillan, and Mitchell lost him, for a 21-yard reception on a third-and-15 to the Carolina 31 with less than two minutes left in the half. <\/p>\n
Jordan Davis, whose name was hardly called for anything six games into this season, had his No. 90 called for roughing the passer call on the Panthers\u2019 fifth drive. It came as Young completed a 17-yard pass to Tetairoa McMillan to the Eagles\u2019 24. The Davis\u2019 penalty was half-the-distance, bringing the ball to the Eagles\u2019 12. On the next play, Young hit Tremble for a 12-yard touchdown with 8:08 left in the first half.<\/p>\n
The first play. There was McKee pointing and motioning where players were supposed to be on the first play of the game, and it seemed like no one was where they were supposed to be. McKee wound up flat on his stomach, sacked for an 11-yard loss by Carolina linebacker Bobby Okereke. No one bothered to pick up Okereke at all, and he came through the gap between right tackle MarkelBell and right guard Tyler Steen. Carolina overloaded left, Bell kicked out and Steen blocked down. Back-up running back Dameon Pierce tried blocking safety Nick Scott and missed. McKee wound up picking the grass chunks out of his helmet. The Eagles looked disjointed, no one seemed to know what they were doing.<\/p>\n
The first two drives. Nothing like facing the old third-and-21 on the opening drive. After being sacked for 11 yards and throwing a near interception, the Eagles gained a whole zero yards on their first drive. On the next drive, the Eagles and McKee outdid themselves. They went minus-3 yards. McKee looked terribly overwhelmed that early.<\/p>\n
The first quarter. The Eagles ran five negative plays and have now been outscored 30-3 in the first quarter this season, which is the fewest points any team in the NFL has scored in the first quarter this season. Carolina outgained the Eagles 78 yards of total offense to 37 for the Eagles, who crossed midfield once on three drives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was over before it started. By the middle of the fourth quarter on Sunday, that reality finally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,32972,71,70],"class_list":["post-309550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-eagles-analysis","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}