The surprise was where Carolina's touchdowns came from. The preview said this game ran through Young and Tetairoa McMillan after McMillan's 14-catch, 192-yard night against the Lions. Instead the end zone belonged to Tommy Tremble, who came in with sore ribs. He caught a 13-yard touchdown from Young in the 2nd quarter and a 17-yard one in the 4th. McMillan's stat line wasn't in the box score we pulled, but the scoring tells you what happened: whatever the Eagles did to slow down the No. 1 receiver, they left the tight end open at the worst possible times.
Carolina built this one slowly. A field goal in the 1st quarter, a touchdown in the 2nd, another field goal in the 3rd, and by then a 13-7 lead felt bigger than 6 points against an offense with no answers. The weather wasn't an excuse either. It was 54 and clear at kickoff with about 6 mph of wind, about as easy as an October afternoon gets for a backup quarterback. Philadelphia just didn't have the players to take advantage.
The 4th quarter is where it got away from the Eagles. Carolina put up 12 points in the final quarter, Tremble's 2nd touchdown among them, and Philadelphia's 7 points in the 4th only made the final look a little better. This was supposed to be the week the Eagles came home from the 19-17 loss in London and steadied things. Instead they're 2-4, and the slide that started in Chicago is now 4 games long.
The injury list kept growing during the game. Nolan Smith Jr. left with a concussion and was ruled out, and Carson Steele hurt his right shoulder, which matters a lot for a backfield that was already down to Pierce and Jaydon Blue, who was just called up from the practice squad. Dontayvion Wicks and Makai Lemon both got banged up and came back. Carolina had its own scares. Thomas Incoom was ruled out with a calf injury, and Jaelan Phillips left with a hamstring issue before returning. Still, the Panthers leave Philadelphia healthier than the Eagles do.
Carolina is 3-2 and has won 2 straight. Wins over Detroit and on the road in Philadelphia back-to-back make the 59-point mess in Chicago look more like a bad day than who this team is. The defense got called injury-riddled before the bye, and it just held a home team to 14 points. For Philadelphia, the timeline on Hurts is now the most important thing about its season, because the offense that played Sunday can't win a game against anybody.