Eagles-Panthers Game Preview: 5 questions and answers with the Week 14 foe

The Philadelphia Eagles are back at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday for the first time since November 14th. A minute has passed.

The birds will gain weight Carolina Pantherswhich have been much more competitive than they were earlier this season.

To preview this Week 14 tilt, I reached out to our enemies at Cat Scratch Reader. The wise ones Walker Clement kindly took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming tilt. Let’s take a look at the answers. (For my answers on the Eagles, stay tuned to CSR.)

1 – The Panthers seem to be playing much better recently. What has gone into it and do you expect them to continue it?

Simply put, Bryce Young is playing astronomically better. It’s really hard to quantify or even qualify the difference between Weeks 9-13 Bryce Young and 2023 through Week 2 of 2024 Bryce Young. They might as well be different people.

The current iteration of Young is a gun-slinging, arrow-slinging assassin whose recipients are good old-fashioned sex panthers. That is, 60% of the time catches the ball every time. The Panthers would go on a four-game winning streak, a feat they haven’t seen since 2019, if the receivers remaining on their roster simply caught the balls that hit their hands.

Drops can be worked on. However, Young’s development into a suddenly competent quarterback is something we all still take with a grain of salt.

2 – On a scale of 1-10, what is your confidence level in Bryce Young right now and why? A 10 is the most confident you can possibly be.

My confidence in Young as a quarterback capable of beating the Eagles is an 8 right now. He has been so good the past few weeks. Look no further than the Panthers game against Kansas City Chiefs two weeks ago. It was the most impressive performance of Young’s career and, ignoring how low a bar that cleared, could portend a lot of fun times ahead.

My confidence in Young maintaining this recent level of play against the Eagles or for a week after is about a 3. It’s not that it couldn’t happen, it’s just that Panthers fans spent an entire season watching Young throw passes on the back of his linemen’s knees in 2023 and hasn’t actually seen good football since the first half of 2017. We don’t have a lot of faith. Keep Pounding is the team’s official motto, but fans have adopted another phrase for it: seeing is believing. Come back with us in 2025.

3 – The Panthers allow the most rushing yards per game in the NFL. Why is that the case and do you expect Saquon Barkley to take advantage of that weakness?

The Panthers injury report this week is headlined by Jadaveon Clowney, DJ Wonnum and Josey Jewell, none of whom are guaranteed to play this week. These are three of the four starting linebackers in Ejiro Evero’s largely 3-4 base defense. They may also be the only three players left in the front seven that most Panthers fans can name.

There are certainly other talented or promising players on the roster, but the talent level has been hit hard by injuries this season, and it was never that high to begin with. The Panthers loaded up on offense to give Young the best evaluation they could, and the defense was left to play with games in the corner.

4 – Which matchup do you like to work in the Panthers’ favor?

Is Barkley about to be at the center of a giant shaving scandal? Because it could work to our advantage.

Jokes aside, I don’t like it, but I think the team will have to lean into their rookie wide receivers. Xavier Legette, when he catches the ball at all, and Jalen Coker, if healthy, have shown tremendous ability to win contested catches in limited exposure. This is what Panthers fans refer to as optimism.

The Eagles are going to be up early, the Panthers are going to panic and lean on the passing game, and going up against one of the best defenses in the league, that’s pretty much what they have to work with. Their tight ends are either undrafted or injured, and their backs are either untested or better at blocking passes than catching passes.

Other teams have leaned away from their receivers to move the ball through the air. I’m not sure that will be a successful strategy for the Panthers.

5 – Who wins this game and why? With the Eagles currently listed as 12.5-point home favorites, what’s your score prediction?

The Eagles will win because they are a better team. The Panthers will only win if true hilarity occurred on that football field. Without that kind of entertainment, I guess we’ll see a 43-15 Eagles win.