Eagles stats: Birds’ downfield passing game was practically nonexistent vs. Panthers

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Eagles managed to stave off the resurgent Carolina Panthers in a 22-16 victory on Sunday.

Now, the Eagles are 11-2 or better through the first 13 games of the season for the fifth time in franchise history, which includes their performances in 2022 (12-1), 2017 (11-2), 2004 (12-1), and 1980 (11-2). The Eagles are on a nine-game winning streak, tying a franchise record achieved three times: in 2017 (won Super Bowl), 2003 (lost NFC championship), and 1960 (won NFL championship).

The team that broke the winning streak in 1960? The Pittsburgh Steelers, the Eagles’ next opponent.

Here are four stats — two offensive, two defensive — that paint the picture of the Eagles’ roller-coaster win:

Saquon Barkley made headlines with his franchise record-setting performance in single-season rushing yards, but Jalen Hurts was the Eagles’ fastest ballcarrier against the Panthers. The quarterback reached a top speed of 19.17 mph on his 35-yard scramble on third-and-10 at the end of the third quarter, according to Next Gen Stats, marking the second-longest run of Hurts’ career (41 yards on Nov. 27, 2022, against the Green Bay Packers).

On Sunday’s play, Hurts escaped the Panthers’ five-man rush, taking advantage of a block from Kenneth Gainwell on Panthers cornerback Dane Jackson before getting tackled at the Panthers’ 9-yard line. The play helped set up Grant Calcaterra’s first career touchdown, which put the Eagles up, 22-16.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts wasn’t great for the Eagles against the Panthers. What will happen in a bigger game against a better opponent?

The passing game was lackluster, as Hurts threw for a season-low 108 yards and two touchdowns on 14 completions. But the quarterback was able to compensate on the ground in a few situations with his scrambling ability. He had eight carries for 59 yards and a Tush Push touchdown. Two of his scrambles combined for 50 yards.

“He is just a good all-around player, so he has this ability that if things aren’t — again, like we talked about, we didn’t play to our standard in the pass game, but he’s able to make plays in different ways,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “That’s a huge asset that he has as a quarterback.”

The numbers behind the passing game help illustrate its struggles. The downfield passing game was practically nonexistent on Sunday. Hurts threw for 5.1 yards per attempt according to Next Gen Stats, his lowest average of the season. His 5.6 air yards per attempt is also a season low. Hurts held on to the ball longer than he had in any other game this season, averaging 3.47 seconds to throw, the highest rate in Week 14 through Sunday.

It’s not as if Hurts didn’t have his opportunities to unleash the ball downfield if he wanted them. On the Eagles’ first offensive play of the game without a penalty, he seemingly turned down a wide-open A.J. Brown on a would-be touchdown in favor of a pass to Jahan Dotson in the flat.

Hurts explained after the game that he could have thrown to Brown, even though he wasn’t the first read. By the end of the game, Hurts hadn’t attempted a pass that traveled 20 air yards or more for just the second time this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

“I think they did a good job,” Hurts said of the Panthers passing defense. “I think we did a bad job. That starts with me, how I execute, and ultimately, you yearn, and I yearn for better synchronization amongst that, for a more complementary style of ball, in a sense.”

» READ MORE: Do the Eagles have a passing problem? A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith voice their frustration despite Eagles win.

Another week, another nightmare for opposing quarterbacks and offensive lines in the form of Jalen Carter.

The second-year defensive tackle generated six pressures on 38 pass-rush snaps (15.8% pressure rate), which ties a career high, according to Next Gen Stats. Four of those six pressures occurred in the first quarter, the most in a quarter by any Eagles defender this year. While Bryce Young evaded pressure throughout the game with success, taking just one sack from Zack Baun, Carter led all defenders between the two teams with three quarterback hits.

Even when he wasn’t landing hits on the quarterback, Carter was turning heads with his effort up front, including his play on Darius Slay’s fourth-down pass breakup in the dwindling seconds of the Panthers’ last drive that sealed the win for the Eagles. Carter’s stunt with Moro Ojomo helped flush Young from the pocket, forcing him to make the difficult throw on the move that was intended for receiver Adam Thielen.

“What do you see on the last play that’s not a kneel-down?” Sirianni said. “You see Jalen Carter come off the ball like a crazy man. You see [Josh] Sweat put pressure on him. Then you see Slay diving to make a pass breakup.

“Our guys played hard, and they played hard for 60 minutes, and it showed up on that last play.”

One of the Eagles’ defensive ghosts reappeared Sunday thanks to the hard-nosed rushing effort of Chuba Hubbard.

The Panthers running back forced a career-high 10 missed tackles, according to Next Gen Stats, which is the most by a Carolina player since Christian McCaffrey’s 2021 performance against the New Orleans Saints (12). Hubbard finished the day with 92 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries, making him just the second ballcarrier to eclipse 90 yards on the ground against the Eagles this season. (Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson had 97 in Week 2.)

Hubbard generated 81 yards after contact, which ties the season high that the Eagles conceded to Derrick Henry last week against the Baltimore Ravens.