Eagles vs. Panthers: The Saquon Barkley and Jalen Coker effects, plus other numbers to know

The reeling Eagles have lost three consecutive games, have been dealing with key injuries, and are at a sort of inflection point.

Up next is a Carolina Panthers team that is 2-2 and coming off a bye week.

This isn’t the same Panthers team that came to Lincoln Financial Field two seasons ago, mostly because Bryce Young is a much different quarterback.

The Panthers are second in passing yards per game, third in total yards per game, and fourth in points per game. The Eagles, meanwhile, rank near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories.

Here’s a look at some numbers and trends that will play a part in Sunday’s result:

Saquon Barkley wasn’t on the practice field Wednesday. Though it’s too early to know whether the Eagles will be getting Barkley back Sunday or not, his presence has been a big factor.

The Eagles, according to Next Gen Stats, are averaging 2.9 yards per carry and have a 30.4% success rate when they run the ball without Barkley on the field. With him on the field, the average yards per carry is 5.4 yards and the success rate is 47.6%.

There’s some context missing from there, though. Barkley was hurt four plays into Week 4, which means almost all of his runs in 2026 have come with Lane Johnson on the field.

» READ MORE: The Eagles will need dominant defense to reach the playoffs. The film says these are their strengths (and shortcomings)

That’s no longer the case, but it goes without saying that the Eagles are better with Barkley on the field than without him.

Think Barkley has lost a step? Here’s this from Next Gen: “When Barkley rushes, he averages over his expected yardage on 45.7% of carries. No other Eagles ball carrier has rushed over their expected yardage on more than 33.0% of their carries.”

Carolina’s defense is allowing 5.1 yards per carry on designed runs this season. Getting Barkley back could help the Eagles keep pace with a high-flying Panthers offense.

Speaking of injured players potentially returning, the Panthers are likely to have wide receiver Jalen Coker back for Sunday’s game.

Carolina’s passing success rate hasn’t changed much since Coker left early in the team’s third game (44.6% passing success rate with him on the field vs. 43% with him off), but Coker’s presence stretches the field. With Coker on the field, Carolina averages 9.0 yards per attempt, which would rank second in the NFL, according to Next Gen. Their 6.5 yards per attempt with Coker off the field would rank 23rd.

The Eagles at one point on Sunday were down to just one starting offensive lineman from Week 1. They started the game with two, and if Landon Dickerson remains out for Week 6, that will continue.

The offense has struggled mightily under new coordinator Sean Mannion, but the struggles stem in large part from a makeshift offensive line that hasn’t consistently gotten the job done.

The Eagles are allowing a 50% pressure rate through five games, according to SumerSports, the third-highest rate any team has allowed through five games since 2016.

And here comes a Panthers defense that is eighth in the NFL with a 39.9% pressure rate, according to Sharp Analytics.

The under-center play action game that was supposed to be a hallmark of the Mannion offense has been almost nonexistent through five games.

There are varying factors for that, but there’s a clear answer for why or when it goes wrong. As Penn professor and Eagles data guru Deniz Selman points out, whether or not a team is blitzing against it has largely determined the success of any under-center play-action plays.

The Eagles have run under-center play action on 14 snaps against a blitz and 10 against a normal rush.

Against the blitz, the Eagles are 32nd EPA (expected points added) per play and have a 0% success rate on such plays. When not blitzed, the Eagles are fifth in EPA per play and have a 50% success rate.

That is the amount of games the Eagles have played through five that there hasn’t been a designed run for Jalen Hurts called, according to Next Gen.

Could more running from the quarterback help open up an offense that is stuck in the mud?

“I think we’re always looking for ways to integrate him into the run game,” Mannion said on Tuesday. “Some of it’s dependent on the opponent and the fronts they’re giving us, the looks you’re getting. But like I’ve said in here before, it’s a unique trait that he has that makes him dangerous.”

Apparently not unique enough to utilize more often.

For just the fifth time in NFL history, a team coming off an international game is playing against a team coming off a bye week, according to CBS Sports.

The teams coming off the international trip are 0-4 in these spots.

Are the Eagles no longer the short-yardage kings? It seems that way, and it seems like the Tush Push is no longer a play the team feels comfortable running with the current state of the offensive line.

The Eagles are 31st in the NFL in EPA per play on third- and fourth-and-1 situations and have a 50% success rate on such plays.

“We’re not executing and calling plays and designing plays as well as we need to in that area, and that is an area of improvement that we need to have,” Nick Sirianni said on Wednesday. “We have things that we want to get to and test out.”

No time like the present, right?

Listen to the latest episode

The Eagles are back from London, looking to leave the disappointment of a last-second defeat behind while choosing instead to focus on lessons they can learn from a third straight loss. And you know what? The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane actually thinks there were encouraging takeaways from the game, outcome aside. He and Mike Sielski discussed why the Eagles’ sky, despite being gray, isn’t falling just yet, and what the team can build on to if it hopes to reverse its fortunes during a key stretch of the schedule that begins Sunday.  Listen here.

Listen to all episodes here or wherever you get your podcasts.