Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Game Review – CAR 25, PHI 14

Posted October 22nd, 2026 | No Comments »

Great game. LeBron had a strong overall showing. Jaylen Brown had some key moments. The Sixers had 24 fast break points, showing they want to run whenever possible. I was most surprised by how well they played defense. That was the biggest question coming into the season. Could they defend? Would they defend? After Game 1…yes.

Oh wait, this is supposed to be the Eagles game review. I guess I wanted something fun to write about and got confused. Please forgive me.

The Eagles played hard. They competed. But they made key mistakes at critical moments and that really proved to be the difference in the game. The Eagles were backed up at their own 12. Braden Mann, who has had a terrific season, got off a 23-yard punt. Carolina then had a short 35-yard TD drive. In the second half the Eagles cut the score to 19-14. The defense then forced a 3 & out. The offense got the ball back at midfield. Jake Majors had his only bad snap of the game and that led to a 12-yard loss. That killed the drive. The ensuing punt was blocked and only went 9 yards. Carolina scored another TD on a short field to go up 25-14. Game over.

This team simply isn’t good enough to overcome big mistakes. They must play cleaner football if they hope to get this thing turned around.

COACHING

Nick Sirianni had the team ready to play from an energy and effort standpoint. He just forgot to have them wear their thinking caps and that led to way too much sloppy football. There weren’t many key strategic decisions to be made in the game.

Sean Mannion came out throwing. I thought that was an okay strategy to try to fool the Panthers. But he was too pass happy. The Panthers blitzed aggressively and made Tanner McKee uncomfortable. The passing offense struggled. The run game got off to a good start when they gave it a shot, but then it got shut down. Mannion has not had good answers when things go bad.

Vic Fangio mixed in blitzes effectively. While Carolina had 399 yards and 25 points, 2 of their 3 TDs came on short fields. They only had one drive go more than 48 yards. Bryce Young had his lowest yardage and completion percentage of the season. Carolina had most of their yards in the second half when the defense wore down. The Eagles had no answers for TE Tommy Tremble as a blocker or receiver. The run defense held Chuba Hubbard to 8-24 in the first half. He was 20-96-1 after halftime. He ran hard and broke multiple tackles as the game wore on.

Michael Clay’s unit had a bad game. Poor kicking, blocking, and coverage let the Panthers win the field position battle. Four drives started at the 13-yard line or worse. Two drives started at the 20 and two more at the 22. You don’t want your starting QB having to go a long way that much, let alone the backup QB.

OFFENSE

QB

With Jalen Hurts out, Tanner McKee made his first start. He was up and down. He went 26-45-215 with a TD. The highlight throw was his TD to DeVonta Smith.

McKee had some good moments, but must play better for the offense to improve. He needs better protection to help him out, but there were times when he wasted a clean pocket with a bad decision or a bad throw. He forced the ball at times. He threw to the right side too much. McKee said after the game that he needs to communicate better. He looked most comfortable out of the shotgun. I’ll be curious to see if they go to more of that the rest of the season. I do give him credit for not turning the ball over. 

RB

Dameon Pierce was the workhorse, finishing 12-35-1 on the ground and 4-15 as a receiver. Pierce didn’t get good blocking. He did get space early and started off 2-18. the holes went away after that and he’s not good enough to create on his own. Carson Steele had a 4-yard catch but got hurt on the play and only played on STs after that.

WR

DeVonta Smith played, but wasn’t in for every snap. They rotated him to be careful with the hamstring. Smitty finished 7-75-1. He just missed on a couple of other sideline catches. Great effort, but couldn’t quite secure them. Dontayvion Wicks played and went 2-24 on 4 targets. He got hurt on a catch and run. Makai Lemon was 3-19. Darius Cooper had a quiet game, going 1-9. And he didn’t really make that catch. But the Eagles hustled and got the snap off before it could be challenged. Cooper got some tough blocking assignments. He gave great effort, but struggled on several plays.

TE

Dallas Goedert went 6-61 and had some key grabs that moved the chains. He drew the strangest PI flag I can remember. The DB pulled on his pants and gave us more of a look at DG’s butt than most wanted. That set up a short TD. Johnny Mundt was 1-4 as a receiver. He struggled mightily as a blocker. Mundt had a holding call that wiped out a good pass to Cooper. Ugh.

OL

Mailata – Lampkin – Majors – Steen – Bell

Not a good showing. This group was starting their second game in a row, but there were times you’d have thought they never met. There was way too much confusion on who to block. Some of that may go to the communication McKee mentioned, but there were too many plays with confusion. Some of that is on the scheme. Some is on coaching. Some is on the players just not being on the same page. They are not seeing things the same way and that leads to blown assignments.

Willie Lampkin made his second start and was solid. There are times when he gets physically overwhelmed, but I love his effort and tenacity. He blocks to the whistle. He hustles downfield to help his teammates up. If you could put his intangibles in Tyler Steen’s body, you’d have one hell of a blocker. Jake Majors got the start at center and struggled. He showed real promise in London, but wasn’t nearly as good this time out. He got overpowered at times. He also struggled with quick moves. Markel Bell had a solid showing.

Jordan Mailata and Tyler Steen are the veterans who should help the young guys. They are sloppier than you would prefer. Mailata had another false start penalty that hurt. He executed poorly on some blocks. Steen can look so good on one play and then so bad on the next. Really frustrating. He did have a good block on the TD run.

***

DEFENSE

DL

Jalen Carter wasn’t nearly as good as last week, but he was still solid. He finished with 3 tackles and a PD. He just missed a sack. Carter was in the backfield, but Young sidestepped him and got the pass off. Carter was disruptive on multiple plays, but not dominant like the JAX game. Jordan Davis was good, with 4 tackles half a sack and a PD. He hurt his ankle late. Moro Ojomo had 1 tackle and 1 QB hit, but was more disruptive than that. Byron Young had 5 tackles. Ty Robinson pushed the pocket on a third down pass play.

ED

Jonathan Greenard returned, but had a quiet game. He wasn’t credited with any tackles or QB hits. He did blow up a run play, but couldn’t make the tackle. Luckily the pursuit did finish it for him. Nolan Smith had 3 tackles and a sack before leaving with a concussion. Arnold Ebiketie led the team with 9 total tackles. He pushed the pocket, but couldn’t get by the OT to hit the QB. Rookie Keyshawn James-Newby made his NFL debut. He only had 1 tackle, but showed good speed.

The edge rushers need to be more disruptive.

LB

Zack Baun was solid with 6 tackles, 1 QB hit, and a PD. He has become a really good blitzer, whether up the middle or off the edge. Carolina burned the blitzing on a key 3rd down. They lined up WR Jalen Coker in the backfield. Baun had him in man coverage due to a blitz and that resulted in a big gain. Jihaad Campbell was in on 5 tackles. He and Jeremiah Trotter split reps. Trot had 5 tackles, half a sack, and a QB hit.

SAF

Drew Mukuba was up and down. He was in on 8 tackles. He had some good moments in deep coverage. Mukuba did miss a couple of tackles. He also got burned in man coverage a couple of times. Kenny Moore was the other starter. He had a quiet game, finishing with 4 tackles.

CB

Quinyon Mitchell mostly played well. He had 5 tackles and 3 PDs. Q did get burned by a TE for a TD. Tommy Tremble started to block and then released downfield. Q was slow to get over to him. Riq Woolen had 2 tackles, a PD, and a FF. He was mostly good in coverage. Cooper DeJean Had 6 solo tackles, a TFL, and a PD. He missed multiple tackles, again. He was mostly good in coverage, but did give up a TD late in the game. He didn’t seem to think the TE was his guy and wasn’t happy after the play. Carolina used multiple TEs a lot and that had Coop playing safety, somewhere he struggles more than at nickel.

***

ST

Braden Mann averaged 42.5 yards on his 8 punts. That is impressive considering he had a shank go 23 yards and a blocked punt go only 9 yards.

The block was confusing. Trot just let the guy go free up the middle. He was yelling at a teammate as they went off the field so there must have been confusion, but everyone sure looked like they blocked the right guy.

Carson Steele struggled with coverage. He did draw a penalty once. Ty Robinson made a good tackle in kickoff coverage and got good push on a FG block rep.

Britain Covey had a good KOR wiped out by a penalty. He had to fair catch 3 punts and didn’t have ant PRs. The KORs averaged 16 yards. Covey and Cooper struggled to field the “dirty” KOs cleanly. Those balls had a lot of english on them.

The Panthers had a 24-yard PR and multiple KORs go 27 yards.

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