break the Eagles season record<\/a>, and Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score in Sunday\u2019s 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\nBarkley\u2019s consistent brilliance aside, Hurts and the Eagles slogged through another rough offensive outing, and they clinched a playoff berth later Sunday when Arizona lost to Seattle, combined with Atlanta\u2019s earlier loss.<\/p>\n
The Eagles (11-2) maintained their position as the No. 2 team in the NFC, behind Detroit (12-1), after a mostly lethargic effort against the Panthers (3-10).<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody has a reason to want more,\u201d Hurts said.<\/p>\n
Hurts\u2019 passing numbers were a pedestrian 14 of 21 for 108 yards. Brown had four catches for 43 yards \u2014 and threw his helmet in anger after a three-and-out \u2014 and Smith had four catches for 37 yards.<\/p>\n
What do the Eagles need to improve on?<\/p>\n
\u201cPassing,\u201d Brown deadpanned.<\/p>\n
How tough was it for the receivers to find a rhythm?<\/p>\n
\u201cIncredibly tough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hurts didn\u2019t do enough to get Smith and Brown involved, one reason why the lowly Panthers stayed in striking distance until the final possession.<\/p>\n
He took four sacks. He held the ball too long as open receivers ran with their arms up trying to get their QB\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play my role in how we execute,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cBut ultimately it\u2019s about what position we put ourselves in. It\u2019s not my choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
That message will surely reverberate through coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore\u2019s offices this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s fair that the questions are about our pass game right now,\u201d Sirianni said.<\/p>\n
The Eagles at least had Barkley to bail them out.<\/p>\n
Barkley added another milestone in his MVP push when he used a 9-yard run in the fourth quarter to surpass LeSean McCoy\u2019s Eagles record of 1,607 yards, set in 2013. Barkley now has 1,623 yards with four games left.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow cool is it that we have a team rushing record in Week 13?\u201d Sirianni said. <\/p>\n
Hurts had flashes of form, like when he hit Grant Calcaterra with a 4-yard TD pass and Barkley ran in the 2-point conversion for a 22-16 lead early in the fourth.<\/p>\n
Bryce Young gamely moved the Panthers into Eagles territory on the final drive. He completed a 13-yard pass on fourth down that moved the ball to the 38, and a second-down pass to Xavier Legette gave the Eagles a brief scare when the receiver seemed to have the ball in the end zone.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t. Young eluded a pass rush on fourth down but his final attempt was incomplete. He finished 19 of 34 for 191 yards.<\/p>\n
Panthers coach Dave Canales said Legette \u201cabsolutely\u201d had to make the catch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a big play we\u2019re counting on. He\u2019d be the first one to tell you he\u2019s got to make that play,\u201d Canales said. \u201cBryce steps up, makes a beautiful throw in the situation. We had the coverage we wanted, all that. Those are the plays that we\u2019ve just got to find a way to make for us to get back on the winning column.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 12 1\/2-point underdog according to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Panthers played more like a team with playoff seeding at stake.<\/p>\n
Chuba Hubbard, who rushed for 92 yards and topped 1,000 on the season, made it 16-14 on a 1-yard run in the third quarter. Eddy Pineiro, who kicked a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter, missed the extra point.<\/p>\n
Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was examined earlier for a concussion, changed the game late in the second quarter when he picked off Young\u2019s deep pass at Philadelphia\u2019s 41. Hurts scrambled 15 yards on the next drive and finished it with a 4-yard TD pass to Smith for a 14-10 lead.<\/p>\n
Gardner-Johnson\u2019s pick bailed out an uneven effort by the Eagles.<\/p>\n
They failed to score on their opening drive for the 13th time this season, but the offensive bursts that usually follow never came. Hurts scored on tush push early in the second quarter, his 13th rushing score of the season, for a 7-3 lead.<\/p>\n
With nothing to lose, the Panthers went for it on fourth-and-3, and Young hit Tommy Tremble for a 3-yard TD and a 10-7 advantage.<\/p>\n
The Eagles did just enough. Their challenge now is getting the receivers\u2019 production up \u2014 and getting them happy \u2014 headed into the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet the dissatisfaction fuel you for more,\u201d Hurts said. \u201cI think that\u2019s always a fair place to be. And so we know there\u2019s more out there for us, and we\u2019re in pursuit of trying to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injuries<\/p>\n
Panthers kickoff and punt returner Raheem Blackshear suffered a chest injury. … RB Jonathon Brooks left with a right knee injury \u2014 the same knee in which he tore the ACL last year with Texas. The Panthers had been very cautious bringing the second-round pick along. … CB Jaycee Horn hurt his groin.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Panthers: Host Dallas next Sunday.<\/p>\n
Eagles: Host cross-state rival Pittsburgh next Sunday.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The mood in the Eagles\u2019 locker room was a bit more bleak than it should…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[8694,1476,1172,235,260,2567,1751,3838,5640,10124,7,15036,492,6457,8811,7166,1775,22221,6,498,5351,6370,236,242,109,10123,894,9,10120,1505],"class_list":{"0":"post-183050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-a-j-brown","9":"tag-bryce-young","10":"tag-c-j-gardner-johnson","11":"tag-carolina","12":"tag-carolina-panthers","13":"tag-carolinapanthers","14":"tag-chuba-hubbard","15":"tag-dave-canales","16":"tag-devonta-smith","17":"tag-eddy-pineiro","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-grant-calcaterra","20":"tag-jalen-hurts","21":"tag-jaycee-horn","22":"tag-jonathon-brooks","23":"tag-kellen-moore","24":"tag-lesean-mccoy","25":"tag-nc-state-wire","26":"tag-nfl","27":"tag-nfl-football","28":"tag-nick-sirianni","29":"tag-pa-state-wire","30":"tag-panthers","31":"tag-philadelphia","32":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","33":"tag-raheem-blackshear","34":"tag-saquon-barkley","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-tommy-tremble","37":"tag-xavier-legette"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}