Panthers Defeat Eagles, 25-14: 5 Takeaways From Week 6
The Philadelphia Eagles dropped their fourth consecutive game in a 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field. It was an absolute snoozefest as Philadelphia’s offense continued to look lifeless under first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. While the Eagles’ defense held things together — until they couldn’t. Here are my five takeaways from Philadelphia’s loss in Week 6.
Nick Sirianni Failing as a CEO
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has an offensive background but doesn’t call the plays in Philadelphia. Therefore, Sirianni has embraced a role as a “CEO” head coach in the City of Brotherly Love. He has always preached a message of “tough, detailed and together” — yet both Sirianni and his team failed to live up to his motto against the Panthers.
Prior to halftime, the Panthers faced a 4th and 1 near midfield with the clock running down. Yet Carolina was allowed to let the clock run out and took their lead into halftime. Sirianni opted to not use any of his remaining timeouts to try and force the Panthers to make a difficult decision — possibly or even punt the ball back to the Eagles.
It may not seem like a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but Sirianni showed just how little faith he had in his offense. Despite the fact that the offense scored their first touchdown of the game on their last drive before this sequence. Sirianni’s team was also called for 11 penalties, which totaled 84 yards. While the Eagles weren’t as undisciplined as the Eagles, Sirianni’s team was too undermanned to make so many self-inflicted mistakes.
Sean Mannion’s Puzzling Approach
The Panthers entered Sunday’s game with one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. Carolina’s defense was allowing 156.5 rushing yards per game, second-most among all defenses, only ahead of the Dallas Cowboys. The Panthers were also allowing a league-high 5.4 yards per carry. Yet Mannion didn’t call a designed run play until Philadelphia’s third offensive possession and the team’s 12th play of the game, which happened to be a nine-yard gain.
While I understand that the Eagles are without their top three running backs, it’s inexcusable to go that long without even attempting a run. Especially when Mannion continues to call play action passes from under center. Spoiler alert! Nobody is going to care about play action passes if you don’t try to actually run the ball in the first place. Mannion once again had no plan against the blitz, despite knowing that the Panthers blitzed at one of the highest rates in the NFL.
Howie Has Some Explaining To Do
It’s hard to criticize Eagles general manager Howie Roseman given all of the team’s success under his watch, yet he has some explaining to do in 2026. It feels like Roseman has botched several roster decisions and situations that have helped contribute to this mess. Starting in the summer with the team’s handling of the QB2 “competition” and Roseman awkwardly keeping Andy Dalton on the 53-man roster.
The mismanaged competition forced both Dalton and Tanner McKee to split reps with neither truly receiving the work that they needed. Fast forward to Week 6 and that has now led to both of the team’s backup quarterbacks looking overwhelmed and unprepared when they have stepped on the field. Yet that’s far from the only mistake that Roseman has made this season, including:
Inexplicably keeping Hollywood Brown on the 53-man for four weeks, despite him never playing, instead of placing him on injured reserve with the team in need of every roster spot that it can have.
Wasting other spots on the 53-man roster on veterans like Elijah Moore, E.J. Jenkins and Jonathan Jones, who have yet to contribute anything meaningful in 2026, while the team saw several young players that would’ve been useful claimed on waivers or poached from the team’s practice squad.
Completely misevaluating the tight end position and adding Johnny Mundt as the only true “blocking tight end,” who apparently can’t block at all without being called for a penalty. While also letting go of Cameron Latu, who could block and contribute on special teams.
Bullied on Broad Street
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio called a solid game in the first half, as the Panthers failed to gain more than 35 total yards on a single drive. Yet as Philadelphia’s offense struggled, it eventually put too much of a strain on Fangio and his defense. The wheels fell off the wagon that was Philadelphia’s defense in the second half, as they allowed two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers were consistently able to win on early downs and put themselves in third and manageable situations. Carolina began to lean on starting running back Chuba Hubbard in the second half, who proved to be far too physical for the Eagles to stop. Hubbard finished the game with 28 carries for 120 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown, as the Eagles were bullied on Broad Street (yes, I know that they don’t actually play on Broad Street).
Injury Bug Infestation
After listing as many as 25 players on the team’s injury report leading up to Week 6, the Eagles had several players exit Sunday’s game due to injury. Nolan Smith Jr. was ruled out due to a concussion, Jordan Davis was ruled out due to an ankle injury and Carson Steele was ruled out due to a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, both DeVonta Smith and Jonathan Greenard were in and out of the game as they returned to the field for the first time in multiple weeks.
Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon and it feels like several other players were also looked at by trainers throughout the game as well. I’m not sure what happened but it genuinely seems like somebody may have put a curse on the Eagles in 2026. Philadelphia’s offense entered Sunday’s game without several key players, headlined by starting quarterback Jalen Hurts. Now it feels like the team’s injury problem isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.