Coming off their bye week, the Carolina Panthers travel to Philadelphia to take on the short handed Eagles.
When the Carolina Panthers’ schedule was released prior to the 2026-2027 NFL season, Sunday’s upcoming matchup against the Eagles in Philadelphia was expected to be one of the toughest challenges this year. The injury bug has hit Philly hard and they do not look to be the Super Bowl contending team many expected to see in the city of brotherly love.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts, running backs Saquon Barkley and Will Shipley have all been ruled out for Sunday’s contest. One thing the Eagles offense has going for them is the fact that star wide receiver DeVonta Smith is expected to return following missing last week’s game with hamstring and toe concerns.
Missing the entire core of the offense with a couple of key players out on the other side of the ball (Michael Carter II and Jalyx Hunt) makes the game planning for the Eagles nearly impossible against a well-rested, explosive Panthers’ offense.
Considering the circumstances, everything on paper points to a convincing Panthers win. However, Carolina fans know all too well that games such as this one are notoriously their kryptonite. All of the “build-up” surrounding this game feels similar to the position Carolina was in when they traveled to Cleveland to take on the Browns and ended up taking a loss that not many saw coming. To be fair, the Panthers were dealing with a slew of injuries of their own in that game.
Though it came early in the year, the bye week could not have come at a better time for Carolina. After a hard-fought, impressive victory over the Detroit Lions and a week off, the Panthers are much closer to full strength heading into Sunday.
WR Xavier Legette and CB Mike Jackson remain on the IR list for the Panthers and RB A.J. Dillon has been ruled out but other than those injuries, it looks promising that Dave Canales and his staff will have the rest of their weapons ready to go.
Bryce Young will look to continue his jaw-dropping, MVP caliber season. Young has taken the NFL by storm, thriving in Carolina’s new-look offensive season throwing for right at or over 300 yards every game this season with minimal turnovers.
While most will predict the Panthers to win by a surmountable margin, the big key will be how quickly Carolina can get on the scoreboard and get momentum. There seems to be two potential outcomes for Sunday. Either the Panthers will take full advantage of the Eagles’ being short-handed and prove that a week off was truly beneficial for recovering from injuries themselves or we could see a replay of what happened earlier this season when Carolina took an unfortunate loss to the Browns in a similar situation.
