Grayson's Grades: Eagles vs. Panthers

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles got all that the Carolina Panthers could give them and barely escaped with a 22-16 victory. That helped the Eagles clinch a playoff berth for the fourth straight year under Head Coach Nick Sirianni.

The big highlight of this game was Saquon Barkley breaking LeSean McCoy's franchise record for rushing yards in a season. Barkley carried it 20 times for 124 yards.

The Eagles struggled throwing the ball, and did not stop the run as well as they have in the past. But in the end, the defense made a play to secure the win. The Panthers were 37 yards away from winning it. Darius Slay knocked down a fourth down pass by Bryce Young to seal it.

Overall, it was an ugly game but still a win. The Eagles are now 11-2 overall and one step closer to clinching an NFC East title.

Here is the latest edition of Grayson's Grades:

Zack Baun - Baun racked up the only sack by the Eagles in this one. He continues to be such a bright spot and plays hard. Baun was flying around the field and finished second on the team with 11 tackles including three tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits and a sack.

Saquan Barkley - Barkley put his name in the Eagles record books by breaking LeSean McCoy's single-season franchise rushing record. Barkley carried the ball 20 times for 124 yards. He is now less than 500 yards from breaking Eric Dickerson's NFL single-season rushing record. Barkley continues to run well behind this offensive line. He tends to move the pile forward and rarely goes down on first contact.

Jalen Carter - Carter continues to be a game-wrecker. He racked up three quarterback hits in the first quarter. Carter does not always put up good numbers in the box score, but his impact is felt far and wide on that defense. He makes everyone around him better. I find myself writing similar stuff week in and week out for Carter that I always used to write for Fletcher Cox. Carter frequently gets double-teamed and still wins his battles. It truly is impressive and he is having a great season. Carter finished with three tackles, two tackles for a loss and three quarterback hits.

Nakobe Dean - Dean continues to have a good year. He works so well with Baun that those two linebackers frequently lead the team in tackles. They have the freedom to fly around and hit the gaps trying to stop the run. They both work well feeling the holes around their defensive line. Dean relies on his speed and when he diagnoses where the play is going he can get there in a hurry. Dean led the team with 12 tackles in this one.

Darius Slay - Slay is finding more plays coming his way. Opponents are not testing rookie Quinyon Mitchell much at all anymore and choosing instead to throw to Slay's side. He did a good job to make sure he batted away Bryce Young's fourth down pass late in the game that secured the victory. Slay was also involved in knocking down a fourth down pass earlier in the game that resulted in a turnover on downs. Slay tied for the team lead with two passes successfully defended. He also had six tackles due to some completions on his side of the field. Slay needs to take advantage of some of these increased plays to his side and ultimately come up with an interception here and there. Slay has yet to pick off a pass this season.

Cooper DeJean - DeJean faced a tough test and admitted that he got taken advantage of a bit in this game by veteran Adam Thielen. He said there will be a lot to learn from due to how shifty Thielen was getting off the line of scrimmage and how he ran his routes. Thielen definitely made some plays in front of DeJean. It was refreshing to hear that kind of truth acknowledged by a young player. Thielen had nine catches for 102 yards. Not all of that was against DeJean but some of it was. Knowing how hard DeJean works, there will in fact be a lot learned from what he sees on tape and he will be better for having faced Thielen in the long run. DeJean had five tackles including one tackle for a loss.

AJ Brown - Brown is finding himself in a tough spot. He is open, but Jalen Hurts is either not seeing him, not seeing him soon enough, or just frankly not making the throw and choosing to run instead. There is definitely frustration among the receivers who understand this is a team that has found a lot of success running the ball. What I interpreted from Brown's postgame comments was how he gets open but does not get the chance to make a play. Again, my interpretation is that his frustration is with Hurts not giving him an opportunity when he is open. Brown is making the most out of the opportunities he is getting. He caught four passes for 43 yards. I would like to see Kellen Moore make a more concerted effort to get Brown a touch somewhere in the opening script of plays. That would help.

DeVonta Smith - Smith was just as frustrated after this game as Brown. He is getting open and not getting passes thrown his way in those moments. These frustrations by Brown and Smith are not related to more volume throwing the ball, instead I read it as the distribution and how Jalen Hurts is distributing it or failing to distribute it when he takes off and runs or gets sacked. This was Smith's first game back from injury. He caught four passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Grant Calcaterra - Calcaterra is once again finding himself playing a lot more plays due to Dallas Goedert's recent injury. It creates more snaps and more opportunities as a receiver and a blocker. Calcaterra showed earlier in the year when Goedert was hurt that he is more than capable of filling the role. He and Hurts developed a little bit of chemistry in those games. Calcaterra caught his first NFL touchdown in this game. He hauled in three passes for 16 yards and that touchdown.

Nick Sirianni - Sirianni managed the game pretty well in my mind. I was surprised that he passed on a 53 yard field goal late in the game that would have put the Eagles up by 9 and instead chose to punt. It was the right decision in my mind, especially given Jake Elliott's failures on field goal attempts from 50 yards or more. Elliott missed one earlier in the game from that distance. Sirianni showed confidence in his punt team and especially in his defense to go out and make the stops on that final drive to secure the victory. The punt team crushed it downing the ball on the two-yard line. The defense then responded ultimately forcing a turnover on downs to secure the win. I had no issues with Sirianni's choices earlier in the game. He also deserves credit for leading his team to a fourth consecutive playoff berth, meaning he has led the Eagles to the postseason in all four years he has been in charge.

Kellen Moore - Moore is starting to find himself in a difficult spot. The entire city knows this team needs to have more success on offense in the first quarter. He is also having to manage a growing frustration amongst his receivers to get the ball when they are open. I asked AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith if they have spoken with Moore about their concerns. They both said "yes" and when asked how it went they both replied "it went well." That tells me Moore understands their frustration and is trying to manage it with Hurts. The issues remain that Hurts does not see them open downfield when he breaks the pocket. So ultimately Moore can only do so much. However, what he can do is work to get them touches in the opening script of 15 plays. I would build in a designed slant to AJ Brown and a five or ten yard out-route to DeVonta Smith just to get both of those players a touch early in the game. Those are the kinds of things Moore can do. I also have noticed this offense is not taking shots down the field much lately. I think he could also call a couple more of those plays off play-action to give Brown or Smith a chance to win their one-on-one battles. It seems unsustainable to consistently win while passing for less than 100 yards in a game.

Jalen Hurts - Hurts did not have a good game in my mind. He left plays on the field. There were times he could have thrown the ball after breaking the pocket. Instead he was either sacked or took off and ran. Hurts is, in my opinion, the biggest reason the passing game has no rhythm right now. I thought the biggest mistake in this game was his. Hurts broke the pocket, was rolling out to his right and retreating and slid down to take a sack. He was outside the pocket and easily could have thrown it away. Instead he took that sack for a nine-yard loss. He still seems to be slow moving through his reads and when he evades pressure does not seem to get his eyes back down the field. I would love to see him adopt a simple philosophy, if he breaks the pocket up the middle than run and get some yardage with his legs. If he breaks the pocket out the sides, than extend the play with his eyes down the field preserving the option to run or throw it away. I feel some of the biggest pass plays we see in the NFL these days happen on plays where the Quarterback breaks the pocket and extends the play to find a receiver that broke off his route and got away from a defender. Hurts completed just 14 of 21 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns. He also added eight carries for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Jake Elliott - Elliott's misses are becoming a growing concern. He has yet to make a field goal from 50 yards or more this season. He missed a 52 yard attempt wide right to end the Eagles opening drive of the second half. When the opportunity for points is there, he has to convert. The issue has not been distance. Elliott was not short on that attempt, but we are seeing the beginning of it affecting how Nick Sirianni manages the game. When given an opportunity to kick a 53 yard field goal to extend the lead to 9 points late in the game, Sirianni instead decided to punt and rely on his defense to win it. It showed a lack of faith in his kicker to get that job done in that situation. This bears watching over the last four regular season games to see if that mindset continues for Sirianni in similar situations.

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