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Eagles survive Bryce Young, Panthers upset bid, save bettor on $3.1M wager

jason owens
Staff writer
·4 min read

A vastly improved Carolina Panthers team gave the Philadelphia Eagles all they could handle Sunday afternoon.

But they couldn't quite pull off the upset in a 22-16 Eagles win. Carolina had a chance for a go-ahead score after an Eagles punt late in the fourth quarter. But Carolina couldn't capitalize as a stout Eagles defense came up with a stop to secure the win.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 11-2 to remain one game behind the Detroit Lions in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. They also saved an Eagles bettor from a massive loss.

A bettor placed a $3.1 million money line wager on the Eagles to win, one of the largest ever placed on a regular-season NFL game. Said bettor had a significant sweat before the Eagles pulled off the victory.

The Eagles carried a 14-10 lead into halftime. But the Panthers scored a touchdown on their first drive of the second half and took a 16-14 lead following a missed extra point.

The Eagles answered with a touchdown drive to retake the lead at 22-16. But Carolina had one last chance after forcing an Eagles punt with with 3:05 remaining.

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young delivered multiple big plays on the ensuing drive. He scrambled in the end zone to buy time and threw a 31-yard first-down strike to Xavier Legette on third-and-11.

He then converted on fourth-and-7 from midfield with a 13-yard pass to Adam Thielen.

Young then nearly found Legette on a deep ball down the middle close to the goal line. But the ball bounced off the turf on Legette's diving attempt, and the pass was incomplete.

The Eagles forced an incompletion on an ensuing fourth-and-9 to lock up the win and stave off the upset bid.

It added up to a stressful final few minutes for the Eagles, their fans and the $3.1 million bettor.

They made some team history in the process. Saquon Barkley finished the day with 124 yards on 20 carries to increase his season-long rushing tally to 1,623 rushing yards in his first season with the franchise.

That now stands as the franchise's single-season rushing record, passing LeSean McCoy, who rushed for 1,607 yards in 2013. Barkley has four more regular-season games to add to his tally.

Saquon Barkley set an Eagles rushing record as Philadelphia survived an upset bid by the Panthers. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Saquon Barkley set an Eagles rushing record as Philadelphia survived an upset bid by the Panthers. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)

While the Eagles got the win and another big game from Barkley, they leave Sunday's game with continued concerns around kicker Jake Elliott. Elliott entered Sunday's game having missed five of his 23 field-goal attempts on the season including misses on all four of his kicks from 50-plus yards.

He missed a 52-yard attempt wide right in the third quarter that would have extended Philadelphia's lead to 17-14. Then, when the Eagles had a look at a 54-yard field goal with 3:05 remaining, they opted instead to punt rather than trust Elliott with a kick that would have extended their lead to two scores. It almost cost Philadelphia the game.

With nothing to lose in a three-win season, the Panthers played aggressive on Sunday. They went for it on fourth-and-goal at the 3-yard line and converted with a Young pass to Tommy Tremble for their first touchdown of the day.

They set up their second touchdown with a fourth-and-2 pass from Young to Thielen to convert a first down in the red zone. Young finished the day completing 19-of-34 passes for 191 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Jalen Hurts countered with 108 passing yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions while completing 14-of-21 pass attempts as the Eagles focused on the ground game and racked up 209 rushing yards.

In the loss, the Panthers lost rookie running back Jonathon Brooks to a knee injury. A second-round rookie, Brooks was playing in his third NFL game since returning from an ACL tear.