The Carolina Panthers secured another big win on Sunday against a very short-handed Philadelphia Eagles team and it certainly didn’t go the way anyone expected. Many expected the Panthers to easily roll to a win against an Eagles team playing without their franchise quarterback and star running back.

Instead, the Panthers had to grind out the road win on Sunday and left the game with plenty of things to clean up. But, the important thing is that the Panthers left Philadelphia with a win and improved to 3-2 on the season.

That’s the kind of game we usually would have seen the Panthers fall flat. Carolina was coming off a huge primetime win and an extended week off against an opponent they should have dominated. The Panthers still played down to the Eagles level and made this game closer than it should have been, but securing the win showed growth from this team and helped keep the momentum going after the bye week.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Panthers got the job done

Against a high-powered, full strength offense, this game likely goes a different direction for the Panthers with all the self-inflicted mistakes this team had. The Panthers lucked out, but also overcame those issues, including the 13 penalties for 149 yards.

“The penalties (were) outrageous. It’s not a part of our football,” head coach Dave Canales said after the win. “I believe it’s a franchise record for penalties. We have to clean that up, we’ve gotta do better with our hands in different situations, particularly if you’re not at the point of attack of a play. We’ve gotta be smarter, we’ve gotta be cleaner with our screens, O-linemen down the field and all that.”

Outside of the penalties, the Panthers also had some operational issues on a few different drives that left potential points on the board. It seemed like a conservative approach from the coaching staff, and again something that would have backfired against a stronger opponent.

“I’m a competitor. I always want the ball and always want to be aggressive,” quarterback Bryce Young said. “And that’s why you have coaches. Those guys see the bigger picture, they’re able to take the emotion out of it. And we ended up winning. They made the right call. It’s nothing but love.”

At the end of the day, a win is a win in this league, no matter how you get it done. And big picture, there’s a lot of encouraging things from Sunday’s game that add more optimism for where this team is headed.

The good from Sunday’s ugly win

Let’s first start with wide receiver Jalen Coker, who returned to the lineup on Sunday after missing the last game with a quad injury. This guy is turning into a really special player for this offense after recording 97 yards on six receptions, including a clutch 32-yard reception.

“Credit goes to Jalen for just being a guy that versatile, that you can go out and he can be in the backfield and be able to run a route out of there. We move him around, and he does so much for us,” Young explained. “He did a great job of doing that in a really big moment, so that’s just, again, there’s no surprise there; that’s the type of player he is.”

With a healthy Coker alongside Tetairoa McMillan, the Panthers have a really strong WR duo capable of fueling this offense and creating game-changing plays. You pair that with the way Chuba Hubbard is running the football and Young playing at a high level, you have an offense capable of keeping up with anyone. I mean we saw that against the Detroit Lions in Week 4. The key now is avoiding all of those internal mistakes.

Defensively, credit to Ejiro Evero for the turnaround his unit has had over the last few weeks. Again, this was a very short-handed Eagles’ offense without two of their top weapons, but this unit still looked just as good in the last game against one of the top offenses in football. Over the last two weeks, the Panthers are allowing 20.0 points per game and 40.5 rushing yards per game.

That’s quite the difference compared to the unit that allowed 59 points and 291 rushing yards in the season opener to the Chicago Bears. Oh, and that’s without the team’s two starting cornerbacks.

Just like the offense, there’s plenty to clean up from this game moving forward when it comes to the personal mistakes on defense, but it was another solid game from this unit.

“We’ve got a resilient squad,” linebacker Devin Lloyd said. “Even though we may shoot ourselves in the foot, we just find a way to keep fighting and execute when we need it the most. It’s good to see the fight. I mean, obviously we don’t want to put ourselves in that position. But to do it in a hostile environment, and we’re not making excuses for who is out there. It’s a winning culture for the team that we play.”

To me, this is the best kind of win. It’s the kind of game where the areas of improvement are clear and yet you still walk out of a road game with a victory. You can’t ask for anything more than that. And now the Panthers understand where they can be better before facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Sunday.