The Carolina Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, and just as last week, found themselves in a 17-point hole; unlike last week, however, Sunday’s win saw key contributions from second-year player Curtis Samuel as Samuel, who only had three snaps a week ago, saw an uptick with 19 snaps (32%) – offensive coordinator Norv Turner was quick to point out on Thursday that the speedy wide receiver, who scored a touchdown on one of his two carries in the game, was only in his third week of practice after missing the first month of the season due to a heart surgery ahead of Week 1.
“We have plans for Curtis. … Curtis is gonna get his shot,” Turner said last week – and Samuel took advantage, using one of his three touches to spurt into the end zone in the fourth quarter to kick off the Panthers comeback; running back CJ Anderson, who only saw one snap last week, was on the field during that touchdown and was used as a decoy to help open a rushing lane for Samuel. Anderson had three snaps this week.
Like last week, the Panthers deployed mostly 11 personnel, which meant that Greg Olsen was on the field for every single snap and blocking tight end Chris Manhertz only played 10% of the snaps while rookie Ian Thomas did not see the field aside from nine special teams snaps – the one tight end personnel was likely due to the Panthers scrambling to make up the deficit throughout the game.
Jarius Wright (54%) outsnapped Torrey Smith (51%) at the second wide receiver spot, but that may have been because of the concussion testing Smith had to undergo during the game – Smith and Wright both had 61 yards, although Wright picked up 34 on a first-half reverse, one of only a few first-half highlights.
With Thomas Davis back to almost his full complement of snaps – the “Mayor of Charlotte” missed some time during the third quarter after being poked in the eye – Shaq Thompson saw the field for only 63% of the plays; that’s higher than last week (52.9%), but Thompson had been on the field 100% of the time while Davis served a four-game suspension to begin the season.
With Mario Addison (27%) dealing with an ailing back, Wes Horton (71%) took on a heavier load and helped the pass rush, specifically on the final drive as Horton, Kyle Love (39%) and Julius Peppers (61%) converged on Carson Wentz to force a sack and a fumble. The Panthers continued a slight rotation in the defensive backfield, utilizing Rashaan Gaulden (18%) on multiple drives throughout the game in place of Eric Reid (82%) – Gaulden would register two tackles in the limited snaps. Ron Rivera said this week that the rotation would continue throughout the season, with the third-round pick perhaps being moved into a three-man rotation along with Reid and Adams (99%).
Check out the rest of the snap counts below:
| Name | Position | Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams Snaps | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C Clark | T | 59 | 100% | 2 | 9% | ||
| T Moton | T | 59 | 100% | 2 | 9% | ||
| T Turner | G | 59 | 100% | 2 | 9% | ||
| G Van Roten | G | 59 | 100% | 2 | 9% | ||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 59 | 100% | ||||
| G Olsen | TE | 59 | 100% | ||||
| R Kalil | C | 59 | 100% | ||||
| C Newton | QB | 59 | 100% | ||||
| D Funchess | WR | 54 | 92% | ||||
| J Wright | WR | 32 | 54% | ||||
| T Smith | WR | 30 | 51% | ||||
| D Moore | WR | 27 | 46% | 10 | 45% | ||
| C Samuel | WR | 19 | 32% | 16 | 73% | ||
| C Manhertz | TE | 6 | 10% | 6 | 27% | ||
| A Armah | RB | 3 | 5% | 16 | 73% | ||
| C Anderson | RB | 3 | 5% | ||||
| D Byrd | WR | 2 | 3% | 8 | 36% | ||
| M Newhouse | T | 1 | 2% | 2 | 9% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 67 | 100% | 4 | 18% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 66 | 99% | 5 | 23% | ||
| D Jackson | CB | 66 | 99% | 5 | 23% | ||
| M Adams | FS | 66 | 99% | 4 | 18% | ||
| T Davis | LB | 58 | 87% | 4 | 18% | ||
| E Reid | SS | 55 | 82% | 3 | 14% | ||
| K Short | DT | 49 | 73% | 4 | 18% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 49 | 73% | 4 | 18% | ||
| S Thompson | LB | 42 | 63% | 13 | 59% | ||
| J Peppers | DE | 41 | 61% | 4 | 18% | ||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 39 | 58% | ||||
| D Poe | NT | 34 | 51% | ||||
| E Obada | DE | 26 | 39% | 3 | 14% | ||
| K Love | NT | 26 | 39% | ||||
| V Butler | DT | 20 | 30% | 4 | 18% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 18 | 27% | ||||
| R Gaulden | FS | 12 | 18% | 8 | 36% | ||
| J Carter | LB | 2 | 3% | 16 | 73% | ||
| D Mayo | LB | 1 | 1% | 15 | 68% | ||
| C Jones | SS | 20 | 91% | ||||
| B Jacobs | LB | 16 | 73% | ||||
| J Hawkins | CB | 12 | 55% | ||||
| I Thomas | TE | 9 | 41% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 7 | 32% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 7 | 32% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 6 | 27% | ||||
| T Larsen | G | 2 | 9% |
