The Eagles are the poster children of why preseason research is nice, but sharps make week-to-week adjustments. Yes I thought once the Eagles got Chip Kelly hand-picked QB Sam Bradford, the Eagles would have the most up-tempo offense in the NFL. So did Chip.

To his credit, he has slowed down the offense now that it is obvious that Bradford is not a thrill-a-minute QB. The Eagles have actually been much better on defense. While they get .3 yards per pass and .3 yards per play what their foes normally allow, they are holding teams .4 yards per rushing attempt and .9 yards per pass below their normal average.

Philadelphia has gone 18 consecutive games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. The Panthers are deceptively getting a lot of points, but with no downfield playmakers they are not an explosive offense. The Panthers are still built for ball control and defense even if the stats do not fully reflect that. Yet.