By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
On Sunday, ahead of the short week, I said this one would be a battle. This was a battle and then some.
The Eagles certainly battled their way to a statement win, defeating the Carolina Panthers, 28-23, on the road in a short week in a game that had a playoff feel.
Here are this week's grades.
Pass Offense – A-
From a quarterback standpoint, this was another one of those games where Carson Wentz showed you how special he can be.
His completion rating was a hair over 50 percent, but the timeliness of his throws, adding three more touchdowns to his total with no interceptions, and really just being the natural-born leader Philadelphia has come to know and love was the real story here.
Related: Constructive on Carson: Wentz impressive again in win over Panthers
Wentz completed a pair of passes for touchdowns to Zach Ertz, but his most impressive sequence came down the stretch in the third quarter and entering the fourth. On third down, Wentz hit Mack Hollins for a first down after deftly escaping pressure. His next pass was a perfectly placed deep ball to Alshon Jeffery. His first play of the fourth quarter was another nice target to Nelson Agholor, who turned upfield and darted into the endzone for the touchdown to put the Eagles up by 12 at the time.
There were a couple of throws Wentz would probably like back — most notably the 3rd and 7 pass intended for Ertz where he had Agholor wide open for a first down that would have sealed the game in the fourth. But don't discount what Wentz and the passing offense did.
Yes, Wentz was under pressure a lot and the line didn't have their best game without Lane Johnson. But it also took numerous blitzes from Carolina to make Wentz uncomfortable. That says a lot about the second-year QB's poise and composure.
Run Offense – B+
This was not the best game for the Eagles running game, but on a night where Carolina really had the line stacked at all times, LeGarrette Blount still managed 4.8 yards per carry and 67 yards rushing on the night. Wentz added another 25 with his feet as well.
A total of 101 rushing yards to go with the 209 passing yards was another week with a nice balance.
Pass Defense – A-
It's instantly an accomplishment to get an established quarterback like Cam Newton to throw multiple interceptions. Two of them — one by Rasul Douglas and one by Patrick Robinson — put the Eagles in great field position to score touchdowns. Jalen Mills added one that really should have been the dagger in the fourth quarter.
But more than just the takeaways, the Eagles were doing a solid job on the pass rush considering they rushed four consistently throughout the night. Fletcher Cox's presence cannot be understated here. He entered the day as a game-time decision. If he doesn't play, who knows how this turns out, but it probably doesn't put the Eagles in a good spot. Cox was one of the defensive stars, no question.
Kelvin Benjamin accounted for 99 yards of the Panthers pass offense, and it was going to be difficult to completely contain him. It says more that Benjamin was targeted 13 times and had nine catches to get to those totals, all without having a play bigger than a 19-yard gain.
Run Defense – A-
If Cam Newton had the ball, there was a chance for him to break out. QB runs are usually either aptly designed plays or read options where the only option is to tuck and run, especially if there's a lot of field in front of you.
So it's not really a surprise that Newton had a strong day on his feet, picking up 71 yards and scoring a touchdown.
Here's the problem with that for Carolina. They finished the game with 80 rushing yards. Newton accounted for 71 of the team's 80 rushing yards.
That's enough to tell you how good the Eagles are defending the run. The combination of Christian McCaffrey, Fozzy Whittaker, Jonathan Stewart and Curtis Samuel combined for nine yards.
Mychal Kendricks had 17 tackles. Nigel Bradham had 10. Just an impressive effort by those two.
Special Teams – B
The good: the kicking teams. Jake Elliott's confidence is through the roof. He nailed a 50-yard field goal for the game's first score and added another field goal later. Donnie Jones averaged 50.8 yards per punt on a night when he had to be on his game too.
Kick coverage wasn't great — Carolina had a kick return of 33 yards and a punt return of 25 yards in the game — and neither was the Eagles returns. Kenjon Barner almost made a massive mistake with a muffed punt on a fair catch that bounced into open field. If not for Patrick Robinson's awareness and hustle, the Panthers would have easily recovered.
Overall – A
Here's the thing about this game. The Eagles allowed eight more first downs, ran 19 fewer plays, outgained the Panthers by just five yards in total offense and actually lost the time of possession battle. Even more glaring than all of that was an extremely lopsided game in terms of penalties. The Eagles had 10 for 126 yards, over 12 yards per penalty. The Panthers had one penalty for one yard.
And the Eagles won the game.
They did win the turnover battle convincingly and made the most of those turnovers. But this was a battle. The Eagles had to battle the officials, who seemed to call everything against them and nothing for them. They had to contain Cam Newton, and essentially did for the duration of the game. They didn't let McCaffrey or Benjamin beat them single-handedly.
As the late third quarter and fourth quarter progressed, it was apparent what this was. This was a game that had a playoff feel to it. The Eagles passed the test of a playoff atmosphere on the road with so much going against them and won. That right there says it all.
So the Eagles move forward at 5-1 with more than a week to get back to full health before a tough divisional game on Monday Night Football hits against the Redskins. But for now, savor the feeling of a playoff-like win. It was tough. It showed character. It showed how far Carson Wentz, Doug Pederson and the Eagles have come.
And the Eagles are now in position to certainly keep the wave going. The next three games are at home. Then the bye week. Let's not get too far ahead, but you can't definitely wake up, look at the standings, see the 5-1 record and smile.
