Monday Night Football schedule and results: Mark Sanchez, Eagles embarrass Panthers

Many were worried that Ryans’ absence would be a major issue, but at least on this night, the Eagles soldiered on, via NJ.com:

Before being knocked out for the season with the Achilles injury, Ryans amassed 45 tackles and an interception in his third season with the Eagles. Last year, Ryans set a career high with four sacks and notched 127 tackles, his third-highest total.

The second half didn’t offer any relief for the Panthers, though they did manage to put some more points on the board when Newton hit Benjamin with a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. By that point, the game was already at 45-21 in favor of the Eagles with under six minutes left and was well out of reach.

1) The NFC South might be the worst division in football this year

The Eagles-Panthers game is so awful that Jon Gruden is now messing around with a blender to kill time in the booth during the fourth quarter. We’re still unclear on the whole point of the exercise, but the concoction was termed Spider 2 Y Banana and featured Chuckie’s Protein Powder.

And this was perhaps the most entertaining moment of the fourth quarter of another terrible primetime NFL game.

Lotulelei doesn’t have too many big stats to his name, but he makes his presence felt on the field. He gets a lot of attention from opposing offensive lines and often commands a double team. If he’s not getting the sack or the tackle, he’s usually eating up plenty of space and any time missed would be a big deal for the Panthers.

We already knew the Panthers offensive line was not a strong point, and Newton has been sacked seven times in less than three full quarters. But the way they’re being shown up, particularly by one Eagles rusher, is what’s so startling about this Monday night blowout.

In Chip Kelly’s offense, everything is done at top speed, and that includes the work put in by the many designated sideline signalers. These guys are getting about as much of an in-game workout as a coach can by just gesticulating wildly several times per minute. And it’s not just one or two, but several with a few dummies mixed in.

That’s a lot of signalin’.

After a long pass to Jordan Matthews in the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers, Mark Sanchez got the Eagles up to the line of scrimmage fast and snapped the ball ... only to be have the play blown dead for seemingly no reason:

Turns out it was because the refs weren’t ready:

Michael Vick and the Panthers got the ball first on Monday Night Football -- wait, Michael Vick and the Panthers?

As we all know, the Panthers’ QB is actually Daunte Culpepper.

Also, a bald eagle flew onto the field, giving us this cool visual:

Hulk Hogan isn’t quite how we remembered him. We absolutely want to party with this tailgating legend.

Anyone want to guess if he’ll stay awake for the game?

Philadelphia is favored by seven points over Carolina at home, with an over/under at 48, according to OddsShark.

For more on the Panthers, head over to Cat Scratch Reader.

Philadelphia is a 7-point home favorite at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Carolina’s recent struggles and Philadelphia’s strong play at home make the Eagles the play on Monday.

OddsShark Computer Prediction: Carolina 16.6, Philadelphia 29.5

The Panthers enter the week 3-5-1, second in the NFC South. The Eagles come in at 6-2, best in the NFC East.

The Panthers and Eagles have played each other eight times. Philadelphia holds a slight edge in the series, winning five times. However, Carolina won the last tilt, 30-22.

The Panthers rank 26th in run defense, which is bad news with Philadelphia’s No. 8 rushing offense on deck in addition to their No. 5 passing offense. If Carolina is going to win this game, it will likely be in a shootout, which would make for an entertaining primetime affair.

So what are the experts saying about this matchup?

Sanchez came in and threw for 202 yards and two scores in a 31-21 win at Houston and he’ll now be the starting QB going forward. He’ll make his first start since 2012 when the fading Panthers come to town, winners of just one of their past seven games.

However, the defense has let him down, allowing 26.2 points per game, the eighth-most in the NFL. That’s bad news with the Eagles’ fourth-ranked scoring offense on deck.

A couple questions come to mind: 1) Will Kelly drastically change the offense based on Sanchez’s skillset (i.e., does Sanchez have deficiencies that require Kelly to take major tenets out of the playbook?), and 2) Are the Eagles significantly worse with Sanchez running the offense?

Here. You just got into the game. Go throw a bomb. I love that.