CHARLOTTE— The last time Robert Hunt played in Philadelphia—which was only a season ago—an Eagles fan tried to make it onto the Dolphins bus, where Hunt and his teammates were waiting.

"Just to like, you know, trash talk us a little bit," Hunt laughed, telling the story this week. The fan didn't actually make it on the bus—"(expletive) no, he ain't make it on the bus.

We would have stumped up."— But it taught Hunt what kind of fan base opponents deal with when traveling to the city of Brotherly Love.

"He was confident and that's what kind of makes them, them," Hunt said. "It's a fun city, they got some characters there, some people, you know, they just don't really give a damn."

While Eagles fan certainly make Lincoln Financial Field a difficult—and colorful—place to play, there will be much more that goes into Sunday's game. With that in mind, here five things to watch as the Panthers take on Philadelphia.

The kids are all right

The Panthers drafted seven players this past April. One of them—the seventh-rounder Michael Barrett—was traded to Seattle for Mike Jackson, who has become the Panthers starting corner and played 98 percent of the defensive snaps this season.

Jaden Crumedy began the season on injured reserve and hasn't played in a game yet, but coaches seem excited about what he offers and how he can help round out this rookie class.

"It's just a group that's been playing really well together. So, it's a matter of just availability, to get (Crumedy) out there to see what he can do," Dave Canales explained Friday. "And that's just again, those conversations that the coaches have about who gives us the best chance to execute our first, second down, third down plan right now."

Of the other five draft picks, all have become starters or major contributors. And there's also Jalen Coker signed as an undrafted free agent and becoming a big part of the receiver corps, along with Demani Richardson, who started a couple of games at safety and contributes on special teams.

The point being this rookie class has made a name for themselves in a short amount of time. The entire class hasn't played together yet, due to Crumedy's status and recent injuries to Coker and Ja'Tavion Sanders. But Sunday could be a chance to see the majority of this rookie class take the field together.

Coaches are hopeful Sanders is available on Sunday, although Coker remains doubtful.

"JT looked great again today, moving around, had a great day yesterday," Canales said Friday. "So, we fully expect JT to play."

He'll re-join an offense that has added Jonathon Brooks, the rookie running back who saw his snap count jump significantly last week, and even feature an angry run.

Brooks and Sanders' pass-catching ability, especially in the short passing game, could be crucial against an Eagles defense that can shut down a rushing attack and features a dangerous secondary—but more on both of those things below.

Chau Smith-Wade has joined Trevin Wallace as starters on defense. The former leads all rookie nickels in tackle percentage and quarterback pressure percentage (according to Next Gen Stats) both things that will be called upon to shut down a potent Eagles offense.

Canales has maintained from the beginning of the season that he's fine with taking some lumps this season in order to help the rookie class gain some calluses. The task on Sunday will certainly provide some of those calluses, but if this rookie class has proven anything to this point, it's that they'll make sure each one is hard earned.

They know we know

Stop us if you've heard this before; the Philadelphia Eagles like to run the ball. And they're really good at it. We've talked about the Saquon and Jalen Hurts of it all and what they bring, all week. But it begs the question, what sort of challenge can it present for a defense when an offense presents itself as one sided?

For starters, said defense has to not be drawn in to a false sense of security that they know what's coming.

"Yes, they are running the ball, but within those run schemes they got some RPO and pass options out there," defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero explained this week. "And there's enough balance in terms of, there's enough throws in there where you still have to cover their guys.

"They've got great skill players on the outside...so they've got enough firepower on the outside that you certainly have to account for their passing game. And so this is, it's a great challenge.

"(Offensive coordinator) Kellen (Moore) has done a good job in terms of calling the plays and calling the scheme and you can see that there's a core organizational philosophy in terms of how they want to play on all three sides of the ball. So, it's a tremendous challenge for us, run game and pass game."

That pass game will be without tight end Dallas Goedert (knee) who was ruled out on Friday. But it still boasts A.J. Brown, averaging 18 yards per reception with four touchdowns. The Panthers will also have to contend with Devonta Smith, who is set to play for the first time since Week 11 with a hamstring injury.

These Eagles are flying (around)

Typically if a defense was starting two rookie corners, a quarterbacks eyes would light up. Typically those two corners would be picked on all game and put through the wringer. But Quinyon Mitchell (outside) and Cooper DeJean (nickel) are not typical corners.

Dave Canales isn't always one for long scouting reports, preferring to look instead at his own team. But when provided the opportunity this week to break down the Eagles two rookie corners, he couldn't help but highlight all the ways they can stress an offense.

"Starting with Cooper DeJean, just a really smart player; physical, he challenges things, he re-routes things with his hands, he owns his leverage, he plays really well in the system, shows up aggressively to tackle, and really competes," Canales began. "You see him competing even when a guy seems like he's got the catch, he's competing, trying to rake the ball out all the way to the ground. So I think it starts off with that in his effort.

"With Quinyon Mitchell, he's a talent. He's big, he's fast. He's got quickness, all those things. Ideal length out there on the outside, and really fits the scheme."

Mitchell has 10 pass breakups and 37 tackles so far this season, with DeJean right behind him with six pass breakups and 35 tackles.

The Panthers, as mentioned above, have barreled full-speed ahead with their own rookie class this season, which gives Canales appreciation for what the Eagles have done with the defensive backs.

"They're doing a great job and, and I gotta tip the cap to the coaches because I know that there's a lot of hard work that goes into getting rookies to play at a high level at this point in their career."

They will get back their third member this week, with Darius Slay set to return after being in concussion protocol last week. On the backend however, the Eagles will be without Reed Blankenship (concussion), who had started every game thus far this season and led Philly in interceptions. Second year backup safety Sydney Brown (knee) will also be held out, leaving the ever-tenacious Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to play alongside rookie Tristin McCollum.

The shifting secondary will provide an interesting conundrum for Canales and Bryce Young. Does the quarterback continue to attack the tighter intermediate part of the field—where he has seen a success rate well above league average (according to Next Gen Stats) but contains the fearsome rookies and Slay? Or does he look to take advantage of questions on the backend, but where he has been below league average?

Only Sunday will tell.

What's in the box?

The Eagles secondary is a large reason why the Philly defense is first overall in the league. But the rushing defense, while certainly not a weak spot because it's still seventh overall and only allowing an average of 104.8 yards per game, is the slightly more vulnerable area.

Conventional wisdom would then say to run the ball on the back of Chuba Hubbard who is sixth in the NFL with 919 rushing yards. Teams know that is the Panthers strength though and have been stacking the box in recent weeks, giving Young single high or zero looks...and he's taken advantage. According to Next Gen Stats, Young has generated a positive EPA (expected points added) on 40.3% of his pressure dropbacks.

"Obviously you counter (a stacked box) with passing the ball, which we've done a great job at," Hubbard pointed out this week.

That leaves the Eagles with a choice; put eight in the box and give Young and his receivers room to move around, or lean on the strength of their defense (the secondary) and give Hubbard the lanes he's been looking for the last two weeks.

"When we do run the ball, it's more of a like, look, we know what it's gonna be. It's more of a mentality thing which we got and I think that we bring every single week," Hubbard continued. "So regardless of stack box or not, we'll get the job done with Bryce."

And if getting the job done with Bryce means the quarterback takes to the edge with his own legs, his coaches and teammates just have one request: "I'm excited to just make sure he slide if they get too close," laughed Hubbard.

Added Young, "I feel like I've had some OK attempts. I've had some, not-great attempts. So, hopefully, one day, I just get it right magically."

Baby it's (kind of) cold outside

All things considered, the weather prediction for Philadelphia this weekend has worked in the Panthers favor. As the week has progressed, the temperatures for kickoff on Sunday have steadily risen. At the time of publishing, they sit at a balmy 53 degrees and are set to stay around that number for the duration of the game. Wind gusts are predicted to be upwards of 16 miles per hour, according to The Weather Channel, and that is really where the coach's attention lies.

"The cold is fine," Canales explained Friday. "I think sometimes the wind can be a factor, just depends on what the day is like, you know, so we got to keep our eyes on the forecast there."

If there is one thing about a predicted forecast though, it's that it can be unpredictable. If the temperatures skew back to where they were originally forecasted to be, things will change quickly. Cold weather affects tackling, which tends to sting much more when things are chilly.

If there's one person hoping for cold though, it's the Canadian.

"I'm from the cold so I probably like playing in the cold more than others," said Hubbard. "So, looking forward to hopefully get some snow or something."