Five up/five down: Eagles-Panthers

Watching tape of the Eagles’ 14-9 preseason win over the Panthers revealed plenty of ups and downs. Here are 10 standout performers -- for both good and bad reasons -- from the second exhibition:

FIVE UP

Mike Vick
Yeah, it’s kind of obvious, but Vick’s praise goes beyond his high completion percentage and QB rating. In an offense that’s catered to his athleticism, Vick hasn’t tried to do too much, hasn’t tried to scramble as if it were 2003 instead of 2013. He’s doing the math and finding the favorable matchups.

Zach Ertz
The rookie from Stanford made two more nice grabs, a 15-yarder on the opening series and an 18-yarder later. But he also showed improved blocking. Ertz barricaded Panthers safety Mike Mitchell on a Damaris Johnson screen in the second quarter that went for 15 yards.

Damaris Johnson
After a shaky rookie season, Johnson’s comfort in the return game has already made the special teams look like the most improved unit of the team. Johnson, who had a 62-yard punt return against the Patriots, showed nifty change-of-direction acumen on an 18-yard punt return and 30-yard kickoff return.

Vinny Curry
Where was Curry in the first half? Apparently, he wasn’t in the cards to rotate in with the first string, so all he did was spend most of the third quarter in Carolina’s backfield. Curry’s first step has taken on its own identity. (Really, someone should create the Twitter handle: @VinnyCurry’sFirstStep). Had to like the third-and-3 play when he scooted pass the guard and center to force Derek Anderson into a wobbly, hurried incompletion.

Todd Herremans
He ended up in the “Five Down” category last week for a protection breakdown that led to Nick Foles’ fumble, so he deserves credit this week for a few punishing lead blocks that cleared the way for LeSean McCoy’s breakout first half.

FIVE DOWN

Nick Foles
This is a hardly suggesting that Foles played poorly against Carolina, but his ill-fated decision to heave the ball out of the end zone after first botching the snap is exactly the kind of mistake a quarterback can’t make in the red zone. That’s two turnovers in four series for the second-year quarterback.

Brandon Boykin
As a returner, he was fantastic. As a corner, his primary job, he wasn’t so fantastic. For all of his athleticism, Boykin dropped two gift-wrapped interceptions, one in the end zone.

"I'm kind of beating myself up about that," Boykin said. "The first one I definitely should have had. The second one I kinda got jerked there. I still gotta catch it though. I'm gonna get on the Jugs [machine] and make it happen next time."

He also got beaten in man coverage on the outside on a five-man rush. Nobody’s panicked, it just wasn’t his best game.

Chris Polk
Nobody had a better start to training camp than Polk. Then came the preseason opener, when he rushed for seven yards on four carries. The second-year running back was having a much better encore, averaging 5.8 yards per carry, but he lost a fumble in Carolina territory that stalled a drive.

Alex Henery
Can’t blame the new long snapper for his missed 44-yarder in the third quarter. The hold looked good. Henery just missed the kick wide right.

Matt Tobin
The rookie free agent left tackle’s odds of making the roster weren’t very good, but they weren’t helped by his illegal formation in the third that wiped out Matt Barkley’s best pass of the night, a 36-yarder to Derek Carrier at the Carolina 18-yard line.