Byron Maxwell had one of the three interceptions by the Eagles against Carolina/ Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

The Eagles wasted a great performance by their defense, losing to the Carolina Panthers 27-16 on Sunday night, falling to 3-4 for the season.

Mike Tolbert scored two touchdowns and Cam Newton ran for one score and threw for another as the Panthers defeated Eagles on Sunday night to improve to 6-0 for the first time in franchise history.

“That’s the motto of this franchise is to keep pounding and we showed a little bit of that,” Newton said.

With the win, the Panthers became the fifth NFL team this season to reach 6-0, joining New England, Denver, Cincinnati and Green Bay.

The Panthers held Sam Bradford to 205 yards passing and sacked him five times, including two by Jared Allen to help seal the win. Ryan Mathews ran for 97 yards on just six carries, including a 63-yard touchdown, but the Eagles were only able to convert three interceptions by Newton into six points.

“We talk about responses to turnovers and we end up kicking two field goals,” Eagles coach Chip Kelly said. “Our defense did a good job of creating turnovers for us. We’ve got to turn those into seven and not three (points).”

Newton finished 14 of 24 for 197 yards. Two of his picks hit off the hands of his wide receivers.

“We didn’t play our best brand of football tonight,” Newton said.

Jonathan Stewart ran for 119 yards for Carolina, which has won a franchise-record 10 straight regular-season games dating to last season.

Last November, the Panthers turned the ball over on two of their first three plays in an embarrassing 45-21 loss to the Eagles on Monday Night Football.

After Tolbert pushed the lead to 21-6 when he caught a pass in the flat, bounced off a hit from Malcolm Jenkins and carried four Eagles into the end zone with him for a 2-yard TD reception.

The Eagles didn’t give up.

Mathews’ 63-yard burst up the middle quieted the crowd, and cornerback Byron Maxwell intercepted Newton on a ball that deflected off the hands of Devin Funchess leading to a field goal by the Eagles.

Trailing 24-16, the Eagles had one last chance to tie and send it into overtime, but veteran Jarad Allen came up with two sacks and a batted ball on a crucial series with less than three minutes to play. Allen now has 136 career sacks, more than any active player in the league.

Eagles seven-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters was carted off the field in the first quarter with back spasms after he fell to the ground while trying to block Allen.

NOTES: *Rivera said defensive end Mario Addison has a sprained shoulder and will miss next Monday night’s game against the Indianapolis. … DeMarco Murray had 65 yards on 18 carries for the Eagles.

* The Eagles intercepted Carolina three times, marking their third-consecutive game with three or more takeaways, which is the first time they accomplished that feat since 2009 … The Eagles have forced 10 turnovers over the last three games and 15 over the last five … Philadelphia leads the league with 19 takeaways this season and with 78 since 2013 … The Eagles have forced at least one turnover in 13 straight games for a total of 32 during that span.

* The Eagles have picked off Cam Newton six times in their last two games against Carolina … With 11 interceptions this season, the Eagles are tied with Arizona for the league lead … CB Nolan Carroll has an interception in consecutive games for the first time of his career … S Malcolm Jenkins and CB Byron Maxwell each picked up their first interceptions of the season. For Jenkins it was the 10th of his career and for Maxwell it was the seventh … The four starting members of the Eagles secondary have combined for seven interceptions this season.

* Mathews scored on a career-long 63-yard touchdown run, the longest by an Eagle since Bryce Brown’s 65-yarder on 12/22/13 vs. Chicago. It was also the longest play against the Panthers this season, with the previous long run being just 26 yards … Since 2013, the Eagles lead the league with 202 20-plus yard plays … The Eagles have surrendered just three scoring drives following their 15 giveaways this year, while conversely putting up points on eight of their 19 drives following an opponent’s turnover … K Caleb Sturgis connected on a 52-yard field goal, which is his seventh 50-plus yarder and tied for the eighth-longest kick in team history … LB Mychal Kendricks picked up his 10th career sack and became the ninth different Eagle with a sack this year … The Panthers snapped the Eagles streak of 18 consecutive games without allowing a 100-yard rusher which was tied with Atlanta for the longest in the NFL.

This article contains information from wire services and the Eagles media relations department.