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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers amassed 399 yards of total offense at Lincoln Financial Field. They dominated the game early, but the Philadelphia Eagles almost rallied for a victory in the fourth quarter. Not quite: Buccaneers 28, Eagles 22.
After the loss, Nick Sirianni’s play-calling came under fire once again. He rushed the football 19 times for 100 yards, with the bulk of those carries coming late in the contest. Miles Sanders averaged 6.2 yards per carry – nine touches for 56 yards – while Jalen Hurts took it 10 times for 44 yards. Only one running back held the rock through the first 25 plays. Why?
“Again, some of them same thing are RPO’s. Some of them we look at screens as being able to get the running backs the ball as running back plays as well,” Sirianni told reporters. “Again, just the way the flow was going, we weren’t getting much on the first one. Then the RPO we weren’t getting much on either. Either way, it didn’t work. We were bad in the first half, and I put that on me first.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Eagles with a matchup versus the high-powered Las Vegas Raiders on the horizon. They are the NFL’s 13th-ranked offense, averaging 377 yards and 22.6 points per game. Interim head coach Rich Bisaccia will lead them into battle following Jon Gruden’s exit.
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Ex-Eagles Player Rips Defensive Performance
The Eagles’ defense surrendered 102 yards on the ground. Their inability to get off the field on third down continued to plague them as the Buccaneers went 7-of-13 in those crucial situations. Leonard Fournette ran roughshod and gained 81 yards on 22 carries, plus two touchdowns.
Harsh criticism was hurled at Jonathan Gannon’s unit, specifically at the Eagles’ linebackers who often looked confused and overmatched. Genard Avery’s bizarre taunting penalty late in the fourth quarter cost them 15 yards and a first down.
He glared at Fournette and the flag flew, then Tom Brady ran out the clock. One former Eagles player took great delight in watching the Eagles linebackers fail miserably. Zach Brown – the guy cut by Doug Pederson a few days after he roasted Kirk Cousins – had his Twitter fingers ready to go. He laughed at Philly’s misfortunes when someone asked if the Eagles had kickers playing the linebacker position.
“Yeah, that’s first on me. I got to do a better job of cleaning up all those things,” Sirianni said of Avery’s penalty. “We know we can’t make those self-inflicted wounds. I know that, they know that, we’ll continue to harp on that and work to get it right. Again, that was unacceptable and that falls on me first.”
Tom Brady Praises Eagles Defense
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady was quick to praise the Eagles’ defense after the game, much like he had done prior to kickoff. It was interesting to hear considering Philly recorded no sacks and only three quarterback hits on him.
“[The Eagles defense] played tough. They have a good front,” Brady said. “They really clogged up the run game in there and we just didn’t hit as many passes as we needed to. I felt they did a great job. They really made us earn it and we just came up short a few times.”
Brady threw his first interception at Lincoln Financial Field in this one. He now has eight career touchdown passes and one pick in four games there.
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