The Eagles were embarrassed in the game against the Bucs

Halfway through the second quarter, I looked down at my laptop and saw that the Bucs had 255 yards and the Eagles had zero yards.

To understand why this is bad, you don’t really need to be a football expert.

It’s actually incredibly, unbelievable, and crazily awful.

The Eagles humiliated themselves in addition to losing 33–16 in Tampa on Sunday. Their dominance on both sides of the football field was so great that it appeared as though they hadn’t trained or prepared for the game all week.

It was already over a few plays into the second quarter, with the score standing at 21-0, if that seems even slightly competitive.

Granted, the Eagles were without a number of very talented players on Sunday, but that doesn’t justify the shoddy play we witnessed, particularly in the first half.

They simply appeared to be insane. Yes, it was really hot. Yes, it was their third road trip in four weeks, which also included a Monday night party and a trip to Brazil.

Philadelphia Eagles.

However, no justifications.

It was gory.

The Ten Observations are up next.

1. This happens right when you were beginning to feel optimistic about the Eagles’ defense. Just a thorough analysis of every aspect of the game. The Eagles made mistakes on Sunday in Tampa, but they also made mistakes the week before in New Orleans. They tackled in an appalling manner. Simply put, incredibly awful. Huge amounts of tackles missed. Guys were out of position all over the field—perhaps twenty of them? Is that a record? They learned nothing new once more. They permitted big play after big play. For the first time in eight games, they were finally sack by an edge, but they promptly turned the ball over on special teams, giving the ball back to the Bucs. Halfway through the first half, they were trailing 24-0, and that was the end of the game. Finding the final score was all that remained to be done. After three quarters of play, the Bucs possessed 219 yards. This past week, the Saints finished the game with 219 yards. This seemed straight out of the Matt Patricia playbook. Their lack of motivation, preparation, and competence were evident. The Bucs played against inertia for the majority of the first half, although you never want to question effort. In their first twenty-eight plays, nine of them gained 13 yards or more. Things slightly improved. Not by much, though. Irrespective of the player, this is what occurs if you are not physically and mentally ready.

2. The offense is another matter entirely; in the first half, the offense might have been even worse than the terrible defense. Negative 5 scrimmage yards, or negative 10 if you include penalty yards, were the result of their first three drives. This was an offensive disaster, even though I thought Kellen Moore did a great job calling plays during the first few weeks. And there’s no justification for this level of, uh, lethargic play when you’re missing a ton of starters, maybe three of their best offensive players? There’s no justification for having a negative yardage total when the opposition has already scored four touchdowns. When operating at maximum capacity, the offense should be virtually unstoppable, as demonstrated by their impressive performances in the first few weeks. However, even in the absence of A. I. J. These guys should be better than Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson. Far superior. With the NFL’s 28th-ranked defense against them, they managed 226 yards, 16 first downs, 113 net passing yards, and six sacks. Not acceptable.

Three. In the first twenty-three minutes, a team that is outgained 255-0 and outscored 24-0 simply wasn’t prepared to play football at 1 p.m. me. Tampa, Florida is at EST. Nick Sirianni is solely responsible for that. Being a CEO coach involves more than just calling plays; part of your job description includes preparing the team physically and mentally for the game. This includes practicing, running walkthroughs, watching film, and warming up before kickoff. The truth is that this football team wasn’t prepared for kickoff. Not only this particular game, either. The Eagles fell behind the Packers 6-0 after the first quarter, the Falcons without a point in the first quarter, and last week in New Orleans, they were scoreless going into the fourth quarter. They have failed to score in the first quarter of six consecutive games, and Julio Jones, for crying out loud, scored their last touchdown in the first quarter. However, this was the worst of them all.

4. . Given that Jalen Hurts is on the field without DeVonta Smith, A., you should really try to be understanding. J. Not to mention Lane Johnson, Brown, and Britain Covey. But for a large portion of this game, he just seemed unfocused. Regardless of your receivers, you need to run the offense with energy, clarity, and precision. However, the Eagles did not record a first down until they were down 24-0 with 6 ½ minutes remaining in the second quarter. At that point, they were outscored 24-0, and while Jalen may not have been the worst player on the field, an MVP candidate must be able to lead his team out of that kind of mess. All we saw, though, were balls that were thrown five yards out of bounds or 10 feet over Jahan Dotson’s head. During those first three drives, Hurts was 0 for 7 for seven yards. Simply put, it appeared unbalanced, out of rhythm, or whatever term you would like. After momentarily calming down, he proceeded to drive the Eagles inside the Tampa 20 and threw a touchdown to Parris Campbell. But after that, there was another change. He stumbled when the Eagles were inside the Bucs’ 20-yard line, following a strip sack by Lavonte David. That is Hurts’ seventh turnover of the year. His final passing yardage was only 158, he was taken down six times, and he simply had an awful look. I’m always waiting for Jalen Hurts from 2022 to appear. At some point, he will. Correct? Correct?

5. . One thing to remember is that the schedule becomes much simpler after the farewell. With three of them having winning records, their first four opponents have a current combined record of 9-6. With a game later on Sunday in Arizona, only Commanders have a winning record at 2-1 against their first nine opponents following the bye, who are 10-23 overall. That was a single winning squad during the initial nine games. Specifically, the combined record of their next four opponents, the Browns, Giants, Bengals, and Jaguars, is 3-12. Even though this loss was ugly, lying at 2-2 isn’t too bad considering the next four games appear to be very winnable. Of course, it won’t really matter who they play if they perform as well as they did in Tampa on Sunday.

6. At this point, the Eagles’ turnover problems are essentially an epidemic. They were down two on Sunday due to two fumbles, one by Hurts and the other by Cooper DeJean on a punt return that wasn’t really his fault. This makes an incredible 12-game run without ending in positive territory in terms of giveaway-takeaway ratio. It isn’t feasible. The longest since a 15-game run during the 1967 and 1968 seasons, it is the second-longest streak in franchise history. Throughout those 12 games, they are minus-15. Their two takeaways this season—both Reed Blankenship interceptions—are the fewest since they had one four games into the 1998 campaign. And here’s the thing: the Eagles have never had a turnover margin of minus-1 or lower in each of their opening four games. All of this boils down to one simple meaning. On defense, there aren’t enough playmakers, and Jalen needs to quit giving the ball away, particularly in the red zone. When they prevail in the turnover battle, the Eagles are 22-1 under Sirianni—with 22 victories in a row. For an extended period, it has been 22-1.

6. Vic Fangio and company don’t practice live tackling at practice anymore, so I’m not sure what options the Eagles have to address their tackling issues. have to take action because this tackle was a complete failure. You can’t win football games without making 20 tackles, so how many did they miss on Sunday? Had to be twenty? Occasionally, on a single play, two or three players missed tackles. Everyone seemed to miss a tackle on every significant third down. Although I felt that Nakobe Dean’s starting was the right decision, he was the most infraction on Sunday and has struggled with tackling all season. What options are there? Devin White is on the roster, but you don’t want to speculate on why he didn’t even travel to Tampa due to personal issues. It’s difficult to imagine a former first-round pick who hasn’t played a minute of the season, and who we know is unhappy, going to suddenly start contributing to the team. It could happen; the Eagles tackled well on Sunday in New Orleans. But all I know is that they’re not going anywhere this year if they don’t make amends for what they did on Sunday.

8. The remaining backs, receivers, and tight ends totaled 93 yards, while Saquon Barkley and Dallas Goedert combined for 178 yards (Barkley, 116, Goedert, 62). Though I understand that the Eagles were without their starting wide receivers, I think the other players—especially Jahan Dotson, who cost the team a third-round pick—should have performed better. Currently with five catches for 25 yards and a seven-yard long gainer in four games, Dotson has caught two passes for 11 yards. Considering how long he’s been here, he ought to be far more ingrained in the offense than he is. This player had 84 catches, 1,055 yards, and 15 touchdowns over the previous two seasons and was selected with the 16th pick in the draft just two years prior. And that included Jacoby Brissett, Sam Howell, and Carson Wentz. Though he should be a bigger factor than he has been, it is disappointing for the 16th overall pick. I believed that this was a fantastic chance to get him going. Now that he has been here for five weeks, he ought to be able to offer far more assistance than he has.

9. . If the Eagles aren’t careful, the Bucs’ well-thought-out gameplan could be used as a template to attack this team. Quick release to stop the pass rush, short, high-percentage passes to the receivers, and relying on missed tackles to gain significant yardage are the strategies used. Why not? You can score points without taking chances down the field if your quarterback is as accurate as Baker Mayfield, who is at 71 percent this season. Tackling is the Eagles’ only means of stopping opponents from doing this. Teams will continue to move the sticks without going vertical when those four-yard plays become 13-yard plays. Third downs are going to be very likely third-and-short plays when you do get into them. On Sunday, the Bucs refined this style of dink-and-dunk attack, and it was flawless. It was an ideal 36 and a half minutes when you factored in the heat, ball control, and keeping the Eagles’ defense on the field for several long drives. The coaching staffs of the Bucs under Todd Bowles and Nick Sirianni of the Eagles were simply superior. They had a plan and executed it flawlessly. Eagles didn’t have a strategy.

Ten A. Saquon Barkley, who finished the first half 8-for-22 rushing with a seven-yard long gainer, was pretty much shut down. Let’s talk about him for a moment. Barkley now has 435 rushing yards, 520 scrimmage yards, and a 6 point0 rushing average a month into the season. He goes 59 yards on his first carry in the second half, one week after his 61-yard touchdown. After four games, the 435 yards are the second-highest in Eagles history (LeSean McCoy had 468 in 2013), and the 6 point average is the highest. Although Barkley ought to have received more carries on Sunday, it’s difficult to get the top running back in the game 30 carries when you keep losing three and outs and finding yourself in third-and-10 situations. On Barkley, I had my doubts. Over the last four years, this guy has averaged 3 point nine yards per carry. I wasn’t sure if that indicated he was a fading veteran or if he was simply on a bad team with no other weapons and didn’t have a chance to succeed. Barkley obviously still has a lot left in the tank.

10b. Another encouraging note is that the Eagles’ two improbable points in the third quarter came from the combination of Isaiah Rodgers and Kelee Ringo, who had been battling all summer for playing time at cornerback. Throughout training camp, Quinyon Mitchell emerged victorious from the competition between Ringo and Rodgers for the starting corner position. They prioritized team goals and stayed close throughout it all. It was the first time the Eagles had ever scored on an opponent’s extra-point attempt when Rodgers stopped a two-point conversion on Sunday. Ringo recovered the loose ball and returned it 60 yards for two Eagles points. A three-point increase in distance. It was insufficient. Though, in the grand scheme of things, it was a pretty cool play.