The Eagles embarrass themselves in Tampa vs. Bucs – NBC Sports Philadelphia

Midway through the second quarter, I looked at my laptop and saw that the Bucs had 255 yards and the Eagles had 0 yards.

You really don’t have to be a great football expert to understand that this is not good.

In fact, it’s incredibly, incredibly, astonishingly bad.

The Eagles not only lost a football game 33-16 in Tampa on Sunday, they also embarrassed themselves. They were so clearly superior on both sides of the football that it seemed as if they hadn’t trained or prepared all week.

And if that score looks even remotely competitive, it was 21-0 a few plays into the second quarter and it was over.

Yes, the Eagles were missing some really good players, but that’s no excuse for the blunders we saw out there on Sunday, especially in the first half.

They just didn’t seem to be there. Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was her third road trip in four weeks, including a trip to Brazil and a Monday night.

But no excuses.

That was horrible.

Let’s move on to the 10 observations.

1. Just when you were starting to feel good about the Eagles defense… this happens. Just a complete collapse at every stage of the game. Everything the Eagles did right in New Orleans a week earlier, they did wrong in Tampa on Sunday. Their actions were appalling. Just incredibly bad. Tackles were missed everywhere. Maybe 20 of them? Is there a recording for this? The boys were out of position all over the field. Once again, they got no takeaways. They let one big play after another. For the first time in eight games, they finally got a sack from the perimeter and then immediately gave the ball back to the Bucs on a special teams turnover. They were down 24-0 at the halfway point of the first half, and that’s what matters. The rest was just a matter of determining the final result. The Bucs had 219 yards 3½ minutes into the second quarter. The Saints had 219 yards in the entire game last week. It was like something out of Matt Patricia’s script. They appeared unprepared, unmotivated and incompetent. You never want to question the effort, but for most of the first half it felt like the Bucs were playing against the air. Nine of their first 28 plays went for 13 yards or more. Things have gotten a little better. But not much. I don’t care who you play against. If you’re not mentally and physically prepared, here’s what happens.

2. And then there’s the offense, and as abysmal as the defense was in the first half, the offense might actually have been worse. Their first three drives yielded minus-5 scrimmage yards – or minus-10 if you want to include penalty yards. I think Kellen Moore did a good job as a play caller in the first few weeks, but this was an offensive disaster. And the absence of a number of starters — including perhaps their top three offensive players — is no excuse for this level of, I don’t know, lethargy? There is no excuse for having negative yardage when the other team has already scored four goals. The offense has done some really good things in the first few weeks, and when it’s at full strength, it should be nearly unstoppable. But they should be better without AJ Brown, DeVonta Smith and Lane Johnson. Much better. They managed 226 yards, 16 first downs and 113 net passing yards and allowed six sacks against the NFL’s 28th-ranked defense. Unacceptable.

3. What does it mean when a team is outscored 24-0 and outscored 255-0 in the first 23 minutes? That means it just wasn’t ready to play football in Tampa, Florida at 1 p.m. EST. And that’s entirely because of Nick Sirianni. When you’re a CEO coach and you’re not calling plays, a big part of your job is getting the team mentally and physically ready to play. This includes the way you practice, the way you run walkthroughs, the way you watch film, the way you warm up before the game, and the reality is that this football team is simply not ready to start of the game was. And it wasn’t just this game. The Eagles trailed the Packers 6-0 after the first quarter, didn’t score a point in the first quarter against the Falcons and were held scoreless in the fourth quarter last week in New Orleans. They’ve gone six straight games without scoring a point in the first quarter, and their last first-quarter touchdown was scored by Julio Jones, for crying out loud. But this was worse than all of that.

4. They really want to take some of the pressure off of Jalen Hurts since he’s out there without DeVonta Smith, AJ Brown and Britain Covey, not to mention Lane Johnson. But he just paid attention most of this game, and I don’t care who your receivers are, you go out and run the offense with crispness, clarity and energy. But the Eagles didn’t even record a first down until they were down 24-0 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter, and I’m not sure Jalen was the offense’s biggest problem during that period, when they were down 24: were inferior to 0 points. 0, but if you’re the type of MVP candidate you need to be able to help your team out of this quagmire, but all we saw were balls flying 10 feet over Jahan Dotson’s head or five yards out of bounds went. On the first three drives, Hurts was 1-for-7 for seven yards. It just seemed out of sync, out of balance, whatever you want to call it. He briefly calmed down a bit, threw a touchdown to Parris Campbell and then drove the Eagles into the Tampa 20. But then another turnover. He fumbled a strip sack by Lavonte David when the Eagles were inside the Bucs’ 20-yard line. This is Hurts’ seventh turnover of the year. He finished with just 158 ​​yards, picked up six sacks and just looked bad. I keep waiting for Jalen Hurts to show up in 2022. He will do it eventually. Right? Right?

5. Note that the schedule becomes much easier after saying goodbye. Their first four opponents currently have an overall record of 9-6, and three of them have a winning record. Their first nine opponents after the bye are 10-23 and only the Commanders have a winning record of 2-1 heading into a game later Sunday at Arizona. This is a winning team in the first nine games. Notably, their next four opponents – the Browns, Giants, Bengals and Jaguars – have a combined record of 3-12. As ugly as that loss was, 2-2 isn’t the worst position to be in, with four games coming up that look pretty winnable. Of course, if they play like they did on Sunday in Tampa, it doesn’t matter who they play.

6. The Eagles’ turnover problems are just an epidemic right now. They were down two on Sunday – no interceptions, but two fumbles, one by Hurts and one by Cooper DeJean on a punt return that really wasn’t his fault – and they’ve now gone an astounding 12 straight games without a positive Area to complete giveaway-takeaway ratio. That’s impossible. It is the second-longest streak in franchise history, the longest since 15 games in the 1967 and 1968 seasons. And they are minus-15 points in those 12 games. They’ve recorded two takeaways all year – both interceptions by Reed Blankenship – and that’s their fewest after two games since four games in the 1998 season. And get this: This is the first time ever that the Eagles have had any had a turnover margin of minus 1 or worse in their first four games. What does it all mean? Pretty simple. There aren’t enough playmakers on defense and Jalen needs to stop giving the ball away, especially in the red zone. The Eagles are 22-1 under Sirianni — with 22 straight wins — as they win the turnover battle. It’s been 22-1 for a long, long time.

More to come…

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