Eagles-Buccaneers analysis: Porous defense, key mistakes doom the Birds in 33-16 defeat

TAMPA, Fla. — Back in Tampa eight months later, the Eagles still couldn’t take the heat.

After watching their season end with a whimper on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January, the Eagles lost, 33-16, in ugly fashion at Raymond James Stadium once again on Sunday.

A nightmarish start gave way to an uninspiring afternoon, resulting in the Eagles falling to 2-2 with the bye week upcoming.

Here’s our instant analysis:

After showing some encouraging signs against the New Orleans Saints the week prior, the Eagles defense had its worst performance of the season in the first half against the Buccaneers.

Tampa Bay rattled off 24 unanswered points to start the game, finishing three of its first four drives with touchdowns. The Eagles’ lone stop during that sequence was washed away by a muffed punt by Cooper DeJean, setting the Bucs up deep in Eagles territory and leading to a 1-yard touchdown run by Baker Mayfield on a zone read.

Against a Buccaneers team that often uses three-receiver sets, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio reverted to the four-man defensive fronts the group had previously struggled to stop the run out of on Sunday with shaky results. Tampa Bay averaged 6.1 yards per rushing attempt in the first half, including a 17-yard rush from Bucs running back Rachaad White on the second play of the team’s opening drive. The Eagles fared slightly better in the second half, but the Bucs still finished with 111 rushing yards on 26 attempts.

Tampa had plenty of success through the air as well. Mayfield finished the first half 22-for-33 with 237 passing yards and two touchdown throws with the Bucs consistently exploiting matchups for Mike Evans and Chris Godwin by lining the two receivers up in the slot. Evans scored the opening touchdown from a slot alignment matched up against C.J. Gardner-Johnson, breaking free from the Eagles safety in the back of the end zone for a 2-yard score. Evans finished with eight catches for 94 yards and the score while Godwin had six catches for 69 yards.

The Bucs’ second series came down to a poor tackling effort from Avonte Maddox, who whiffed on an underneath completion to Godwin in space. Godwin gained 28 yards on the play to get the Bucs into Eagles territory.

With the temperature hovering above 90 degrees for the entire afternoon and the humidity making it feel even hotter, the tackling display from the Eagles progressively got worse as the game wore on. The Bucs finished with 445 yards with timely scoring drives killing any potential of an Eagles comeback at various points in the game.

Compounding the disastrous first half for the defense, the Eagles offense got off to a sluggish start of its own. Failing to gain positive yardage on their first three drives, the Eagles quickly conceded a sizable time of possession advantage to the Bucs on the sweltering afternoon that left the defense noticeably winded for most of the second quarter.

Going into Sunday without Lane Johnson, A.J. Brown, or DeVonta Smith, the group struggled to cope without three of its most important figures. Still, slow starts have been a common theme for the Eagles through four weeks. The Eagles have yet to score a first-quarter touchdown this season, something Nick Sirianni said the coaching staff will need to address going into the bye week.

“We haven’t scored on any of our opening drives, so we have to start faster on offense,” Sirianni said. “We’ll look into that. Sometimes we’ve had different variations of how drives have started, but that will be one of the first things we look at. ‘How do we go down and go up 7-0′ ... Everything will be on the table.”

The opening series featured several miscues, with Jalen Hurts launching an errant throw to Saquon Barkley downfield on the first play of the game and getting flushed from the pocket on a third-and-long two plays later. On the next series, tight end Dallas Goedert had a costly drop on first down that set up Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea sacking Hurts on third-and-long to kill the drive. Vea finished the Eagles’ third drive off with a key pressure as well, forcing Hurts to throw out of bounds on another third-and-long situation.

“I’ve got to make a play on the one over the middle,” Goedert said. “It’s just little things like that. Executing the play, getting into the right plays. It’s the same thing as it’s been, just shooting ourselves in the foot. We’ve got to be able to come out and move the ball early and get points on the first drive.”

Sparked by a string of positive plays and an 18-yard completion to Goedert in the second quarter, the Eagles offense showed signs of life late in the first half, but the group still failed to capitalize to close the deficit at the end of the second quarter when given the opportunity.

The Eagles finished the first half with just 69 net yards averaging 2.6 yards per play compared to the Bucs’ 287 yards and just nine minutes, 45 seconds time of possession compared to the Bucs’ 20:15.

After Barkley’s 59-yard run gave the Eagles’ offense new life in the third quarter, Hurts’ turnover problems reared their ugly head yet again on Sunday.

Facing first-and-10 from Tampa’s 19-yard line, the Bucs sent linebacker Lavonte David on a blitz up through the middle of the Eagles offensive line. Barkley made initial contact with David and blocked him behind Hurts, but the former All-Pro linebacker broke free in time to knock the ball loose from Hurts as he stepped up in the pocket and began his throwing motion.

The red-zone turnover resulted in a field-goal drive for the Bucs, but cost the Eagles the chance to make it a one-possession game going into the fourth quarter. It also made Sunday the ninth consecutive regular-season game in which Hurts has committed a turnover, which is far from a winning formula.

When asked about the strip-sack, Hurts said he was targeting Grant Calcaterra downfield.

“I think it’s a matter of being decisive and knowing exactly what you’re about to do,” Hurts said. “I think if we get that ball off, we have an opportunity to Grant Calcaterra down the middle of the field. Just didn’t end up having enough time in that situation.”

The 26-year-old had his second fumble of the day a few drives later in a similar situation when Tampa Bay edge rusher Yaya Diaby knocked the ball loose on a third-and-long. Fred Johnson, who conceded the initial pressure in the first place, recovered the fumble.

Against Todd Bowles’ blitz-heavy defensive system, Hurts struggled at times with the pressure as well. He was sacked six times and finished the game 18-for-30 for just 158 yards.

“I just have to play better,” Hurts said. “I had a ton of opportunities to lead the offense and really play complementary ball and that starts with me on that side of the ball. When we get down like we did, I have to help the defense out.”

The Eagles’ list of mistakes fittingly extended to all three phases on Sunday, with a costly error from Isaiah Rodgers on punt return leading to a Bucs touchdown in the second quarter.

Rodgers blocked Buccaneers defensive back Josh Hayes into DeJean, filling in for an injured Britain Covey as the team’s punt returner, leading to the rookie muffing the punt. The Bucs recovered the fumble on the Eagles’ 22-yard line and scored five plays later to take a 21-0 lead. Kelee Ringo also ran into DeJean later in the game, although DeJean managed to catch the punt anyway.

Rodgers and Ringo got some redemption later in the game, as Rodgers blocked an extra-point attempt that Ringo recovered for a two-point conversion for the defense.

After the game, Rodgers said he was surprised with the referee’s decision not to penalize Hayes for running into DeJean.

“I knew if he did hit Coop, I knew it would be a kick-catch interference,” Rodgers said. “I didn’t know they would wave it off, I should have ran to the ball just in case.”