So many Eagles fans made the trip all the way to Tampa, it was practically an Eagles home game. Legit a 50/50 split of Eagles and Bucs fans. Hurricane Helene did not stop Eagles fans, although some had some serious travel complications. Through it all, Birds fans took over Tampa, did everything they could to give the team a boost, and the Eagles played terribly. They owe the fans an apology after Sunday’s brutal loss:

@noshortsusa

Eagles in Tampa. #philly #tampa (all people in this video are actors and professional stunt people. This is all staged for entertainment)

♬ original sound – No Shorts

Most fans I talked to said that their travel plans didn’t get disrupted much because of the hurricane. Their flights were either before or after it happened, or they didn’t live in Philly and were a reasonable drive away from Tampa. However, there were a few interesting travel stories I heard:

  • “We got diverted to Orlando, wound up stuck there for two days”
  • “It took us 48 hours to get here, our plane got canceled”
  • “Originally I was supposed to fly straight to Tampa, then diverted to Nashville, then diverted to Charlotte, sat in Charlotte all day, finally got a flight to Sarasota, and then my buddies picked me up there”

Travel complications aside, I was also blown away by how many Eagles fans there were nationwide. Fans came from Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, and even outside the US in Canada. There were two separate fan groups I met from Canada. I asked them how they became Eagles fans, and they told me they thought we were a cool team and a fun fanbase. I almost fell to my knees in the parking lots. I felt so honored that someone had taken a look at us Philly fans and wanted to be a part of it. It’s not like Canada has an NFL team anyways, so why not?

Another problem I had with this Tampa trip was how pretty their stadium was. It’s surrounded by palm trees and sand, giving off a really cool beach vibe. That kinda pissed me off as a fan, seeing a stadium environment that actually incorporates nature. I still like our stadium complex better, because I hate how random and spread out tailgating was in Tampa. In Philly, it’s all in one area around the stadiums, so it feels more communal. A couple palm trees by the Linc couldn’t hurt though.

Back to the Eagles- they absolutely embarrassed our fanbase on Sunday. No A.J. Brown, no Devonta Smith, sure the odds were not fully in our favor. But that Eagles team looked completely checked out by the end of the first quarter. I feel so bad for all these other fans who traveled to Tampa and paid good money to go to this game just for the Birds to make a business decision and half-ass things once they were down 21-0. There were small glimpses of a comeback, but most of this team was checked out so they couldn’t get it done.