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Eagles

The End – 27 Immediate Takeaways from Buccaneers 32, Eagles 9

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Some people serve up hot meals to the homeless on MLK Day, while the Eagles decided to serve up a heaping platter of playoff horse shit on national television.

It was repugnantly similar to what we watched in recent weeks. The defense allowed scores on four straight possessions to begin the game, then buckled down briefly before falling apart again. The offense was appalling throughout, didn’t convert a single 3rd down all night long, and couldn’t capitalize when Tampa failed to extend their lead for a series of possessions to begin the second half.

The result is a blowout loss in the Wild Card round, completing a pitiful fall from grace. This team started 10-1 and went on to lose 6 of 7 to finish the season. The only thing left to do is prepare the pink slips as we go to the final takeaways post of the year:

1) The story of Tampa’s first drive was the inability to create a negative play on defense.

The Eagles blitzed twice on pass calls and couldn’t get home. Then they had Rachaad White stopped for a loss on 2nd and 2, only to let him get free and allow a first down instead. They got it into 3rd down and had White stopped in the backfield again, but James Bradberry and Bradley Roby whiffed on tackles that would have forced a field goal. Baker Mayfield was able to scramble for seven inside the red zone, and then Avonte Maddox got away with interference on a pass that Cade Otton probably should have caught anyway.

It was one of ugliest instances of “bend, but don’t break” that you’ll ever see.

2) Disappointing end to the Eagles’ opening series. They started in 12 personnel and had some success running early, then they found themselves in 3rd and 2 and inexplicably threw the ball 15 yards downfield with two receivers right next to each other. All you need in that instance is one yard to get yourself into Brotherly Shove territory. Instead, you’ve got Tampa sending the house and four guys in 1v1 situations, but they’re running janky mirrored routes.

3) Mike Evans completely cooked Bradberry on the second Tampa drive, just dropped a touchdown.

4) Nice job by Avonte Maddox and Eli Ricks running into each other on the David Moore TD. Hideous tackling as well. Looked like holding on the right tackle and right guard:

5) 3rd and 2 on the second drive… empty backfield again, and a Dallas Goedert drop.

6) What was Nolan Smith doing on that end around? Trying to trip the guy? He might not have had the perfect angle, but man, just dive and throw an arm out instead. What the hell even was that?

7) With A.J. Brown out, DeVonta Smith got 0 first quarter targets. They finally got him involved in the second quarter, and his first catch was a huge gain for a first down. Can’t blame him. He tried.

8) Bradberry was pulled for Kelee Ringo in the first half. He came back I believe for the 5th Tampa series.

9) You can’t throw a 1st and 10 perimeter screen to Quez Watkins in a playoff game. You just can’t.

10) With the way this season turned out, Jake Elliott is probably the team MVP.

11) Did you notice on that Baker Mayfield run that Eli Ricks couldn’t shed the block of a guy who wasn’t even facing him?

12) “Talk about missed tackles,” said Joe Buck. Understatement of the year.

13) If the Tampa receivers could catch the ball, this game would have been over three minutes into the 2nd quarter.

14) FIRE THE FUCKING BUBBLE SCREEN INTO THE SUN!!! THEY CAN’T RUN IT PROPERLY!

15) (okay, maybe they were using that to set up the double move on the other side… it still blows though)

16) That fake RPO and pull/toss for Goedert coming across the formation has been one of their most consistent plays all season long. They hit it almost every time.

17) A failed shove and a no-call when the guy had a fist full of Jalen Hurts’ facemask. Wouldn’t mind seeing the analytics chart the Eagles looked at before deciding to go for it here:

18) Not sure about that drive to end the first half. Seemed like they weren’t sure whether to go for it or not. It didn’t help that Britain Covey dropped the punt and put them in tough field position to begin with.

19) Lovely drive to start the 2nd half. Run for loss, deep heave for Quez on a zero blitz, then a sack. Should have been DPI but Watkins is never getting that call, because he’s Quez Watkins.

20) The second drive of the third quarter wasn’t much better. A crap sideways pass for Smitty, then a miracle first down on defensive pass interference, then throwing behind the sticks for Kenneth Gainwell on 3rd and 6.

21) Say what you will about the defense, but they forced three straight punts with huge 3rd down sacks after conceding on the first four possessions. They tightened up and kept this game close while the offense was dicking around.

22) The third series of the 2nd half was somehow worse than the other two. Hurts decided he wasn’t interested in throwing a block on a six-yard Gainwell loss, then he held on to the ball and took a safety. Looked like 2020 Carson Wentz on this play:

23) James Bradberry got three years and $38 million last offseason. He fell totally off a cliff.

24) The Eagles finally got the ball into Tampa territory in the second half, then Jason Kelce whiffed for a yardage loss, Cam Jurgens got flagged again for being too far downfield on an RPO, and then Jordan Mailata with a false start. Killed the drive and resulted in a field goal instead….

25) …only for Tampa to line up in the neutral zone. So Sirianni decided to go for it on 4th and 5 instead, and guess what – the Bucs blitzed! And Hurts threw incomplete in the end zone when he needed 5 yards.

26) I enjoyed Troy Aikman showing us how the Eagles completely ignore the middle of the field. We don’t get those all-22/wide angles until after the game, so we don’t get the best understanding of how ridiculous the schematics are.

27) As a final note, thank you to everyone who read this column throughout the season. It was fun while it lasted!

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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