September 29, 2024
Eagles fans have had no reason to turn on their TV before the second quarter this season. The slow starts have been miserable.
Actually, fans probably could have just waited until after their team's upcoming bye week. In what was one of the most lackluster Eagles' efforts in recent memory, the Buccaneers once again embarrassed Philly, 33-16 Sunday in a frustrating setback that will spur on a bevy of banter on sports talk radio over the next two weeks.
Every week we single out a source for optimism and for weariness from the Eagles' most recent game. Here's a look at a stock that is rising, and one that continues to plummet.
When the Eagles 2024 schedule was first unfurled this past spring, the squad's Week 5 bye — the earliest possible — seemed like a huge disadvantage.
It turns out, it could rescue their season.
There is really no defensible explanation for the putrid play on both sides of the ball from Philly in Week 4 against Tampa. But asking any Eagles team to win on the road, in 100-degree weather, without their three most important (non-QB) offensive players was a tall order to begin with.
The time off is going to do wonders for a team still looking to find an identity with new coordinators on both sides of the ball, as well as a team already reeling from injuries.
A.J. Brown's hamstring should be better by October 13 — when the Eagles return home to host the Browns. Lane Johnson was very close to starting Sunday after a concussion in Week 3, and the 13-day gap between games almost assures he'll be back to anchor the offensive line. DeVonta Smith took a nasty, potentially dirty hit last week, and he'll have some extra time to get back on the field as well. A who's who of players also exited Sunday's loss with what are likely minor (heat-related) injuries — from Darius Slay to C.J. Gardner-Johnson to Cam Jurgens to Jalen Carter.
The Eagles' two losses so far weren't exactly to juggernauts in the Falcons and Buccaneers, but getting the lowly Browns at home after the break is a nice development. As could be their Week 7 date with the Giants. It's entirely possible that the Eagles get it together and are 4-2 a few weeks from now.
MORE: Brutal start dooms Birds in road loss to Bucs
It's also possible that this team just isn't very good, and the expectations were simply too high for a team very good on paper with nothing to show for it. The Eagles are the only team in the NFL that hasn't yet scored in the first quarter of any game. On both sides of the ball they no showed for the first 15 minutes plus, as the Bucs marched downfield at will for scores on their opening two drives. On Tampa's third drive (after brutal Eagles three and outs), a Brandon Graham sack finally got the defense off the field to get some momentum back.
That momentum lasted a few seconds. Still in the nightmare first quarter, Isaiah Rodgers pushed a Buccaneer into Cooper DeJean as he was receiving a punt. The hit forced him to fumble and was not ruled a Tampa penalty for contact on the fair catch due to Rodgers initiating the whole sequence. This gave the Bucs the ball just outside the red zone, where they would eventually score on a fourth down Baker Mayfield keeper to go ahead a basically insurmountable 21-0.
Philly didn't gain a single yard (net) in the first quarter, and didn't earn a first down until there was just 6:30 left in the half.
They have also now fallen to a minus-7 turnover differential after two fumbles today. They were out-gained 445-226 by an average Bucs offense a week after they shocked the high-powered Saints. Jalen Hurts was sacked six times.
Digging out of holes isn't a good way to win football games, and once the bye week ends the Eagles will need to find an answer for these slow starts. They're a team built to protect leads, with Saquon Barkley running behind one of the best offensive lines in the game. Their entire season rests on whether they can find a way to get one or two of those.
MORE: The pivotal plays from Eagles' Week 4 meltdown against the Bucs
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