January 16, 2024
After staggering into the playoffs on a 1-5 skid, the Philadelphia Eagles crapped the bed one last time this season in embarrassing fashion, losing 32-9 to a mediocre Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, and ending their 2023-2024 season. As always, win or lose, we hand out 10 awards.
A week ago when the Eagles faced Wink Martindale and the horrid New York Giants, there was no mystery to what the Giants were going to try to do to the Eagles defensively. They were going to blitz Jalen Hurts, early and often. The Eagles were wholly unprepared for it, as Hurts looked to extend plays by running out of the pocket and away from blitzes, trying to buy time for vertical routes to develop down the field before eventually throwing the ball away. As usual, there were no hot routes or other mechanisms to allow Hurts to beat the blitz by getting the ball out quickly.
Against Todd Bowles and the Bucs, once again it was crystal clear that the Eagles were going to see a lot of blitzes, and sure enough, they did, with even worse results.
The Eagles rarely tried to run the ball, and when they did they were ineffective against the Bucs' loaded boxes. They continuously got themselves into long downs and distances, and went 0 for 11 on third and fourth down conversions. 0 for 11!
3rd and 2. The Eagles run 4 verticals into a blitz. The Bucs get a free runner and there are 0 options underneath. Some things never change. pic.twitter.com/TyUJ9POTy0
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) January 16, 2024
"Everything we wanted to do tonight was there," DeVonta Smith said. "Sometimes we executed well, sometimes we didn't. We knew what they were going to do. We were prepared for it. Sometimes we missed."
Eagles fans have searched for where the blame should fall on the Eagles' offensive woes to close the season.
• Is it Nick Sirianni? It's his offense that the team is running.
• Is it Brian Johnson? He's the one calling the plays.
• Is it Jalen Hurts? He's the one running the offense on the field.
The answer to all three questions is "Yes."
The Bucs scored 32 points on the Eagles' defense. They gained 426 yards (307 through the air, 119 on the ground), and if they hadn't dropped a half dozen or so passes in the first half the score and the yardage totals would have looked a whole lot worse.
Buccaneers receivers were wide open in all parts of the field, and the Eagles couldn't tackle them after the catch. There was this, for example.
Too smooth! David Moore takes it in for a 44-yard TD 🙌
— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2024
📺: #PHIvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/rFlj59UzNi pic.twitter.com/K04XZqqPvb
And this:
ONCE AGAIN, HOW Y'ALL FEELING BUCS FANS?! 😱
— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2024
📺: #PHIvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/rFlj59UzNi pic.twitter.com/VtoFNKaLZ5
Awful.
The Eagles stopped playing for each other at some point this season, and there were examples galore against the Bucs.
After Lavonte David laid a helmet-to-helmet shot on Hurts (as shown below), I didn't see anyone get in David's face about it.
if Lavonte David did this to Josh Allen he'd be in jail already. pic.twitter.com/kC1zDQrpU4
— Absolutely Hammered (@ah_pod) January 16, 2024
Hurts isn't immune to criticism here either. Late in the third quarter, Kenny Gainwell ran to the right, and made an ill-advised decision to try to backtrack, before running all the way back across the to the left. Hurts could have tried to block David, but he turned it down.
Bucs D putting the heavy pressure on 💪
— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2024
📺: #PHIvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/rFlj59UzNi pic.twitter.com/3dqRk2iGDY
And, as usual, cameras caught Eagles players squabbling on the sidelines, a common theme this season. This time it was Hurts and Dallas Goedert.
Frustration on the Eagles sideline
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 16, 2024
pic.twitter.com/wxmhQpYi1V
Oh, and Hurts played poorly, by the way. He was 25 of 35 for 250 yards, a TD, and 0 INTs, which doesn't look bad in print, but he didn't pass the eye test, and man, how do you take an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety when the line of scrimmage is at the 14?
Jalen Hurts takes a safety
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 16, 2024
18-9 Bucs
pic.twitter.com/qP1rl6mkHx
It all started with a 42-19 home blowout against the 49ers, followed by 33-13 stomping in Dallas.
At that point in the season, the Eagles were still 10-3 and in decent enough position to earn the 1 seed in the NFC. But they panicked, demoting Sean Desai and promoting Patricia to de facto defensive coordinator. Thereafter, they lost to Drew Lock, and then got their asses kicked by the atrocious Cardinals, the dysfunctional Giants, and the mediocre Buccaneers.
Nothing worked. Not the offense, not the defense, and certainly not the coaching.
The 2023 Eagles will serve as a benchmark against which future awful Eagles seasons are measured.
For Johnson, it doesn't appear so:
Lane Johnson: “I think I have a few good years left.”
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 16, 2024
Same goes for Graham:
Brandon Graham says he wants to play 1 more season with the #Eagles and make it his farewell tour.
— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) January 16, 2024
Cox will likely continue to play as well, as he had a pretty good season. Maybe that's with the Eagles, maybe it's not.
An emotional Kelce understandably opted not to speak after the loss. It feels a lot like he has played his last NFL game.
James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, Kevin Byard, Bradley Roby, Shaq Leonard, Nicholas Morrow, Zach Cunningham, Justin Evans, Julio Jones, Olamide Zaccheaus, Quez Watkins, and Rashaad Penny are all likely goners. To be determined on other guys like Jason Kelce, Fletcher Cox, Haason Reddick, D'Andre Swift, Marcus Mariota, and plenty of others.
We'll sort all that out over the next month in our "Stay or Go" series, but there is going to be a lot of turnover this offseason.
Smith was good. There. Something positive.
Many heads on the defensive staff will roll. #Analysis.
Beyond the results noted above, the Eagles were a lifeless collection of individuals to close this season, and not at all a "team." It's not just that the Eagles lost six of their last seven games, it's how awful it all looked.
The TV cameras don't often go out of their way to capture Jeffrey Lurie's emotions for telecasts, but they found him on Monday night and he did not look happy.
The look from Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie says it all pic.twitter.com/wTEjNQt7ky
— Jeff Skversky (@JeffSkversky) January 16, 2024
Firing a head coach who has led his team to the playoffs all three years of his tenure, including a Super Bowl appearance less than a year ago would be unprecedented. And yet, should Lurie dismiss Sirianni, it also probably shouldn't surprise anyone who has paid any attention to what happened to this team this season.
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