Devastation — Eagles at Buccaneers Wild Card Recap

Somehow, someway, this team went from the obvious best team in the NFL to getting smacked 32-9 by the 9-8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Eagles have disappointed their fans, their city, and themselves and ended their Super Bowl bid so much earlier than they wanted. A 10-1 start by Philadelphia turns into losing 6 of their final 7 games, including this crushing loss to Tampa Bay.

Philadelphia went into this season coming off of a devastating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and looked to prove all of the doubters and naysayers wrong and make a run back to the big game. Jalen Hurts was expected to skyrocket in development and solidify himself as a superstar, but this Wild Card loss just further proves that all those people who didn’t believe in the Birds were right.

Brian Johnson has consistently shown all season long that he was not ready to be the Offensive Play-Caller, but Nick Sirianni refused to make any changes. Johnson would call plays that just simply seemed stupid. He would call a wide receiver screen on 3rd Down so often, even if they were 20 yards away from the first down.

Monday’s game against the Buccaneers was no different.

Johnson called incredibly ignorant plays against the Bucs. Specifically, on 3rd and 8 with about 20 seconds remaining in the half without any timeouts, Johnson went with a screen pass a yard behind the line-of-scrimmage to Quez Watkins who decided to not run towards the sideline. Even worse, Philadelphia was only about 15 yards away from Jake Elliot’s field goal range. There was no reason to be so conservative, especially not in a playoff game. Another example of this was when early in the game, Philadelphia was stuck with a 3rd and 2 around midfield and Jalen Hurts threw the ball about 25 yards downfield to Dallas Goedert with DeVonta Smith just 5 yards away from him. If they had just run the ball, chances are they would have had the first down right then and there, but even if they didn’t get it they could run the Tush Push. Johnson’s offense scored a disappointing 9 points, all coming from the 2nd quarter.

Brian Johnson also called only 15 run plays.

15.

The Eagles only ran the ball for 30% of their plays. D’Andre Swift is a 1,000-yard rusher and Johnson only let him run 10 times. Swift ran for 130 yards back in Week 3 against Tampa Bay, but it looks like our OC forgot about this. There were many times when if Philadelphia had just run the ball, they would have been in a much different situation. The Eagles were inside their own 10-yard line and Jalen Hurts was forced to back up and throw it away in the endzone with no receivers in sight, causing an Intentional Grounding penalty which subsequently caused a safety. If they had just run the ball, Hurts wouldn’t have been forced into that situation.

Not only was Brian Johnson a problem, but the entire defense (minus the defensive line) was also terrible.

Matt Patricia still made Hassan Reddick drop back in coverage multiple times when it had been clearly proven that he does not know how to do that effectively. Reddick is one of the best pass rushers in the league, and to have him not rush Baker Mayfield, the Bucs QB was able to get passes to their spots more efficiently. Patricia’s defense allowed 16 points in both halves, 32 total.

James Bradberry was a complete liability. Early on, Bradberry already had an almost detrimental missed tackle in the 1st quarter, turning a 3rd down stop into a Tampa Bay 1st Down. Luckily, his missed tackle ended up with the Bucs only scoring 3, not 6. Bradberry also allowed the Buccaneers receivers to get open, resulting in big yards. In the first quarter alone, Mayfield had targeted Mike Evans towards the endzone twice with Bradberry covering him and Evans dropped it, but had he caught it, it would have been a Tampa Bay touchdown.

The future is uncertain for this Philadelphia Eagles squad and the offseason begins now. Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, and Jason Kelce may have all played their final games in a Midnight Green uniform as they all loom retirement. Brian Johnson’s career as the Eagles’ Offensive Coordinator has possibly ended and Nick Sirianni may also be fired just a year after a Super Bowl berth.

All eyes are now on Howie Roseman and what he will do in the offseason.