Ending a collapse with embarrassment — 6 observations from Eagles-Buccaneers a day later

The Eagles went into the postseason with a new message: 0-0, new season.

But nothing changed. And why should anyone have expected it to?

This is who the 2023-24 Philadelphia Eagles are.

This is not the same team that started 10-1, found ways to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys, and had the one-seed within reach just a few weeks ago. They had not been that team for a while, and it did not matter who they played in the postseason, they were going to lose.

They cannot run, throw, block, pressure, tackle, cover, or coach. They cannot do anything.

The Eagles finished their epic collapse with a 32-9 loss to the Buccaneers in Tampa Monday night, ending their season with six losses in their last seven games.

This was a fitting end to an embarrassing season.

Here are my six observations a day after the loss:

Coaches?

I am not saying it is the correct decision, but I think it is likely Nick Sirianni is back. His seat will definitely be extremely hot. Part of me is asking how could they bring him back after the worst collapse in Eagles’ history. But he also has led this team to the playoffs in his first three seasons and was a few plays away from winning a Super Bowl just a few months ago.

Meanwhile, there have to be major changes in this coaching staff, starting with the coordinators. The Eagles went from two of the best in Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon to two coordinators who were, for lack of a better word, bad. It is obvious how important it is to have the right people in those positions.

The offense’s issues are not all on Johnson, but enough are that the Eagles have to move on. Original defensive coordinator Sean Desai will probably be gone, which he does not deserve. And the defense got even worse under Matt Patricia, so he has to get out of here too.

Honestly, other than legendary offensive lineman coach Jeff Stoutland and special teams coordinator Michael Clay, I would not be upset with getting rid of everybody.

Nobody on this team got better throughout this season, they were unprepared down the stretch, lost their fundamentals, fell behind early, and blew leads, and this is all on the coaches.

Mortifying defense

The performance from this defense lately has been dreadful.

This is a Buccaneers team that struggled to score nine points last Sunday in a must-win game against a 2-15 Carolina Panthers team. The Eagles held them to 174 yards and 11 points in September. The Buccaneers topped those digits by the mid-point of the second quarter Monday night.

The coordinator change was a catastrophe, and probably the worst thing the Eagles could have done. They had some impressive wins when Desai was their defensive coordinator and when they got embarrassed, it was the 49ers and Cowboys, two offensive powerhouses. Under Patricia, it was everybody. Guys were running around like they just got their heads chopped off. The missed tackles became an epidemic late in the season, especially Monday night.

It was not Mike Evans or Chris Godwin who hurt the Eagles on Monday. It was Cade Otton, David Moore, and Trey Palmer. Who? The Eagles could not stop any of them.

Howie Roseman has a lot of work to do this offseason because the Eagles need speed, physicality, and playmaking on defense. James Bradberry, my God, he has to go. Nicholas Morrow, Kevin Byard, Shaq Leonard, Bradley Roby, and Zach Cunningham have to go.

The Buccaneers’ bottom-10 offense with a journeyman quarterback looked like the 2007 New England Patriots. They finished with 426 yards, 23 first downs, 46% on third down, and Baker Mayfield threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns. The Eagles did not force any turnovers, of course.

There has never been a defense in Eagles history that has fallen to pieces like a dropped Lego set week after week like this group has the last two months.

Embarrassing.

Look at the offense

Most of the blame for this loss will go on the defense and they certainly deserve it. But the offense was just every bit as bad.

They went 0-for-9 on third down, averaged 2.8 yards per carry, went scoreless in the second half, had seven drives of under 20 yards, looked like three-yeard olds clueless against the blitz, had one receiver with at least 25 yards, went from 201 rushing yards in September to 42 Monday night, and had two plays of 20 yards and none in the second half. What the hell?

Even without A.J. Brown, this offense is too good to score nine points against anybody.

This game exaggerated the Eagles’ need for more weapons on offense.

With Brown out, the Eagles’ only offensive playmaker was DeVonta Smith, who had 148 yards. Everybody else combined had 102, mostly in garbage time.

Brown is incredible, but the Eagles cannot be in a position where they do not have a third receiver who can step up if Brown or Smith are out.

Some of this may be on the coaches, but it is also on Howie Roseman.

Hurts has to be better

Jalen Hurts’ passing numbers were ok. Went 25-for-35 for 250 yards with a touchdown, no interceptions, and had a decent passer rating of 100.9.

However, his inability to deal with pressure is a big problem. It is not just him, it is the offensive coaches, the offensive line, and the receivers. The Eagles knew what Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles was going to do and they still could not handle it, make plays against it, or deal with it at all.

Hurts also took a sack on a blitz which he cannot take.

They scored nine points.

I do not really care what the numbers say or what his passer rating was, Hurts has to be better. And in the first year of his massive contract, he ultimately disappointed.

Give Smith some props

With Brown out, the Eagles needed greatness from Smith and he gave it. He was brilliant Monday night, even with Tampa knowing he was the only guy Hurts was throwing to.

Smith finished with eight catches for a franchise-postseason-record 148 yards. Smith now has 405 career postseason receiving yards, only 60 off Harold Carmichael’s franchise record.

On a night when nothing was going right for the offense, Smith was one of the few guys, if not the only one, that did his job.

Laughably awful

This is kind of unbelievable, but we just saw a 37-point and 449-yard reversal in the two Tampa games.

In Week 3, the Eagles beat the Bucs 25-11 and outgained them by 298 yards (472-174).

On Monday night, the Bucs won by 23 points and outgained the Eagles by 151 yards (426-275).

That shows you how much this Eagles team went backward.

This should be an interesting next few days and months.