Philadelphia Eagles will have plenty to figure out on bye week after brutal loss to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Philadelphia Eagles have an early bye week for the first time in nearly a decade, and the team surely needs it.
Without several starters on offense, Philadelphia suffered a brutal 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday. Baker Mayfield picked apart the Eagles' defense, and the offense underwhelmed without star wide receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson on the offensive line.
"We didn't coach well enough, we didn't play well enough and that's always going to start with me," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. "Our fundamentals weren't what we needed it to be. We'll make sure that we're working hard on that and the bye week is coming at a good time. We got to get our bodies right and make some changes as far as what's going on fundamentally."
In Week 4 against the Buccaneers, the Eagles were without three top players on offense, with Brown, Smith and Johnson sidelined.
Brown hasn't played since Week 1 with a hamstring injury he suffered before the Atlanta Falcons game. He practiced Friday for the first time since the injury but was ruled out Saturday.
Smith and Johnson were both dealing with concussions suffered in the win over the Saints.
Smith, who took a nasty hit from Saints defensive tackle Khristian Boyd, was ruled out Friday. Johnson had more of a chance to play than Smith, but he was ruled out Sunday morning.
The loss now drops the Eagles to 14-24 in the 38 games without Johnson since he was drafted by the team in 2013.
Without Brown and Smith, Philadelphia's offense struggled as tight end Dallas Goedert led the team in receiving with seven catches for 62 yards.
Parris Campbell, who was called up from the practice squad, hauled in four catches for 17 yards and a touchdown from quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Hurts completed 18 of his 30 passes for 158 yards and the touchdown to Campbell. He had a rushing touchdown but also had a costly fumble in the red zone late in the third quarter as the Eagles were threatening to make it a one-possession game.
Following the loss, Hurts didn't want to use not having Brown and Smith as an excuse for his poor play.
"I didn't play good enough, that's what it comes down to," Hurts said. "We had opportunities. We put a lot of time in this week to take advantage of this game and what we had and the guys that we had a lot of trust in. We took advantage of some and some we didn't. Ultimately, it starts with me."
The Eagles will likely get both Brown and Smith back following the bye week in Week 6 when they play at home against the Cleveland Browns, but Hurts and Sirianni have plenty to clean up before that game.
Once again, the Eagles got off to a slow start offensively. For the fourth straight game this season, Philadelphia didn't score any points in the first quarter.
Hurts is also turning the ball over at a concerning rate. He has seven giveaways so far this season, including three in the red zone.
Since the start of the 2023 season, Hurts leads the entire NFL with 27 turnovers in 24 games, a stark contrast from early in his career.
In the 2022 season, when Hurts was the MVP runner-up and the team went to the Super Bowl, he had eight turnovers the entire season.
Hurts didn't share his plans for the bye week, but it'll likely be spent figuring out how to start faster offensively and cut down the turnovers.
"We've experienced different adversities, just have to continue to learn from these moments," Hurts said. "That's been the takeaway from every game that we've played. We got high aspirations as a football team. We've grown together and we'll have different adversities that will challenge us and we just got to continue to grow from everyone we experience."
Defensive disaster in Tampa
The offense wasn't the only ugly thing on the field against the Bucs.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles got killed by Mayfield and the Buccaneers' passing attack.
Following a stellar defensive performance in Week 3 in a win over the New Orleans Saints, the Eagles' defense was nowhere to be found in Florida. The loss marked the third time this season the team's defense allowed the opposing team to gain at least 385 total yards.
In the blink of an eye, the Eagles were down 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and 24-7 at halftime.
Mayfield completed 30 of his 47 passes for 347 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed in for a score.
One of Mayfield's passing touchdowns went to Mike Evans, who caught eight balls for 84 yards. Chris Godwin added six catches for 69 yards.
The Eagles' pass rush was once again invisible Sunday. Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat each recorded sacks, but there wasn't much pressure outside of that. Overall, the Eagles only have six sacks on the season.
Bryce Huff, whom the Eagles signed to a massive contract in the offseason to replace Haason Reddick's sack production, has only two tackles in four games — not ideal. Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis had big games against the Saints, but they only combined for one tackle against the Buccaneers.
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his staff, like Sirianni, will have their hands full during the bye week.
