There were plenty of fingers to point after the Eagles' latest meltdown in Tampa, a 33-16 rout at the hands of the Buccaneers.
The Bucs (3-1) ran out to a 24-0 advantage before Philadelphia (2-1) stopped hitting snooze and it took the Eagles about 22 minutes of football before even creeping to the plus-column when it came to offense.
At halftime Tampa Bay had a 287 to 69 edge in total yards with 18 first downs vs. 6 for the Eagles. The lone opportunity, Philadelphia had to get back in the game came after a 59-yard run by Saquon Barkley set up a quick touchdown during the opening drive of the second half. Ostensibly, it was a game against at 24-14.
On two occasions a defense that allowed 445 yards and missed 12 tackles had an opportunity to get off the field on third downs and put some pressure on Tampa Bay. Vic Fangio's unit failed, first allowing Baker Mayfield to escape for a 10-yard gain on 3rd-and-7 and then losing Chris Godwin on a 15-yard completion on a 3rd-and-11. Five plays after Godwin beat Isaiah Rodgers, the Bucs were back in the end zone and order was restored with a Bucky Irving 1-yard touchdown run.
The final 22 minutes of the game served as glorified garbage time even after Rodgers raced off the edge for a PAT block before Kelee Ringo scooped it for two points the other way.
At least the Eagles offense had the built-in excuse by coming in without arguably its top three players: All-Pros A.J. Brown and Lane Johnson, as well as Brown's running mate at receiver DeVonta Smith.
The defense reverted to early-season ugliness after a solid performance in New Orleans built on a unique game plan with more five- and even six-man fronts to deal with the Saints' reliance on the outside running game and play action.
Against a more traditional 11 personnel-heavy offense the Eagles went backward with their struggling four-man fronts in front of nickel looks.
The adage of pointing fingers warns of those pointing right back at you and veteran defensive end Brandon Graham, one of Fangio's few consistent defenders from week to week explained things haven't devolved yet.
"It ain’t no pointing fingers. We’re out there trying to get right, so we can win these games," Graham said. "We know it’s a journey … Right now, people are going to say what they’re going to say, but they ain’t a part of the journey, you know what I’m saying? We know what we gotta do … I’m excited coming off this [upcoming] bye, getting everybody back and see what we got."
A 15-year veteran Graham has seen it all from the heights of a strip sack of Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII to the angst of the fear of being cut for Travis Long.
So perhaps the lone accomplishment the Eagles can hang their hat on on the way out of steamy Tampa Bay is sticking together.
"I know this team’s together from how we’re talking on the sidelines," said Graham. "We know we put out a poor showing. It wasn’t a good showing. We’re going to own it. We’re going to move on. That’s the best thing with the bye. We got another opportunity to show what we can do. We just gotta stay consistent."
