Subpar excecution leads to tough loss

Inconsistent offense, poor tackling not enough vs. Bucs

The Eagles’ couldn’t defy the odds. Despite a late surge, the team fell to the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 28-22, at Lincoln Financial Field on Thursday night.

The Eagles, now 2-4, came into the game as an underdog and looked the part for most of the game. Here’s our analysis of the game:

More of the same

For the second week in a row, Hurts turned in an uneven performance featuring a concerning cold stretch and some late-game surges. Hurts’ clutch plays against the Panthers covered up the three-and-a-half quarters of iffy play, but it wasn’t enough against the defending Super Bowl champs.

Hurts’ struggles with timing and accuracy were apparent on several occasions and played a significant role in the offensive drought. Even on the Eagles’ opening drive, which resulted in a touchdown, the biggest plays came more from luck than anything Hurts did. His 23-yard completion to Quez Watkins to convert on thirdand-long was tipped before Watkins made an impressive catch, and the Eagles made it to the red zone on a pass-interference call that covered up a badly under-thrown and incomplete pass to Jalen Reagor.

The Eagles offense is clearly built around Hurts and the reads he makes both pre- and post-snap, and it amplified his troubles for much of Thursday night.

After the game, Sirianni said he didn’t believe his offensive scheme put too much on Hurts’ plate.

“He’s been doing that a long time, this RPO game and how he reads things,” coach Nick Sirianni said. “I don’t believe that that’s an issue.”

Like last week, he put together a much better fourth quarter especially after the Eagles found success running the ball, but it wasn’t enough. If the Eagles are going to keep up against good teams this season, they’ll need more consistent play out of their quarterback.

“Our offense needs to get better to give our team a chance to win,” Sirianni said. “It always starts with us as coaches to put them in the right position, and then you look at the execution. It’s the execution and us putting them in the right position.”