TAMPA – The Philadelphia Eagles were left standing as the lone undefeated NFL team after Monday evening’s 25-11 win over the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. The Eagles moved their record to 3-0 as they outgained Tampa Bay, 472-174, while turning the Bucs over twice, their first miscues of the new season.
“It was tough,” said Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles. “They kept us out of a lot of things, kept us behind the sticks and we couldn’t capitalize.”
The Buccaneers had trouble mastering any type of control at the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball.
Tampa Bay managed to move to the Eagles’ 16-yard line on a 13-play, 69-yard drive that began the second quarter. They were held to a 34-yard Chase McLaughlin field goal that tied the game at 3-3 with just 8:33 left in the first half.
That was the longest drive of the evening for the Bucs, who then ended the half with those two turnovers.
Eagles defensive back Reed Blankenship picked off quarterback Baker Mayfield and then after Jalen Carter keyed on a sack of Mayfield, he forced a fumble by Rachaad White. With that, Philadelphia kicker Jake Elliott contributed his second field goal of the evening to end the first half.
The lack of consistency or advantage with the offense left the Buccaneers in peril after the Eagles took the 13-3 halftime advantage.
Philadelphia QB Jalen Hurts opened the second half by capping a 13-play drive with a one-yard run as running back DeAndre Swift started to dominate the line of scrimmage in the second half.
Swift finished with 130 yards on 18 attempts and he was 12-for-94 after halftime. Swift has mastered 305 yards on 44 carries in Monday’s win and combined with 175 rushing yards in last week’s 34-28 decision over the Minnesota Vikings.
“Good football player, big offensive line, very talented,” explained Bowles of Swift’s ability. “Two or three times, we let it out when it should have fit better. Two or three times the hole was open and they did a good job scheming up the blocks. We have to do better as coaches.”
On The Run: The Eagles dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Swift’s evening was complementary to Hurts completing 23-of-37 passes for 277 yards with Swift, Hurts and Kenneth Gainwell combining for 201 yards rushing on 40 carries.
On the flip side, the Eagles’ defense held the Bucs to 41 yards on 17 carries with Rachaad White as the leader in finding just 38 yards on 14 attempts.
“You just know it’s going to be a battle at the end of the day,” explained White. “ Sometimes you’re going to get got and sometimes, you’re going to get them. They got us more than we got them tonight.”
Superstar Matchup: The challenge between Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans and A.J. Brown of the Eagles was similar to a pair of NBA superstars going at it with fervor.
Evans had five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown while Brown contributed nine catches for 131 yards. Trailing 25-3 to start the fourth quarter, Evans had back-to-back catches of 24 and 22 yards which set up his one-yard touchdown catch.
The 10-year veteran wide receiver is the premiere star on this Bucs’ offense and needs to be taken care of via a new contract as the two sides failed to agree this past off-season.
“I obviously have to make way better plays out there – plays that I am used to making,” said Evans. “I wish that I could have made more plays sooner.”
