Eagles Wake-Up Call: A ‘Very Embarrassing Loss’

Chip Kelly. (Jeff Fusco)

Nolan Carroll stood despondent at his locker after the Eagles’ 45-17 loss to the Buccaneers yesterday. Defensive backs coach Cory Undlin approached his cornerback, put his left hand on Carroll’s shirtless back and asked, “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Carroll responded, as if he was trying to convince himself and not only Undlin.

The scene around the rest of the Eagles locker room was quite similar. Lane Johnson sat in a small black chair in front of his locker looking at the ground, saying the Eagles’ offense “imploded.” Connor Barwin stood with his hands on his hips and added that the defense “sh-t the bed.”

No matter where you turned, you would see similar sentiments.

“It was very disappointing and very embarrassing,” Barwin said. “I think everybody understands how bad that was. Just look at the score. We played them at home and they beat us by 30. It was bad all around.”

The Eagles’ defense allowed the Buccaneers to break record after record, and the offense struggled as they scored just three points in the second half.

Tampa Bay became the first road team in NFL history to have a quarterback throw five touchdown passes and a running back to rush for at least 200 yards. Yesterday was also the first time in Buccaneers history five different players caught a touchdown pass, while they recorded the second-best third down conversion total (10 for 16) as well.

“It’s definitely a punch in the gut and a reality check,” Bennie Logan said. “You really have to evaluate yourself on games like this to see where you stand as a person and as a player.”

As bad as the defense performed, the offense wasn’t much better. Philadelphia got off to a hot start by driving 86 yards in 2:26 for the first touchdown of the game, but their momentum quickly fizzled out as the Buccaneers scored three times unanswered.

Mark Sanchez threw two touchdown passes, but he added three interceptions — including one pick-six. The run game found success as the Eagles averaged nearly five yards per carry, but they recorded just 28 rushes.

“I really don’t have any answers for you all. I have nothing,” Johnson said. “Sometimes it seems like the harder you try, the deeper the hole that you dig. There is a lot of frustrated guys in here. I am one of them. I think I speak for the team, I am just very frustrated right now.”

Philadelphia never reached the red zone yesterday, whereas Tampa Bay scored five touchdowns in six trips. The Buccaneers also held a significant edge in turnovers (plus-three) and total yards (521 vs. 383).

Frustrations boiled over on the field on both sides of the ball, as Sanchez and Darren Sproles argued after an interception and Malcolm Jenkins yelled at his teammates after a penalty.

Still, the Eagles are just one game out of first place in the NFC East and they hold the tiebreaker over the first-place Giants. Although most players in the locker room were dejected after the defeat yesterday, one remained positive and optimistic.

“The crazy thing is that we still have a shot. We have six games left,” Brandon Graham said. “I am so happy we have a short week. I am not going to lie to you. Now I am focused on the Lions. Today was one of those games where it’s like, ‘Wow, what happened?’”

WHAT YOU MISSED

Billy Davis was highly critical of his defense, and his own coaching, against the Bucs.

Mark Sanchez and Darren Sproles offer explanations for their fourth-quarter argument.

Four key takeaways from the Eagles’ humiliating loss to Doug Martin and the Buccaneers.

Tim brings us his instant observations from the Birds’ loss to Tampa Bay at the Linc.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Reuben Frank asks whether this Eagles team has an attitude problem when they face adversity.

I very much believe the Eagles’ problems go beyond offense and defense and beyond personnel. They don’t seem to fight back when bad things happen. They had a 13-point lead at home last week against a last-place team that just fired its coach and was playing on the road for a third straight week, and they just kind of stopped playing, stopped fighting. And then this on top of that?

It raises very sobering questions about Chip Kelly and his ability to get this team to play hard and to play hard for 60 minutes. The Eagles have now won five of their last 14 games, and this is the team Chip wanted, the team Chip built. I won’t go as far as saying the Eagles quit because I didn’t see that. But my doubts about Chip’s ability to lead this team and prepare this team and get this team ready to play a football game are only getting stronger.

Zach Berman writes that the Eagles’ loss to Tampa Bay may have been the lowest point of the Chip Kelly era.

The boos were scarce in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 45-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. So was the attendance. There were wide swaths of empty seats throughout Lincoln Financial Field, because there was little reason for the fan base to even stay to voice its disapproval.

There was enough time for that earlier in the game. And considering the way the Eagles have played lately, there will be more time for that later in the season.

The Eagles reached the low point of Chip Kelly’s tenure on Sunday. They dropped to 4-6, and it’s the latest in a season they’ve been below .500. It was as bad as the Eagles have looked under Kelly.

COMING UP

Chip Kelly addresses the media at 10:50 before the Eagles start practicing to prepare for Detroit on Thanksgiving.