Eagles’ defensive players are honest after collapse: ‘We let ourselves down’

TAMPA, Fla. — One week after seemingly exorcising their defensive demons against the New Orleans Saints, the Eagles suffered many of the same self-inflicted mistakes in their 33-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that had plagued them earlier in the month.

Nakobe Dean pointed to the missed tackles and the busted coverages. Avonte Maddox lamented the defensive penalties, particularly his third-quarter holding call on third-and-14 that gave the Bucs new life. Quinyon Mitchell spoke about the lack of urgency at the outset of the game, as the Eagles fell behind by 24-0 midway through the second quarter.

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The overwhelming sentiment from the visitors’ locker room was clear: The Buccaneers schemed up the Eagles well, but the visitors were accomplices to their own demise.

“I feel like we let ourselves down,” Maddox said.

The Buccaneers took advantage of the Eagles’ lackadaisical approach to the start of the game. Baker Mayfield said that the Bucs wanted to come out with a “hair on fire” mentality, which was evident in the speed with which he was distributing the ball. The 29-year-old quarterback thrived in the quick passing game, averaging 2.22 seconds to throw, which was the fastest in the league so far in Week 4, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.

The quick passing game took the Eagles’ defensive line — one of the strengths of their effort against the Saints last week — out of the picture on Sunday. The secondary didn’t compensate on the back end. Maddox said that the Eagles needed to be “stickier” with their coverage, pointing to Chris Godwin’s 28-yard reception on a jet motion on the Bucs’ second drive of the day as an example.

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On that play, Maddox followed Godwin across the formation before the snap, but the 28-year-old nickel cornerback made a poorly-timed tackle attempt that left him lunging at air. Godwin was untouched with Maddox sliding facedown in the dirt behind him, racking up 29 yards after the catch to help set the Bucs up for their second touchdown on back-to-back scoring drives to begin the game.

“We needed to be more on the receivers, more matching coverage,” Dean said. “They were able to get the ball out quick. Just kind of dink and dunk, dink and dunk. They just kind of kept rolling. We let Baker get into a rhythm early. And he’s a rhythm quarterback. So if he gets into a rhythm, he can make almost any throw.”

Through the first two drives, Mayfield went 12-for-13 for 138 yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles knocked Mayfield out of his rhythm on his third possession of the first quarter when Brandon Graham sacked the quarterback unblocked off the edge on a play-action bootleg, ultimately forcing the Bucs off the field, albeit briefly.

The momentum didn’t stay in the Eagles’ favor for long. On the ensuing punt, Isaiah Rodgers pushed the Bucs’ Josh Hayes into Cooper DeJean, who muffed it and allowed linebacker J.J. Russell to recover the ball at the Eagles’ 22-yard line.

Another missed tackle and the inability to shed a block effectively spelled a loss for the Eagles by the end of the first quarter. On the first play of the Bucs’ drive following the muffed punt, a handoff to running back Bucky Irving, Nolan Smith was taken out of the play on a block by tight end Cade Otton. Dean made a poor attempt at a tackle, allowing Irving to pick up 15 yards on the way to the Bucs’ third TD early in the second quarter.

“The root of the issues, technique,” Dean said. “Harping in on the little technical things when it comes to tackling. Not leaving our feet, running through tackles, setting the edge, not making tackles hard on ourselves, not being out of control. Sometimes I felt like we were out of control a lot, maybe off balance a lot, when it comes to making tackles.”

The Eagles defense managed to produce stops on back-to-back drives at the end of the second quarter. But the unit had a hard time getting off the field in third-and-long scenarios early in the second half, making an attempt at a comeback all the more unlikely.

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On the Buccaneers’ first possession of the second half, Mayfield used his legs on third-and-7 to scramble for a first down. Later in the drive, he completed a 15-yard pass to Godwin on third-and-11, eventually giving way to an Irving 1-yard touchdown run for a 30-14 lead. Maddox’s hold on third-and-14 came on the ensuing Bucs possession, providing the home team with a new set of downs as it notched a field goal.

“The goal of third down is to get off the field,” defensive tackle Jordan Davis said. “When we can’t do that, whether it’s the penalties, whether it’s the big plays, it’s a little disheartening. But at the end of the day, we have to make sure that we put ourselves in the best position to make those plays and get off the field when we have to and not give them the opportunity.”

The defense worked overtime on Sunday, as the Bucs won the time of possession game, 36 minutes, 17 seconds to the Eagles’ 23:43. In total, the defense allowed 445 yards of offense on 74 plays, marking its most porous performance of the season.

Even with the Eagles standing at 2-2 going into the bye week, Graham didn’t express a sense of concern for his unit in the long run.

“What you do is how you respond,” Graham said. “As long as we’re not pointing fingers and we’re trying to get better, by the end of the season, we should be getting stronger.”