Eagles news: Darius Slay's apology; Haason Reddick can't head back to Philly; injury report

The Eagles missed 16 tackles Sunday. You can probably replay a few of them in your head, like the time early in the game when Avonte Maddox whiffed at Chris Godwin’s feet out in space.

The missed tackles added up. The Bucs, according to Next Gen Stats, racked up 105 yards after missed Eagles tackles.

“You’re going to miss a couple tackles each game, but that wasn’t to our standard,” Sirianni said.

If you’ve been tracking how many times Nick Sirianni has used the word (un)sustainable to describe the Eagles’ turnover problem — specifically when it comes to quarterback Jalen Hurts — you can add another one to the tally from Monday.

After Hurts turned the ball over in a key situation in the red zone late in the third quarter Sunday, the Eagles fell to minus-6 in the turnover margin category.

“That’s not a sustainable stat,” Sirianni said. “I’m not sure you’re 2-2 when you’re minus-6 many times. Somehow we are. But we got to make sure that makes a big change, both taking the ball away as a defense and protecting it as an offense.”

Nick Sirianni said the coaching staff will re-evaluate the tackling drills they do in practice to address the team's struggles with missed tackles this season.

"You're going to miss a couple tackles each game, but that wasn't to our standard," Sirianni told reporters Monday afternoon.

Next Gen Stats charged the Eagles defense with 16 missed tackles Sunday, which led to an additional 105 yards for the Buccaneers. 

Former Eagles defender Haason Reddick continues to sit out with the New York Jets amid a contract dispute, and some have wondered if he could end up returning to Philadelphia. Reddick himself said he “wouldn’t mind” returning to the Eagles, according to ESPN Jets reporter Rich Cimini.

So in theory, could the Jets trade Reddick back to the Eagles? No. 

NFL rules cited by the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport state a team can’t trade a player and the reacquire him until two years have passed, which would include this season. So the soonest Reddick could come back to Philly via trade would be the 2026 season. 

After the loss, the Eagles (2-2) head into their bye week, their earliest since the Birds had a Week 4 bye in 2016. Their next game is on Sunday, Oct. 13, against the Cleveland Browns (1-3) at 1 p.m. at the Linc. 

Historically, the Eagles have had the Browns number. Since Cleveland resumed play in 1999, the two teams have played six times, and the Birds have won five of those. Their most recent game took place in the COVID-disrupted 2020 season, which the Browns won 22-17. 

The Browns lost Sunday to Gardner Minshew and the Las Vegas Raiders, and Deshaun Watson has struggled to live up to his $230 million contract in Cleveland. His 74.4 passer rating through the first four weeks of the season is the second-lowest of any starting quarterback, and he’s been sacked 19 times.  

After telling reporters it was a “save veteran move” to push a Bucs player into punt returner Cooper DeJean, Eagles cornerback Isaiah Rodgers admitted it was a “mistake” on social media Monday morning. 

The move caused DeJean to fumble the punt, allowing the Bucs to retain possession at the Eagles' 22-yard-line and ultimately score a touchdown.

“We made a mistake there," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told reporters following the game. "Anytime you have contact into them they’re going to pick that flag up every single time."

Isaiah Rodgers said that he thought pushing Josh Hayes into Eagles punt returner Cooper DeJean was a “savvy veteran move” to draw a penalty on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gunner.

Rodgers was correct in that a penalty was initially called. But a quick conference between officials after replays showed the Eagles cornerback doing exactly what he said he did — unwittingly — resulted in the flag getting picked up.

DeJean had signaled for a fair catch, but when Hayes hit him, the ball went through his arms and was recovered by Tampa at the Eagles’ 22-yard line.

Following the Eagles' lopsided loss to the Buccaneers Sunday, cornerback Darius Slay angered a lot of Birds fans on social media by sharing a list of his career accomplishments.

Slay has since turned his X account private, but plenty of angry Eagles fans shared screenshots on the social media platform.

A few hours and several thousand complaints later Sunday evening, Slay shared an apology on X to his 287,000 followers.

Eagles fans suffered through a terrible loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday, but no one was as miserable as Merrill Reese. 

The longtime Eagles radio announcer didn’t even attempt to hide his disgust during the Birds’ lopsided defeat to the Bucs, admitting the game was “discouraging” and “hard to watch.” 

“I’ve never seen a worst start than this,” Reese said in the first half, when the Bucs took a 21-0 lead on the Eagles. At one point, the Bucs has 216 total yards while the Eagles had zero. 

Kevin Burkhardt, late in the fourth quarter, already knew what the headlines were going to be from the game — the Bucs win, and Tom Brady almost being a Bear. In Philadelphia, Burkhardt joked the headline would be “Tom Brady hates the Eagles.”

There might few other things leading the headlines after that performance from Nick Sirianni’s team, but Brady responded.

“I do not hate the Eagles,” Brady said. “Everyone thought I hated Nick Foles for so long. I heard that from a lot of Philly fans. All my friends are Philly fans and they all harass me. I actually invited Kevin Hart to be the host of the roast I did; I don’t know what I was really thinking with that.”

The Eagles missed a number of key players Sunday, including offensive lineman Lane Johnson (concussion) and wide receivers A.J. Brown (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (concussion). During the game, a few more players were banged up.

Safety Reed Blankenship left the game with an unspecified illness and didn't return.

Center Cam Jurgens and defensive tackle Jalen Carter both left the game with cramps.