Eagles' Jason Peters feeling OK

JASON PETERS started at left tackle Sunday and seemed to play reasonably well.

I'll take "Things that seemed really important around 1 p.m. Sunday that were forgotten by sundown" for $600, Alex.

The mystery of Peters' back didn't get much clearer, but even though he sat out the final minutes of the Eagles' blowout loss to Tampa Bay, Peters said he felt fine after the game. Presumably he is a go for Thursday at Detroit.

Really, the Eagles could have played Bernadette Peters at left tackle Sunday. When your defense gives up 521 yards, five touchdown passes and 283 rushing yards, your offense can do whatever it wants. You aren't winning, regardless.

Afterward, the magnitude of the loss seemed to make Peters reluctant to discuss his back problem, which had kept him sidelined since he left the Oct. 25 loss at Carolina.

"I felt OK. We got down so much. Ain't nothing you can do when you get down 40-something to 17 . . . It just kinda got worse at the end. I just kinda took myself out. I didn't want to get hurt worse," Peters said.

Asked about last week's confusion, when Chip Kelly told reporters Peters wouldn't practice on Thursday and then Peters practiced, Peters said: "It's how I feel . . . Miscommunication. It ain't nothing major."

Pressed for details on what's going on with his chronic problem, which involves nerve pain weakening his quadriceps, Peters said: "The question is, we lost. It ain't got nothing to do with my back. My back didn't make us lose today."

Asked if he thinks he can be healthy the rest of the way, Peters, who turns 34 in January, said: "I'm going to fight. I went out there today to fight. I'm trying to win, no matter what I've got to do, I'm going to go out there and do what I can to help us."

Asked if the team still believes in Kelly, Peters said: "Yeah, of course. He's the head coach. Ain't no quit in us, man. We're going to fight to the end, whether it's a win or a loss."

The Eagles ran for 136 yards, threw for 261, but Mark Sanchez threw three interceptions and Tampa Bay had the ball most of the first three quarters. Sanchez was sacked three times.

"I think he did what he could," right tackle Lane Johnson said of Peters. Just like last week, Johnson found out in the minutes before the game which side he was playing. He again slipped back to the left when Peters bowed out late.

Hamster

tramples Birds

Doug Martin, the 5-9, 223-pound Tampa Bay running back who hates the nickname "Muscle Hamster" that he was given at Boise State, very nearly ran for more yards than any Eagles opponent ever on Sunday. At one point, Martin had 240 rushing yards, eclipsing the mark of 237 set by Jim Brown (1961) and tied by Emmitt Smith (1993), but losses on two of his final three carries left Martin at "only" 235, on 27 carries, 8.7 yards per carry.

Linebacker Lavonte David, who scored a pick-six touchdown, said the Bucs call Martin "The Dougernaut" now.

"Everything was clicking," Martin said. "We emphasized that this would be a great game for us to get back on track, since our past few games we have not been too great in the running game."

Martin reeled off first-half runs of 58 and 84 yards. On the latter, Connor Barwin finally ran him down at the 1, which might have mattered, if Malcolm Jenkins hadn't dropped a subsequent second-and-goal interception, just before Jameis Winston hit former Eagle Russell Shepard in the back of the end zone for the first touchdown of Shepard's three-year NFL career.

"We had a chance to get out of that," said Barwin, who blocked two Winston passes on another near-goal-line stand that ended the same way. The Bucs were 5-for-6 in the red zone.

"It was bad all around," Barwin said, when asked about the usually reliable run defense. "They creased us in the middle, they got outside, gouged with a flip play (58 yards), got us with a draw play (the 84-yarder). It wasn't anybody (specific), it was the group."

Birdseed

Eagles tight end Zach Ertz left the game with a concussion after taking a scary spill trying to hurdle a tackler, Ertz landing on his head. Obviously, with another game in just four days, he might be hard-pressed to win clearance. Two-tight-end formations without Ertz would involve Brent Celek and special-teams standout Trey Burton . . . Safety Ed Reynolds, brought up to the 53-man roster when Jerome Couplin was placed on IR, was active for the first time since being drafted in the fifth round in 2014. But Reynolds did not get on the field. Defensive end Brandon Bair once again was a healthy scratch . . . With Ryan Mathews (concussion) missing the game, Kenjon Barner got his first Eagles carries, seven of them for 37 yards . . . Josh Huff blazed 39 yards with a short pass, giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead, then did not get another offensive touch. It was the Birds' longest gain of the day.