Eagles at Bucs (Wild Card)

The Philadelphia Eagles appear to be more spectators of the Tampa playoffs than participants. They play flat and never really get to either side of the ball. The Eagles were eliminated with a 31-15 loss to the Buccaneers.

The Eagles again played conservative defense in the first half leaving the lines down right brave cat and his receiver. Brady feels happier as he continues to hit the ball and throw it on the court. Meanwhile, the offense has failed to get its running game going. As it started driving, Jalen Hurts threw a block. As the defense started to gain some momentum and came to a halt, Jalen Reagor choked a shot that sent it to the Bucs.

On the bright side, this team’s young players including Jalen Hurts, Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Dallas Goedert and DaVonta Smith already have some valuable playoff experience. The same can be said for Rookie Head Coach Nick Sirianni. They learned what not to do during playoff games.

The dark side of that says this is an embarrassment that will linger for these players after the season.

Here is the final edition of Grayson’s Grades for this season:

ONE

Alex Singleton – Singleton appears to play his butt in this game. I saw him flying around trying to act. He’s been on the backcourt several times and helped interrupt games. Singleton led the team with 16 tackles and four tackles conceded, including one being sacked.

REMOVE

Dallas Goedert – Goedert was targeted as often as he should have been. He did a great job of observing the field after the catch. However, he has been plagued by sharp drops per game and it has happened again here. The one he dropped was probably nearly 20 yards away. Goedert had to remove the drops. He is a valuable weapon in this offense. He finished with six catches for 92 yards.

DeVonta Smith – Smith seems to be facing a flurry of insurance coverage from person to person and for whatever reason without hitting many goals until it’s too late. Smith managed to make an impact in the fourth quarter. He caught a pass and shot 31 yards, setting up a tackle on the next play. This has been a great rookie season for Smith and he clearly presents himself as a solid weapon to build on in the future. Smith caught four passes from 60 yards. He also made a great dive to convert two points in the fourth quarter.

Ryan Kerrigan – Kerrigan started for Josh Sweat with an injury. He took the opportunity and tortured several people during the attack on the wounded Bucs. As a result, Kerrigan was able to reach Brady. He finished with 1.5 shots including two winning tackles and two midfield hits.

Kenneth Gainwell – Gainwell ended the match strong. He played his best. Rookie looks to have a lot to offer this franchise going forward. He’s a great receiver outside of the backyard. Gainwell did a great job adding yards after the catch. He caught five 49-yard passes and one touchdown. Gainwell also wears it once in six yards.

OLD

Attack Line – The offensive line has a tough task when Bucs stuffs the box. It makes dominating the script line more difficult as it has been throughout the season. The squad did a good job at defending the pass but a few penalties hurt what should have been beneficial. Jason Kelce was called to hold twice. At least one of them if not both appearing on replay is bad call.

EASY

Not available

F

Jalen Reagor – Reagor single-handedly hurt this team in special teams. They were still very impressive and were about to hold the ball in midfield 17-0 early in the second half when Reagor saved a hole that had been recovered by the Bucs. That moment seemed to erase any optimism the Eagles had left. Before that, he had misplayed word games and was unable to execute them. Not really sure how much longer the Eagle can wait for him to “calculate”. Personally, I’ve seen enough. It looks like he needs a fresh start somewhere else and the Eagles would be better served giving another player those opportunities. Reagor caught one in two yards. He strangled two dogs and lost one of them.

Jalen Hurts – Hurts was clearly struggling to determine what he was seeing and also seemed to struggle to throw in that wind. Credit to the Bucs for quickly sending the Eagles away and forcing the Hurts to defeat them. The Eagles still face the question of whether he is the full-back of the future. While he’s had a pretty good season, he hasn’t helped answer that question in this playoff. Hurts completed 23 of 43 258-yard passes with one touchdown and two interceptions. He also did it eight times in 39 yards.

Miles Sanders – Sanders has always been the type of latecomer who needs a touch to start. It’s not entirely his fault that he hasn’t been able to produce much. Score the Bucs for stuffing the box and in turn stop the Eagles’ rushing attack. The Eagles were forced to flee and that limited Sanders’ touches. He has seven executions in 16 yards. Sanders also caught three passes in 12 yards.

Nick Sirianni – One thing Sirianni needs to watch out for on his team is a slow start. That slow start directly led to them going beyond the game plan and sending the ball into the air more than they wanted. Sirianni saw Bucs stack the boxes and dared the Eagles to hit them in the air. To their credit, they played well. At the same time, Bucs’ foul was scored and that contributed to the Eagles breaking the plan. I don’t understand why Sirianni continues to include Jalen Reagor in any part of the touchdown scheme.

Jonathan Gannon – Gannon once again saw his defense devoured by a kind midfielder. He plays passively in the defense for Tom Brady at the bottom and he’s happy to take those benefits and methodically move the ball down the pitch. Gannon’s defenses can reach Brady, but not often enough. Gannon’s defenses failed to find a stop during the Bucs’ first few drives, and that helped put Sirianni and the attack off its plan. Gannon’s defense played well in the second half of the season; however, it often gives extremely high completion rates compared to the good quarters it faces. Brady completed 78% of his passes in this match. In Gannon’s defence, the Eagles turned the ball around three times leaving his defense in dire straits even though the game was pretty much played at the time.