TAMPA — The Eagles are 4-0 for the third time in five seasons under NIck Sirianni, but his message to his players after an uneven 31-23 win over the Bucs was simple: Don’t let good get in the way of great.
“It’s a challenge to not settle for good,” said quarterback Jalen Hurts, who threw for two touchdowns and a 24-3 lead in the first half. “It’s a challenge to be critical of yourselves, as players, as coaches, everybody, and say ‘How can we be greater than we are?’ It’s a humbling game. If you don’t have that mentality, you’re doing a disservice to the game itself.”
1. Eagles Ride One Dominant Half – Again
For the second week in a row, the Eagles played well enough in one half to make up for a poor half. Last week, they trailed the Rams by 19 points in the third quarter before a furious comeback; this time, it was a 21-point lead that quickly dwindled to eight as the Bucs threatened to tie a game that should have been long over.
A dominant first half absolves the Eagles of a second half in which they actually totaled negative total offense for the half – they lost 34 yards running out of the end zone to end the game with a safety – and mustered only three first downs. Also, the Eagles defense that had held the Bucs in check for a full half gave up touchdown passes of 77 and 72 yards – no NFL team has given up two passing scores over 70 yards since … the 2018 Eagles did in Tampa against the Bucs.
Philadelphia won’t play a team with a winning record right now until Week 10 when they go to Green Bay, so one good half is probably enough to win most of those games. But as they eye a return to the Super Bowl and another title, they know they have to set the bar much higher, knowing tougher games are awaiting theme eventually.
‘We’re talking about finding ways to win’ 😤 Jalen Hurts on Eagles battling heat in win over Bucs
Jalen Hurts joined Tom Rinaldi to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles 31-25 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4.
2. Bucs’ Special Teams Nightmare Continues
How rare is it to have a kick or punt blocked three games in a row? The Bucs have done exactly that. While they were able to survive a fourth-quarter blocked punt against the Texans and a field goal block returned for a touchdown by the Jets, they weren’t as fortunate Sunday.
Riley Dixon’s first punt of the day was blocked by Cameron Latu and returned 36 yards by Sydney Brown for a touchdown, setting the tone for a long day for the Bucs. Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey has not been able to find a blocking scheme that can avoid the worst things that can happen, and head coach Todd Bowles vowed to find an answer before their next game.
“It is something we will figure out in the meetings,” Bowles said. “We will look at the whole operation, how we are doing it, why we are doing it, if we are doing it with the right people, and if we are doing it with the right scheme. That is three weeks in a row where something went wrong, and we will get that fixed.”
Sydney Brown (left) celebrates scoring a touchdown off another Eagles special team success. (Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
3. New for 2025: Tush Push Variants!
As much attention as is given to the Eagles’ famed tush push short-yardage formation, Philadelphia didn’t have any traditional tush pushes on Sunday, lining up similarly twice and fooling the Bucs with slight variations. So much attention is given to packing bodies at the line of scrimmage that inevitably the countermove for the Eagles is tush push Play Action for easy scoring.
On their first offensive touchdown, the Eagles had Hurts line up as if for a quarterback sneak, but he threw an underhanded pass to tight end Dallas Goedert, who followed blockers in for a 2-yard score. And after a fumble recovery in the third quarter, they lined up on a third-and-1 like in the tush push, but he then handed off to Saquon Barkley, who ran to the left untouched for a six-yard touchdown.
The first rule of tush push variants is they don’t talk about tush push variants, so when asked about the play, Hurts was downright vague: “I don’t have too much of an in-depth observation for what it was,” he said. “It was exactly what you saw.”
4. Turnovers Finally Bite the Bucs
Baker Mayfield had touchdown passes of 77 and 72 yards — the first NFL QB to have two 70+ in the same game since Ryan Fitzpatrick in a 2018 Bucs-Eagles game — but didn’t have much else on an up-and-down day.
Mayfield went three games without a turnover to start the season, but he had a crucial turnover from the Philadelphia 11-yard line, throwing a regrettable interception. Bucky Irving also lost a fumble, which was the Bucs’ first turnover of the season.
Mayfield said he wasn’t limited by a biceps injury that kept him from throwing at Thursday’s practice, but his priority this season was limiting his turnovers, so he was disappointed when he tried to do too much.
The interception came on first down, so that’s a situation when he wants to throw it away and try again on the next play.
“When we took care of the ball, we were undefeated,” Mayfield said of Tampa Bay’s 3-0 start. “When we didn’t, (we) lost the game.”
Baker Mayfield was under pressure early and often against the Eagles on Sunday. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
4 ½. Chase McLaughlin’s Record Day
It came in a loss, but McLaughlin hit a 65-yard field goal at the end of the second half that matched the second-longest in NFL history.
Notably, it stands alone as the longest outdoor kick ever. The record remains Justin Tucker’s 66-yarder for the Ravens in 2021, and Brandon Aubrey had a 65-yarder for the Cowboys last year, but both of those were indoors.
McLaughlin came back and added a 58-yard field goal that ties for the fourth-longest in Bucs history. In the last two games, he’s 8-for-9 on field goals with a game-winner and four makes of 54 yards and longer. He has as many kicks of 54 or more yards and longer in a span of eight days as any Bucs kicker has in their entire careers in Tampa. McLaughlin has has 11 such kicks in his career, and nobody else has more than four.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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