When the Eagles came into their Week 6 Thursday night game with the Buccaneers, they were in trouble. There were serious questions about first-year head coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, the offense with quarterback Jalen Hurts hadn’t figured itself out quite yet, and the 2-3 team did not have the look of a playoff entrant at all.
In the game itself, the Buccaneers proved to be the superior team — not a surprising result from the defending Super Bowl champs. Tom Brady and his crew put up a 28-7 third-quarter lead before the run-averse Eagles finally put things together and closed the gap to 28-22 with two Hurts rushing touchdowns.
Both Sirianni and Gannon seemed to grasp clues about their players that propelled them forward, and over time, the Eagles became a different team. This is now a run-heavy offense with great productivity and efficiency, which allows Hurts to develop as most second-year quarterbacks should — in a system where he doesn’t have to do everything, and with a defense that can get things done… to a point.
The Eagles bottomed out at 3-6 in Week 9 after a 27-24 loss to the Chargers, and they then rattled off six wins in their final right games to earn themselves a rematch with the champs.
Here’s how Sirianni’s team can create a different result this time around.