TAMPA, Fla. — Jason Kelce walked off the field alone, head lowered and clutching a helmet he may never wear again.
It’s an overly somber sight for an image bearer so closely tied to the city in which the team plays, a 13-year center who best represents the team’s success while making his sixth All-Pro appearance. The player, a 36-year-old, once seemed like he would experience it again in another Super Bowl.
Instead, Kelce stood on the sidelines, emotionally soaking in the final seconds of what could be the final loss of his final season. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had 32 points and the Philadelphia Eagles had 9 points.
Why did it end like this? How did a season that started with such a huge boost end with such a catastrophic collapse? The Eagles started 10-1 and beat the Chiefs to exit Kansas City with a bang, but how did they endure the embarrassment of a wild-card elimination, after which fans yelled expletives and threw buckets at them as they left the field?
Kells turned the corner of the corridor. Standing at the door of the locker room was General Manager Howie Roseman. They shook hands. Hugged. Kelce dressed in front of his locker, turned to the waiting group of reporters, and shook his head politely.
“No, guys,” Kells said quietly. “Not today. Sorry.”
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There was no full explanation in the locker room of the issues plaguing them. Some players have been left speechless with frustration. Some people numbly raised some small considerations. Some seemed relieved that the pain of the season was finally over. But everyone expressed similar sentiments, disbelief at the sudden turn in a once-promising season.
“Things didn’t end the way we wanted,” Jalen Hurts said. “It’s not our turn at all.”
The latter sounds like fatalism for a quarterback, as if Hurts feels such failure is inevitable. By the end of the regular season, that was certainly the case. A once-powerful offense, with a rushing attack from Hurts and DeAndre Swift matched with the explosive passing game from A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, has shrunk amid a series of persistent dysfunctions.
First-year offensive coordinator Brian Johnson tried to equip Hurts with a system control that allowed him to complete a series of pre-checks at the foul line, and although Hurts had a few strong performances in 2023, the former MVP candidate failed due to Communication errors and frequent struggles responding to blitzes persisted, and the team regressed late in the season.
In Nick Sirianni’s third year as head coach, the offense seems to have no real identity and often appears disjointed. The Eagles finished with two Swift rushes for a total of 11 yards against the Buccaneers. He carried the ball just two more times in the first half as the Buccaneers built a seven-point lead over the Eagles but managed to force the ball to Smith (unsuccessfully).
The strategy started with two odd third-and-short situations where Hurts threw incomplete passes downfield. On a first-and-3 play, Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert appeared to get in each other’s way while running the same route. Smith later said Hurts did two pre-checks before the game and Smith and Goedert “saw something completely different than what Hurts intended.”
“Those are two different signals,” Smith said. “We (saw) one but not the other.”
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This miscommunication even persisted into the playoffs, which gives us an idea of how often hiccups turned into heart attacks for the Eagles. At the very least, there was a consistent inconsistency between the system in the minds of the coaching staff and players and the performance on the field. On a pre-shot check against the Chiefs, Hurts threw a game-changing long shot to Smith. Against the Seattle Seahawks, Brown admitted that the interception at the end of the game was due to the freedom they had in the game.
“It’s very frustrating,” Smith said. “Especially when you have talent, you have the right mentality, you have the right things going on. Like I said, you just overlook the little details.”
Continuous punts after the start of the game against the Buccaneers put the Eagles into a situation where they had to fall behind again. The Buccaneers led 16-9 at halftime, but the lead grew after the Eagles’ offense failed to score in the second half. Sirianni and Johnson, who had to game plan with Brown injured, forced the ball to Smith, who caught the ball 55 yards in the second quarter for the team’s only touchdown.
The Eagles appear to be overly reliant on Smith to win games in coverage. They lost 10 yards on 11 plays early in the second half, three of which Hurts was penalized for an intentional touchdown in the end zone, an absolute no-no while trying to elude defenders on a four-man rush. Safety and security. Two plays later, Baker Mayfield set up Trey Palmer on a backstop, who broke through cornerback James Bradberry for a 56-yard touchdown. , and finally ended the game 25-9 with 1 minute and 19 seconds left in the game. third episode.
Again, how do you fans feel? ! 😱
📺： #PHIvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Live broadcast #NFLPlus https://t.co/rFlj59UzNi pic.twitter.com/VtoFNKaLZ5— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2024
The Eagles’ defense, led by de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, was often disastrous, once again proving unable to adequately contain opponents. The Buccaneers outgained the Eagles 426-276 in total offensive yards, while recording 20 or more yards on six occasions. Mayfield completed 22 of 36 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns while often targeting linebackers in coverage, finding pass catchers in open areas in the middle of the field or driving after the catch. The tackle’s receiver connects for a long play.
Patricia once again started the game with a series of defensive strategies. The Buccaneers completed first downs on both passes and went 3-4 against Philadelphia’s base, with running back Rachaad White hitting a swing pass to the Eagles The nickel led to a third-and-3 interception, and on Tampa Bay’s second possession, Mayfield hit David Moore in stride for a 44-yard touchdown against Philadelphia’s six-back back. Three defenders missed Moore on a frustrating tackle attempt.
So smooth! David Moore catches 44 yards for a touchdown 🙌
📺： #PHIvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Live broadcast #NFLPlus https://t.co/rFlj59UzNi pic.twitter.com/K04XZqqPvb— NFL (@NFL) January 16, 2024
Sirianni’s mid-season decision to demote coordinator Sean Desai exacerbated the team’s defensive problems. The Eagles have given up more yards and points in the five games under Patricia (375.8, 24.7 per game) than in the first 13 games under Desai (353.9, 22.8 per game). Sirianni admitted his decision didn’t have the results he wanted, but declined to answer when asked if there would be personnel changes at either coordinator position in the offseason.
“I think we taped some stuff and the offense imitated it, a little bit rinse and repeat at times,” guard Nicholas Morrow said. “I think it’s the same thing. It’s just hard to change a defensive philosophy in the middle of the season. It’s a completely different defense from a play-calling standpoint. It’s not for lack of effort. I think everyone is trying to make it work. It just doesn’t work.”
Philadelphia’s efforts to mount a late comeback were also unsuccessful. On a fateful fourth-and-5 play in the fourth quarter, Smith was unable to catch Hurts’ pass in the end zone against tight coverage from cornerback Carlton Davis III. Smith said he went to Sirianni before the game and “told him to give me the ball.”
“We have the answers to everything,” Smith insists. “We just didn’t execute consistently.”
“It’s almost like we can’t get out of the rut we’re in,” Sirianni said. “That’s what we all have to do. We all have to look in the mirror and accept that and find the answers, find the solutions. But obviously when we started 10-1 and you see what happened to us, obviously people’s Expectations are high. When we started 10-1, expectations were even higher. We slipped. Obviously the play is calling. I’ll look at the scheme. I’ll look at the practice. I’ll look at everything we’re doing. , because I think the last two years, we ended up getting a little hot, but that’s not the case this year.”
The future of the team’s leadership is now uncertain. Owner Jeffrey Lurie and Roseman must now decide whether Philadelphia’s ongoing late-season issues can be corrected in Sirianni’s fourth year.
Firing Sirianni would be a shocking decision. His teams made the playoffs in each of his three seasons and compiled a 34-17 record. But such a sudden departure is not unprecedented. Only two other coaches in the Super Bowl era have been fired after losing the big game. After the Raiders’ dramatic 4-12 season in 2003, the late Al Davis fired Bill Callahan. In 2015, John Elway fired John Fox after the Denver Broncos went 12-4 and lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the divisional round.
Both cases contain the polarity of potential consequences for the Eagles. In the 20 seasons since Callahan’s ouster, the Raiders have made the playoffs just twice under 10 other head coaches, while the Broncos were in Gary Kubiak’s first year. Just won the 50th Super Bowl. Sirianni was at least unable to hold off on such a decision following the Eagles’ win Monday night. Asked after the game if he was worried about his job security, Sirianni said, “I’m not thinking about that,” and instead spoke of his feelings for his players as their seasons come to an end.
“We didn’t accomplish anything we wanted to accomplish,” Sirianni said.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen next year,” Bradbury said. “We don’t know who’s going to be here. Who’s not going to be here. Of course, because we didn’t meet expectations. We had a lot of expectations for this year. When you don’t meet those requirements, of course people want to make changes.”
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(Photo: Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
