The Philadelphia Eagles lost again on Sunday thanks in part to some pretty glaring in-game mistakes. Perhaps more concerning is the fact that a player at fault for one of those mistakes does not seem to think he did anything wrong.
The Eagles lost 33-16 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Sunday, with one key turning point coming late in the first quarter. Eagles return man Cooper DeJean muffed a punt after special teams player Isaiah Rodgers blocked Tampa Bay’s Josh Hayes into his own return man. Hayes was originally called for fair catch interference, but that flag was picked up when it was determined that Hayes had been pushed into DeJean by an Eagles player.
Because the flag was picked up, the play stood, setting the Buccaneers up at Philadelphia’s 22-yard line. They capitalized by scoring a touchdown to jump ahead 21-0.
Concerningly, Rodgers was not willing to admit he messed up after the game. In fact, he said his shove was an intentional effort to try to draw a penalty, that the flag should not have been picked up, and that he deserved credit for a “savvy veteran move.”
It’s not clear what Rodgers thought was going to happen here. The NFL rulebook makes it very clear that if a member of the kicking team is blocked into the return man, it is not a penalty. Perhaps Rodgers thought he was being subtle with his shove, but it is pretty obvious on video.
Even beyond that, the Eagles did not have a ton to gain even if the flag had stood. Yes, they would have had better field position, but the risk is that the officials see through the attempt, which is precisely what happened. Rodgers made a high-risk, low-reward decision and paid the price for it. He would have been better off letting DeJean field the kick to allow the offense to try to do its job.
The Eagles fell to 2-2 with Sunday’s loss, and they are starting to look like a team that tries to be a bit too clever for its own good.
