Not much went right for the Philadelphia Eagles on their trip to Tampa Bay on Sunday. The Buccaneers dominated from start to finish, sailing away with the 33-16 win and improving to 3-1 on the season.
One costly turnover from Philadelphia seemed to ice the game in Tampa Bay's favor as early as the second quarter.
During a Buccaneers punt, Eagles special teamer Isaiah Rodgers ran with and directed his counter-part, Josh Hayes, into returner Cooper DeJean who was attempting to field the punt. The ensuing collision caused DeJean to muff the punt with Tampa Bay recovering the ball just outside the red zone.
The play initially drew a flag for punt-catch interference but the officials quickly discussed and picked up the flag after realizing what Rodgers had intentionally done.
The turnover stood and five plays later, quarterback Baker Mayfield rushed for a one yard touchdown to put Tampa Bay up 21-0. Philadelphia wouldn't get on the board until just before halftime to narrow the extended lead to 24-7.
After the game, Rodgers told reporters (h/t Jeff McLane) he thought his pushing Hayes into DeJean to draw a penalty was a "savvy veteran move."
"I don’t feel like it should have been waved off," Rodgers said. "But they called what they called."
Rodgers wasn't the only Philadelphia special teamer to make a mistake when DeJean was trying to field a punt. With seconds remaining in the first half, Kelee Ringo lost track of where he was on the field and collided with DeJean — thankfully the ball bounced well in front of them and no turnover resulted.
Clearly it just wasn't Philadelphia's day. We've all been there (not really, but you know what I mean).
Head coach Nick Sirianni, who's now lost 10 of his last 13 games, and special teams coordinator Michael Clay know exactly what they'll be drilling in practice this week, at least.
