The Philadelphia Eagles fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-21 this past Sunday, marking the first Eagles loss of 2018.
On a 91-degree day in Florida, Philadelphia watched Tampa Bay quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick throw for 402 yards and four touchdowns, which probably made all Eagles fans ask themselves one question, “Where is Carson Wentz?”
The game began with an early head start, almost immediately, when Buccaneers Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick landed a successful 75-yard touchdown pass to former Eagle and now Buccaneers Wide Receiver Desean Jackson. This touchdown occurred only 11 seconds into the game.
The Eagles gained a foothold with 4:51 left in the second quarter with a 15-yard rushing touchdown from Running Back Corey Clement, tying the game at 7-7. The score was second year running back Clements first touchdown of the season.
However, the Buccaneers responded only 12 seconds later with yet another 75-yard bomb, this time to tight end O.J. Howard, good for another long Buccaneers score. Despite such an excellent play, Buccaneers place-kicker Chandler Catanzaro was unable to make the extra point, making the score 13-7 in favor of Tampa Bay.
Later, with 42 seconds left until halftime, The Buccaneers scored yet again with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Chris Godwin. Fitzpatrick scrambled to find a wide-open Godwin and after the pass was complete, Fitzpatrick showed a very confident run back to the Tampa Bay sidelines. By halftime, the score continued to widen, giving Tampa Bay a 20-7 lead heading into halftime.
The Buccaneers kept rolling into the second half, as Fitzpatrick threw for yet another score, this time a four-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans, stretching the lead even more to 27-7.
With what seemed like an impossible gap to close, the Eagles made two exceptional plays in an effort to do so. With nine seconds remaining in the third quarter, Running Back Jay Ajayi scored on a 2-yard rush, a successful extra point tightened the lead to 27-14
While the Buccaneer offense was cooling off from the consecutive 75-yard scores, Eagles quarterback Nick Foles recorded his only passing touchdown of the humid afternoon with a two-yard pass to Nelson Agholor, a made PAT put the score to 27-21. The touchdown came with just 2:46 remaining in the fourth quarter as Philadelphia erased the big Tampa Bay lead to just six.
Fitzpatrick refused to let the Eagles defense create a miracle as the Buccaneers walked away with a 27-21 victory. The win gives Tampa Bay a perfect 2-0 record going into week three as the Eagles fall to 1-1. The performance from Fitzpatrick was his second consecutive game with four touchdowns and more than 400 passing yards. The 14-year veteran has stirred up a lot of conversation of the future of quarterback Jameis Winston, who was suspended three games this past summer for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
The Eagles have officially cleared quarterback Carson Wentz to play as he looks to make his 2018 season debut this Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.The Buccaneers will face off against the Pittsburg Steelers on Sunday.
Wentz went down in week 14 with a torn ACL and MCL, which most say prevented him from winning the 2017 Most Valuable Player award, which was given to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.