If you turned on your TV a little late on Sunday, the Eagles game was basically already over.
Things got out of hand quickly in the 33-16 loss.
The Buccaneers scored touchdowns on three of their first four drives and utilized a quick game to slice and dice the Eagles’ offense at Raymond James Stadium. They were up 24-0 after a quarter and a half.
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“Yeah, they came out throwing, obviously, and throwing quick,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said on Tuesday. “We weren't close enough. We played a lot more man in those first three series than we usually do, or we were in some tight matchup zones, and we just didn't play it good enough. Their pass offense was better than our pass defense.”
Fangio explained that as the Bucs used their quick pass game, the Eagles were not “tight” enough in coverage.
Backer Mayfield had an average time to throw of 2.22 seconds, which was the quickest trigger in the NFL in Week 4 and the second-quickest time to throw in his seven-year pro career, according to Next Gen Stats.
Why didn’t we see more press coverage from the Eagles? Are they not comfortable playing closer to the line?
NFL
“Our guys, particularly the corners, have the ability to press based on formation,” Fangio said. “If they're stacking receivers and stuff, it's hard to press then. But on normal splits, they have the ability to press in almost all our calls.”
In an attempt to clarify, Fangio was asked if it’s the decision of the cornerbacks.
“Yeah, it's by matchup and receiver split, yeah, but we had more opportunities,” Fangio said. “We can press more.”
They probably should have. That might not have solved all their problems on Sunday — there’s no easy fix — but it might have stunted some of the Buccaneers’ rhythm.
The Eagles aren’t a team that’s going to major in press coverage but it should have its moments.
In this game, when Mayfield delivered a threw in under 2.5 seconds, he was 22 for 32 for 219 yards and a touchdown. It was clearly working against the Eagles and now that the Bucs put it on tape, you can probably expect more teams to try to take advantage of them. And in this game, the tackling issues really compounded the problem.
“We tried to communicate that early, that we had to get tighter,” Fangio said. “But credit to them. They threw it and caught it better than we defended it.”
After Fangio said this, he was pressed (no pun intended) about what happened. If the coaches realized the coverage needed to be tighter and it got relayed to the players — then who’s at fault?
Did the player just not execute or was it coaching?
Fangio, who perhaps didn’t want to throw his players under the bus, said it was “probably me not coaching it well enough.”
Well, then, what does Fangio have to do differently?
“Coach it better and do a better job during the week,” he said. “And then understanding that sometimes, teams come out in different stuff, different tack than what you saw going into the game. We’ve got to adjust.”
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