Eagles cure Tampa Curse; escape with a win.

*pictured above: Baker Mayfield after every incomplete pass thrown on Sunday

For the fourth straight week, this team did just enough to win. The 2025 Eagles became just the 15th team since the merger to be outgained in each of four consecutive wins, but considering the house of horrors that Raymond James Stadium has been for the Birds lately, I think they'll take this and move on. Here are the talking points as I see them:

Another week, another anemic offensive performance overall. Similar to last week, the offense showed up nicely for one half and disappeared in the other half. Unlike last week, the good half came first. It's hard to say why Hurts and Co. no-showed after the break, but a few things come to mind: 1) no Lane Johnson for most of the 2H, 2) the heat finally caught up to them, 3) emotionally they flatlined after a brilliant first half. Who knows? Questions will and should be asked. The flip side is that the offense has scored 24, 20, 27 and 24 points in their four games , all against solid defenses. That 23.75 PPG would have been the 11th best output last season, so let's take a little encouragement.

Defense played better than people will think. The final stats will be skewed by Tampa's two long scores, both of which were just a little fluky in nature. Even with those two explosives, Tampa averaged a so-so 5.5 yards/play. Philly did the bend-don't-break thing again, allowing Tampa just six points in their three red zone possessions. On the other hand, the Eagles scored touchdowns on their three RZ opportunities. The red zone differential and the turnover differential (2-0 in favor of Philly) spelled the entire difference.

Special teams not perfect but provides big moments. Philly blocked their third kick in just two quarters and scored again, points they certainly needed. They had some issues in punt return coverage (taking some shine off another big week by Braden Mann, who averaged 51.9 on his seven punts today). On the other hand, it was good to see the Eagles kickoff return unit be an asset and not a liability today. Jake Elliott hit all five of his kicks today to remain perfect.

Philly wins shorthanded. We already knew that the Birds were missing two of their top three outside corners. As the game went on the Eagles lost their most important offensive lineman (Johnson) and watched their more important defensive lineman (Carter) be significantly hobbled. I know the Bucs were missing a few guys as well but frankly their injuries were easier to absorb from a depth perspective.

Speaking of perspective... Remember this exact point last season? A shorthanded Philly side got hammered in Tampa to drop to 2-2. They had narrow last minute wins over the Packers and Saints and had dropped (literally) their home opener to Atlanta. The team had been outscored overall on the season, looked mediocre and didn't seem to do anything particularly well. We all remember what happened next, but in case you forgot the Eagles only lost one more game the rest of the way to a Super Bowl championship. I'm not sure the same thing happens here, but what I am saying is that no matter how rough things look right now, it probably doesn't matter. The bigger key is to avoid the crushing season ending injury, which so far it appears they have done. I believe the offense is close to waking up for good, and the defense (already solid) will improve considering how young they are. As of this writing the 49ers are struggling with the Jaguars; should they lose, the Eagles will be all alone on top of the NFC.

GO BIRDS!