Nearly everything that could go wrong did go wrong Sunday for the Eagles, including being on the wrong end of a 45-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Lincoln Financial Field. He alsotied Steve DeBerg, Brad Johnson and Josh Freeman for the Bucs’ record for touchdown passes in a game.
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Philadelphia Eagles’ Mark Sanchez passes during the second half of an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins, Sunday, November 15, 2015, in Philadelphia. Because of that, NFL Network reported that Sanchez could be making an audition for the permanent job, with Bradford’s play being spotty, at best, this season.
Tampa Bay picked on Philadelphia’s secondary throughout the game.
After Eagles quarterback Mark Sanchez threw an interception that Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David returned for a touchdown, Sanchez and running back Darren Sproles seemed to have a few choice words for each other.
“We’ve talked a lot about being relevant again”, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith said. A quarterback with a good feel for pressure, pocket movement and the timing of the offense can compensate for poor offensive tackle play – Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning are poster boys for that quality – and it looks like Winston is exactly that kind of quarterback as well. But not just because of the five touchdown passes he threw.
Martin gashed the Eagles for runs of 58 and 84 yards in the first half, setting up Winston for short touchdown passes each time.
“A successful day is just protecting the football for me”. He capped a 56-yard drive with the winning 1-yard touchdown plunge with 54 seconds to play. But after Doug Martin’s 235-yard game Sunday, it’s scary to think about what LeSean McCoy might do to his old team. The mistakes still happen-Winston threw a pair of picks in an ugly win over Dallas last week.
The Birds allowed rookie quarterback Jameis Winston to pass for 246 yards and touchdowns to five different receivers.
Reaching the playoffs isn’t out of the question, something Tampa Bay hasn’t done in seven years.
But confidence might be wavering with the wide receivers he will be throwing to. Another week, another Bucs win and another dunk in the pool for Licht, and maybe Smith too. That’s not Eagle defense. Mike Evans has been carrying the weight while Winston has been trying to be the hero more times than not.
The next six games won’t fix that.
Who knows where the Winston journey is headed?
That is what the Eagles thought two-plus seasons ago.
Another big run by Martin set up the Bucs’ third score.
MOVING THE CHAINS: Winston and the Buccaneers were outstanding on third downs, converting 9 of 12 while building a 35-14 lead.
For fans in the United States, NFL Game Pass allows replays of games to be watched on demand after their completion for a fee of $99.99 for the season.
The Bucs punted on their first possession, but then scored on four of their next five to go into halftime up 28-14. Winston is finally starting to distance himself from his missteps in college and is considered one the better younger quarterbacks in the league.
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Kelly said “We don’t really care who we get the production from, as long as we’re getting it from the entire offense”.
