Jalen Hurts, Nick Sirianni Lambasted by Fans as Eagles Lose to Bucs in NFL Playoffs

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The playoffs did nothing to change the Philadelphia Eagles’ late-season woes.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers eliminated the reigning NFC champions with a 32-9 victory in Monday’s NFC Wild Card Round game at Raymond James Stadium. Baker Mayfield threw for 337 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions, while Philadelphia’s offense struggled without top receiver A.J. Brown.

Philadelphia averaged just 2.8 yards per carry, while Jalen Hurts took a terrible safety when his team was still within one score and didn’t lead a single scoring drive in the second half.

Hurts, head coach Nick Sirianni and the Eagles as a whole drew plenty of ire on social media:

The Eagles were not supposed to be on the road in the Wild Card Round.

After all, they were in the Super Bowl last season and brought back many of their primary contributors. They seemed to be well on their way to another Super Bowl appearance with a 10-1 start that included victories over the Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.

But then the bottom dropped out with losses in five of their final six regular-season games.

With a chance to wipe the slate clean, the vibes stayed the same in the playoffs.

The running game figured to be important with Brown out with a knee injury, but it never found its footing. DeVonta Smith did what he could with 148 receiving yards, but other pass-catchers struggled to create separation as nobody else had more than 32 yards.

Philadelphia’s defense kept the visitors within striking distance by holding the Buccaneers out of the end zone on three field-goal drives in the first half alone, but the offense failed to rise to the moment. Even when the Eagles scored with a deep ball to Smith to set up a Dallas Goedert touchdown, their typically unstoppable tush-push play was stopped on the two-point conversion.

The biggest sequence came in the third quarter when Hurts took a safety on an intentional grounding in the end zone to push the deficit to nine.

That defense could only hold up for so long after that, and Trey Palmer took a short pass, broke a tackle and sprinted to the end zone for a 56-yard touchdown. Just like that, the Buccaneers were in full control as they put the finishing touches on the win with another touchdown to Chris Godwin.

Tampa Bay advanced and will face the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round, while Philadelphia will be left wondering just what went wrong this season.