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On a fourth quarter touchdown drive that cut the Buccaneers’ lead to six points, the Eagles handed the ball to Miles Sanders three times for a combined gain of 40 yards.
It was an unusual amount of work for Sanders to get. He only carried the ball nine times all game as the Eagles continued to eschew designed runs for running back in favor of RPOs that call for quarterback Jalen Hurts to make calls on the fly. Just one of those carries came in the first half while the Bucs were building a 21-7 lead and running 40 offensive plays to just 22 for the Eagles.
Hurts was 5-of-14 for 54 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in that first half. After the 28-22 loss was over, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked if he was putting too much on the shoulders of Hurts, who made his 10th NFL start on Thursday night.
“No, I don’t think so. He’s been doing that a long time that his RPO game and how he reads things, so I don’t believe that’s an issue,” Sirianni said.
Hurts’ results as a passer have been lackluster the last two weeks and the Eagles offense has failed to do enough until they’ve been behind by double digits. A blocked punt helped them overcome that deficit against the Panthers in Week Five, but they didn’t have enough against the Bucs and need to figure out a way to get more consistent offensive production early in order to better position themselves for wins in the future.