After a 10-1 start, the Philadelphia Eagles limped into the playoffs with an 11-6 record, losing two straight and sputtering since Week 13. We’ve since seen critics like Mike Francesa pounce on the defending NFC Champions, calling them a “joke” and the defense the league’s worst.
Forget Super Bowl dreams. The Eagles’ once-vaunted defense, now under Matt Patricia, has cratered, resembling a mess more than a championship unit. Sean Desai’s demotion was a desperate scramble, and losing A.J. Brown doesn’t help.
Can a shell-shocked offense, reeling from coordinator losses, find redemption against the Bucs?
Well, “The Sports Pope” doesn’t seem to think so. And here’s Francesa going in on the Eagles ahead of Monday night’s matchup, as shared by Funhouse (BackAftaThis) on X:
https://twitter.com/BackAftaThis/status/1745992515084337286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1745992515084337286%7Ctwgr%5E5458fc3abdb9eb6f67acdb0ce33c44bdd10b7c96%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FBackAftaThis%2Fstatus%2F1745992515084337286
“They are — right now — a really bad team,” Francesa said. “I found it hard to pick the Bucs in this game, but if you put a gun to my head, I think the Bucs are going to win. I think the Eagles have now shown us they’re that bad. I have waited for weeks for them to turn it around, and they have not turned it around even a little. As a matter of fact, every time you see them, they look worse.
“If they hadn’t locked up the playoffs weeks ago, they wouldn’t be in the playoffs. They didn’t walk into the playoff door; they didn’t crawl in the playoff door; they were pushed in the playoff door with no inertia. ‘Here, you have to go; we’re pushing you in.’ The ‘Brotherly Shove’ got them through the door. They couldn’t even have any of their own inertia get them into the playoffs. They are terrible right now. You cannot have any faith in them. They’re favored, which shows you how bad the Bucs are. They shouldn’t be favored against anybody right now. The Bucs don’t even have a team that belongs in the playoffs. The Eagles have been the last two years one of the elite teams. That ended six weeks ago. They played the easiest schedule in the league the last six weeks and could not win.
“I think the Eagles are that bad now. And the Eagles, I don’t even think they’re a playoff team now. I think they’re a joke, and I think that right now, the worst defensive team in the league. And I don’t think that’s gonna change. And if (Mike) Evans ended up with 150 yards and two touchdowns, I wouldn’t be surprised. They, right now, are a completely dead piece, and I don’t anymore believe that they have a magic wand to turn this around.”
With even Francesa proclaiming them a joke, the Eagles enter Monday night under a tidal wave of negativity. Can they defy the doubters and rediscover their championship swagger against Tampa Bay? If you ask Francesa, it seems more likely that their freefall culminates in an embarrassing Wild Card exit. Perhaps his harsh words will be prophetic; either way, buckle up, Philly fans; it’s a do-or-die night for your Eagles.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.