Eagles did not play well against the Buccaneers but they never stopped playing hard

TAMPA – It was a year ago on Monday that the Eagles entered Kansas City and lost two touchdowns before finally losing to the Chiefs, 27-20.

They did not play particularly well against the Chiefs, but no matter how bad the situation at Arrowhead, their efforts have never faltered. This made you feel that the better days were coming.

Then they won nine straight games, then a Super Bowl.

You know where we are going with that.

Another road game. Another loss of week 2 score almost identical.

I do not like the Eagles losing to Tampa on Sunday (see the observations), but I love how they do not stop fighting and do not stop fighting, no matter how horrible things are on the dashboard.

This has become the hallmark of the 2017 Eagles.

We remember a team that played 13-2 in significant games and went through the playoffs. But the reality is that things have not always been easy for the Super Bowl Eagles. They were led at one point in nine of their 13 regular season wins and three playoff wins.

This is a team that has never stopped fighting, regardless of the score, time, injuries. And if you keep playing hard, anything can happen. We saw it We lived it

And Sunday, I really liked what I saw from this point of view.

When you look at the dashboard and see 27-7 at the end of the third quarter, it can be demoralizing. We have all seen teams that have left this snowball. It's easy to think "OK, this is not our day" and start thinking about next week, and that 27-7 can quickly become 44-7.

That's what I'm looking for when a team is flying and 27-7 late in the third quarter is crumbling. How do they manage it?

Just like last year in Kansas City, the Eagles left Tampa to understand what had just happened. They lost because they did not make enough games on either side of the ball. But the effort has been constant and it's encouraging.

This is Malcolm Jenkins, eloquent as always:

Effort and resilience are never something that we question with this team. Our fight is something that manifests itself in everything we do. We just have to do a better job to enable that effort and resilience and fight to get to the top without recovering.

Because we are not very good at overcoming so many big games, as many mistakes are inflicting on ourselves. The same lessons we had to learn last year as part of this season. Obviously, if we do not correct our mistakes, we will continue to lose, but if we continue to play as we have played, with effort and resilience, we will be hard to beat. "

This team is talented. I do not question that. Of course, they could use broad receiver help, but that will come with Alshon Jeffery. Carson Wentz is also very close. It will make everyone better.

Defensively, the big games must stop, but this defense is too good for this to continue. Especially at the front. This has not been their personality and it will not be the case.

Each team faces adversity. Last place teams, Super Bowl teams. When I really start to worry, it's when they do not react when things are at worst. When they leave a bad loss become a worse loss. When they let things snowball. When they stop worrying as much as they lose and win.

I have not seen any sign of this Sunday night and it is really encouraging.

The Eagles came up against a hot, hungry and motivated team on Sunday, which gave them the lead late in the game.

But I do not worry about the Eagles. They are fine. What we saw on the dashboard was ugly. What we saw on the ground gives me hope.

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