It was a rough afternoon for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but one that could have been a lot worse than it ended up being.
Things were trending down hard early, with the Bucs quickly falling into a 14-0 hole before everyone had gotten their popcorn. At halftime, Tampa Bay was down 24-6 and all seemed lost -- until it wasn't. While the Bucs didn't end up pulling off a fourth straight comeback win, they clawed their way back into things in ways nobody expected after how the game started.
It truly felt like the flip side of the coin that has landed right side up over the first three weeks. The luck Tampa Bay had benefited from broke the other way, and despite some truly awful mistakes, the Bucs were in a one-score game with the ball and a chance to tie with under two minutes left.
There's a ton to clean up, but the Bucs were missing key players and got some big performances out of guys when they needed it the most on Sunday.
Winners and losers from Buccaneers 31-25 loss to Eagles in Week 4
Winner: Bucky Irving, RB
Once again, Bucky Irving was among the most reliable parts of the Buccaneers' afternoon. Even with a fumble that stunted momentum in the second half, Irving finished the game with nearly 200 yards of total offense and was Tampa Bay's leading receiver with 102 yards and a touchdown.
It was his response to that fumble which stood out the most. We know Bucky is a machine on the field, but rather than sulking and letting his mistake weigh him down, he bounced back to score a 72-yard touchdown a drive later.
Not a lot went right for the Bucs, but they don't surge back to once again be within a score with under two minutes left if not for the effort Bucky put in.
Winner: Chase McLaughlin, K
Speaking of bounce-backs, it appears that Chase McLaughlin has finally stabilized after a rough start to the season. He uncharacteristically missed kicks that made life harder on the Bucs than it needed to be, but he took a big step toward erasing that on Sunday.
The highlight of his day was a booming 65-yard field goal that went down as a new career-best. That was one of three kicks he had on the day, all of which helped keep the Bucs from drowning after getting knocked down early by Philly.
If anyone thought that McLaughlin might have the yips, he put those fears to rest in a big way in Week 4.
Loser: Everything else on Special Teams
While McLaughlin was excellent, everything else about special teams stunk to high heaven. It's become the elephant in the room, as Tampa Bay's special teams has gone from bad to worse so rapidly that it's hard to believe it hasn't cost them more games than it has.
A lot of things went wrong, but the blocked punt return for a touchdown on the first drive of the game put the Bucs in a hole they ultimately couldn't dig out of. Before we could get settled in the score was already 14-0 and the struggles are bigger than blocked kicks.
Kick coverage has been abysmal, with the Bucs failing to flip the field and give the defense a fighting chance. Riley Dixon has been flat out bad, averaging 36.7 yards per punt against the Eagles which lowers his season average to just 45.6; that's two-tenths of a yard better than what Jake Camarda was averaging when he was cut last season.
Solely blaming special teams for all the Bucs struggles is unfair, but it's well within reason to say it's the single worst thing the team is doing right now and something needs to change fast.
Loser: SirVocea Dennis in coverage
Hyped up before the season as someone defensive coaches were very excited about, SirVocea Dennis has hardly held up his end of the bargain. Perhaps it's coverage breakdowns that magnify his shortcomings, but watching him get burned in coverage is a weekly occurrence that Bucs fans can do without.
Making matters even worse is the lack of depth at linebacker. The Bucs can bench Dennis but that wouldn't make the defense better, which perfectly highlights why his struggles are so tough to endure.
Loser: Buccaneers offensive line
For the second straight week the Bucs offensive line failed to get Baker Mayfield enough protection. The return of Tristan Wirfs didn't have as much of an impact as we were hoping, and the right side of the line felt the loss of Cody Mauch and Luke Goedeke in a big way.
Luke Haggard and Charlie Heck combined to give up double-digit pressures on the afternoon, and the Bucs were unable to run the ball effectively on that side of the line. There was an almost three-yard per carry difference between the two sides of the offensive line, something that significantly limited the play calls Josh Grizzard could use.
It's a major flaw, and one that doesn't have an easy fix available.
Winner: Emeka Egbuka, WR
If there's been one single reliable part of the entire Buccaneers roster this season it's been rookie Emeka Egbuka. He's burst onto the scene as a star on the rise and backed that up in a big way against the Eagles.
Quinyon Mitchell was draped all over Egbuka -- figuratively and literally -- for most of the afternoon, but that didn't stop the rookie from balling out. He was on the receiving end of a monster 77-yard touchdown catch that reignited Tampa Bay's offense and helped fuel an epic comeback that almost resulted in another last-minute victory.
That's been a quiet trend over the first four games of the season, as Egbuka has stepped into the Mike Evans role when it comes to giving the offense a spark when it needs one. With Evans out, we were wondering how much more Egbuka could do, and the answer was a career day with 101 yards and a touchdown.
Loser: Wide Receiver drops
Egbuka's big day, coupled with the return of Chris Godwin, had us hoping it would be a big day for Tampa Bay's receivers. While the final stat lines for those guys were decent, it was an overall poor afternoon for a receiver room that will dread rewatching this game on film.
Baker Mayfield was hardly perfect but he averaged just 3.3 yards per attempt in the first half largely due to his receivers dropping throws. Even Egbuka and Godwin weren't immune, with the latter uncharacteristically dropping what seemed to be textbook throws he usually reels in.
Coverage was tight all afternoon, but Egbuka and Godwin finishing the day with a less than 40 percent catch rate is the type of stuff that will more often than not lead to a loss. In a game as close as the one Tampa Bay was in late, those things add up, and it ultimately proved to be one cut too many to survive.
Loser: Baker Mayfield, QB
If we can praise Baker Mayfield when he does the type of heroic stuff we saw out of him over the last two weeks, we have to call him out when he falls short of expectations. Granted, the expectations are high but there's a reason for that; Baker had been playing like an MVP the first three games of the season and he showed some weakness in the armor on Sunday.
Specifically, Baker had a brutal interception late in the game. With the Bucs down eight points in the fourth quarter, the offense finally put together a drive that seemed like it was shifting momentum. Then Baker scrambled out of a sack and opted to try and force a heroic throw rather than toss the ball away.
The result was an interception that stopped the drive dead in its tracks and kept at least three points off the board. That was a game-changing mistake, one that gave the Eagles the ball back to burn time off the clock and thwart Tampa Bay's best shot yet at taking the game back.
It was a theme on the afternoon, as the Eagles defense made life difficult for the Bucs, but nobody made it harder on them than themselves. Baker's interception epitomized that, as it was a forced error by the one guy the Bucs have relied on to keep them out of those situations over the first three games of the season.
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