The Philadelphia Eagles are officially out of the playoffs, and ESPN Monday Night Football announcers Joe Buck and Troy Aikman didn’t hide their criticisms of the Birds in the NFC wild-card round.
As the Eagles fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the NFL playoffs, Buck couldn’t help but notice during the first half how many missed tackles were stacking up for the Eagles’ defense, once one of the NFL’s best.
After watching Philly’s defense dominate in 2022, the unit didn’t look quite the same after the departure of former defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. A lot of the same pieces were still in place, in fact.
"And so far the tackling for the Eagles in their secondary has been awful."
Joe Buck with some hard facts for the Eagles after David Moore's 44-yard TD. pic.twitter.com/utPI93vgir
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
"Sorry to keep saying the same thing. But I keep seeing the same thing." pic.twitter.com/3ep1iIqpS0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
Aikman went even further to say he thought Philly’s body language made the team look like it didn’t really care about the football game. Ouch.
Troy Aikman just said looking at the Eagles' "body language" makes him think they're "not really into this ballgame." This is a playoff game. And that's about as searing an indictment as you could levy on a team.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 16, 2024
Aikman continued his harsh critiques into the second half, which didn’t get better for Philly.
"I don't know what that is but we've seen enough of it all year long."
"It continues…on both sides of the ball, to just show the problems that Philadelphia has had and why they had the collapse that they had to end this season."
Troy Aikman pulling no punches on the Eagles. pic.twitter.com/eNP76mW9pG
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
"It's a defeated team, and they were when they came in." – Troy Aikman on the Eagles pic.twitter.com/7uCOrLkzLi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
"I know there's a difference between what players and coaches say, and what they feel. They said all the right things, but you could tell they weren't feeling it… You cannot go into next season status quo." – Troy Aikman on the Eagles' finish and potential offseason changes pic.twitter.com/i1tT4MigLX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 16, 2024
The Eagles fading down the stretch was one of the more bewildering developments of the NFL season, and Buck and Aikman’s commentary helped identify why it’s been on the downward slope for Philly.
