Tom Brady on Eagles' struggles against Bucs: 'Gotta find ways to get quicker starts'

Kathleen William September 30, 2024

When Sunday's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers began, FOX Sports was in the lead NFL analyst Tom Brady said the key to success for any team is a fast start on offense.

Only Brady's former team seemed to get the message, jumping out to a 24-0 lead en route to a 33-16 victory over the Eagles in a game in which the visiting team didn't look like it had Super Bowl Ambitions. In a postgame appearance with the “FOX NFL Sunday” team, Brady went back to his original point and explained why he believed the Eagles had such a difficult day.

Tom Brady defeats Baker Mayfield, the Buccaneers' 33-16 victory over the Eagles

“When you're as far behind as (the Eagles) were today, you fight uphill all day,” Brady said. “That’s not how you win games. They have lost the turnover battle too many times. They…didn’t score a point in the first quarter (this season). They are behind at halftime in almost every game. That’s it.” not sustainable. You need to find ways to get faster starts. (Offensive Coordinator) The season will continue if they can adopt some of these changes.

Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense had their way with the Eagles' defense, recording 445 yards of total offense, while Mayfield completed 30 of 47 pass attempts for 347 yards and two touchdowns (along with a rushing touchdown) en route to becoming the LFG player the game of his predecessor in Tampa Bay – Brady.

Brady said Mayfield and the Bucs were able to take advantage of the Eagles' zone coverage, which allowed Mayfield to take advantage of star pass catchers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and keep Philadelphia's grueling defensive front on its heels.

“At some point you have to tighten up the coverage,” Brady said. “Because for any quarterback, when you have skilled guys out there and they're playing in the zone, you can just dish it out. You find the open spots, you just wear them down. I thought, “Coming into this game, it's going to be tough for them.” Time to run the ball against the Eagles' front, so they basically used those short passes as running plays off the sidelines. And then when the running games came, Philly didn't expect it, there are bigger holes than you think, and then you're through. Philly has a lot of good coaches. Vic Fangio is one of the great coaches in the NFL. They just didn't play the way they wanted today.

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The Buccaneers, on the other hand, played their way for virtually the entire game, and Brady cited Mayfield's short-passing skills and taking advantage of Florida's early fall heat as key reasons why.

“I thought it was a great game plan today to get the ball out quick and early,” Brady said. “You knew it was hot down here, so early in drives, the ball was getting out of Baker's hands so quickly, into Godwin's hands, into Evans' hands, and then he just wore down the defensive line. And by the time (the The Eagles have a chance at a pass rush, so they have no gas left, so they did such a good job getting into the drive on the early downs and early portions of this drive, and at one point (the Bucs had) almost 200 yards The Eagles' offense was zero, so they played their way all day.

The The Buccaneers (3-1) now hope to keep that momentum going Thursday night against the NFC South rival Falcons in Atlanta. The The Eagles (2-2) have a bye week next week before hosting the Cleveland Browns on October 13th.

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