Tom Brady on Eagles’ struggles vs. Bucs: ‘Gotta find ways to get faster starts’

As Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers got underway, FOX Sports lead NFL analyst Tom Brady said the key to success for each team would be a fast start on offense.

Only Brady’s former team appeared to get the message, jumping out to a 24-0 lead en route to a 33-16 blowout over the Eagles in a game where the visiting team did not look like one with Super Bowl aspirations. In an appearance with the “FOX NFL Sunday” crew after the game, Brady went back to his initial point when explaining why he thought the Eagles had such a difficult day.

Tom Brady breaks down Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers’ 33-16 win over Eagles

“When you get behind as much as [the Eagles] did today, you’re just fighting uphill all day long,” Brady said. “That’s not the way to win games. They’ve lost the turnover battle too many times. They … haven’t scored a point in the first quarter [this season]. They’re trailing at halftime in almost every game. So that’s not sustainable. They’ve got to find ways to get faster starts. [Offensive coordinator] Kellen Moore is going to have to dial up some plays that they can really start fast. And I think things will be different if the season, as the season goes, if they can incorporate some of those changes.”

Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense had their way with the Eagles’ defense, recording 445 yards of total offense as Mayfield completed 30 of 47 pass attempts for 347 yards and two touchdowns (along with a rushing touchdown) en route to being named LFG Player of the Game by his predecessor in Tampa Bay — Brady.

Brady said Mayfield and the Bucs were able to take advantage of the Eagles’ zone coverage, allowing Mayfield to take advantage of having star pass-catchers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and forcing Philadelphia’s bruising defensive front on its heels.

“At some point, you got to tighten up the coverage,” Brady said. “Because for any quarterback, when you got skilled guys out there and they’re playing zone, you could just deal. You find the open spots, you just wear them down. I thought coming to this game, they’d have a hard time running the ball against the Eagles’ front, so they used those short passes really almost as run plays outside on the perimeter. And then by the time the run plays came, Philly’s not expecting it, there’s bigger holes than you think, and then you’re through. Philly’s got a lot of good coaches. [Defensive coordinator] Vic Fangio’s one of the great coaches in the NFL. I really do like their front, they just didn’t play on their terms today.”

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The Buccaneers, on the other hand, played on their terms virtually the entire game, and Brady credited Mayfield’s ability in the short passing game and taking advantage of the early-fall Florida heat as big reasons why.

“I thought it was a great game plan today, just getting the ball out quick early,” Brady said. “They knew it was hot down here, so early in the drives, that ball was coming out of Baker’s hands so quick into Godwin’s hands, into Evans’ hands, and then it just wears down the defensive line. And by the time [the Eagles] get a chance to pass rush, they got no gas left. So they did such a good job on early downs and early parts of that drive, getting into the drive, and at one point, [the Bucs had] almost 200 yards of offense to zero for the Eagles. So they played on their terms the entire day.”

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

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