Philadelphia Eagles 25-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jalen Hurts throws for touchdown and D'Andre Swift shines again as Eagles move 3-0
Philadelphia Eagles start the year 3-0 for the second successive season with a 25-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Monday Night Football, D'Andre Swift starring once again with 130 rushing yards while Baker Mayfield is limited to 146 yards through the air for the hosts.
Tuesday 26 September 2023 10:33, UK
Jalen Hurts threw for a touchdown, ran for another and led the Eagles on a game-ending drive that lasted more than nine minutes as Philadelphia remained unbeaten with a 25-11 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
The defending NFC champions, who won their first eight games a year ago, are off to a 3-0 start in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1992-93.
Hurts improved to 20-1 over his last 21 regular-season games. He tossed a 34-yard touchdown pass to Olamide Zaccheaus that helped the Eagles build a 13-3 half-time lead, before his one-yard rushing score earned a 17-point advantage early in the second half.
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The Eagles led 25-3 by the time the Bucs finally got into the end zone on Baker Mayfield's one-yard touchdown throw to Mike Evans.
A two-point conversion trimmed Philadelphia's lead to 14 with 9:22 remaining, but Hurts and the Eagles never let Tampa Bay get the ball back. Hurts was four of five passing and ran for a first down on that final drive.
Stats leaders:
Philadelphia Eagles
- Passing: Jalen Hurts, 23/37, 277 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
- Rushing: D'Andre Swift, 16 carries, 130 yards
- Receiving: AJ Brown, 9 catches, 131 yards
- Olamide Zaccheaus, 2 catches, 58 yards, 1 TD
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Passing: Baker Mayfield, 15/25, 146 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
- Rushing: Rachaad White, 14 carries, 38 yards
- Receiving: Mike Evans, 5 catches, 60 yards, 1 TD
The Bucs (2-1) lost for the first time with Mayfield at quarterback, turning the ball over twice after playing turnover-free against Minnesota and Chicago. The Bucs' usually reliable defense struggled, too, yielding 201 yards rushing.
A week after rushing for a career-high 175 yards, D'Andre Swift ran for 130 yards on 16 attempts for Philadelphia.
Hurts was 23 of 37 passing for 277 yards and two interceptions, while A.J. Brown finished with nine receptions for 131 yards for the Eagles - one of just three NFL teams that remain unbeaten, along with Miami and San Francisco.
Mayfield completed 15 of 25 passes for 146 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Evans had five receptions, giving him 700 in his career.
Scoring summary
What did they say?
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts: "Outside of some turnovers on my behalf, I think we did a really good job of executing. We've got to do a better job of controlling the things we can. But we've got three wins down and we're going to continue to build off of that as a team and hold each other accountable. That's the name of the game."
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni: "Everybody wants us to be a final product now, but it's a growth. You want to grow every day. We're not going to be playing our best football until we get going into the season. We've still got things to work on, we've still got growth to do."
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles: "We didn't play a good ballgame. They were a lot to do with that. We can't mope about it."
Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans: "It's all on us. I hope we can play them again in the future. We had a lot of opportunities. I just wish I could have started faster and helped our team."
What next?
The Eagles (3-0) are at home next Sunday when the host their NFC East rival Washington Commanders (2-1), while the Bucs (2-1) are on the road against the New Orleans Saints (2-1).
Week Four in the NFL begins on Thursday night when the Detroit Lions visit the Green Bay Packers - live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.15am in the early hours of Friday morning.
