The Philadelphia Eagles visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday with a chance at revenge. The Bucs, of course, eliminated Philadelphia from the playoffs back in January, putting an end to the misery of every Eagles fan. Philadelphia lost six of its final seven games last season, infamously squandering a 10-1 start.
By the time Philly lined up against Tampa Bay in the playoffs, the Eagles were a sailboat without a rudder, completely beholden to the whims of mother nature. There was nothing guiding that team in a particular direction. All the talent was there, but none of the discipline and execution we were used to seeing from Nick Sirianni’s team.
What followed was a spate of reports about disconnects in the locker room and power struggles on the coaching staff. It became clear that Sirianni was trying to do too much, sapping power away from his coordinators and leading the Eagles astray on both ends. Philadelphia kept Siranni around this season, but overhauled the coordinating roles to bring in two established play-callers — Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio…