Controversial taunting penalty towards Eagles stalls fourth-quarter comeback try in loss to Buccaneers

Down 28-7, the Philadelphia Eagles had all of the momentum after scoring 15 unanswered factors of their Thursday evening sport towards the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With 5:54 left and two timeouts nonetheless in coach Nick Sirianni’s again pocket, it seemed as if the Eagles would get an opportunity to finish the comeback so long as their protection might provide you with a third-down cease. 

The Eagles’ protection appeared to restrict Leonard Fournette to a 2-yard achieve on first down. However the officers deemed that defensive finish Genard Avery taunted Fournette after he and cornerback Steven Nelson compelled him out of bounds. Avery went head to head with Fournette earlier than the 2 gamers exchanged gentle contact with one another as each gamers got here again onto the sphere of play. The 15-yard penalty moved the ball to the Buccaneers’ 42-yard line. Brady then proceeded to finish passes of 10 and 27 yards to Antonio Brown earlier than his sneak produced the game-clinching first down. 

The penalty drew the ire of Eagles followers, as those inside Lincoln Monetary Subject made their emotions recognized shortly after the flag was thrown. Former quarterback and Fox play-by-play announcer Troy Aikman was additionally caught off guard by the penalty. 

“I do know that is a degree of emphasis and everybody’s been speaking about it, however that is a penalty?” Aikman requested his viewers. 

Whereas the penalty did not assist, it wasn’t the first purpose why the Eagles fell in need of an upset. The Eagles’ protection by no means discovered a solution for Brown, who completed the evening with 93 yards and a landing on 9 receptions. In addition they had no reply for Fournette, who tallied 127 complete yards and two touchdowns. Philadelphia’s offense continued to steer away from working again Miles Sanders, who had simply 11 touches. The Eagles additionally missed a area purpose in the beginning of the fourth quarter. 

The Eagles performed gamely towards the defending champions, however they in the end misplaced and are nonetheless in the hunt for their first house win of the 2021 season.