With eight receptions for 148 yards, wide receiver DeVonta Smith provided a starkly contrasting performance to the rest of Philadelphia’s offense in the Eagles’ 32-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC playoffs on Monday night.But Smith wishes he had one more catch and 17 more yards on those totals.
Trailing 25-12 after making a field goal with 12:02 to play, Philadelphia took the three points off the scoreboard to accept a defensive-offside penalty on the kick.
That left the Eagles facing fourth-and-5 at the Tampa Bay 17-yard line, and quarterback Jalen Hurts threw the football for Smith in the end zone. A breakup by Buccaneers cornerback Carlton Davis essentially ended the Eagles’ season.
I went to (coach) Nick (Sirianni),” Smith said. “I told him to get me the ball. I just got to go make the play.”
Philadelphia lost to Tampa Bay in the postseason after beating the Bucs 25-11 during the regular season. In that Sept. 25 game, the Eagles ran for 201 yards and passed for 271. On Monday night, Philadelphia’s offense produced 276 yards, with only 42 coming on the ground.
“They just sent a lot of pressure at us,” Smith said. “That’s all it was. Couldn’t run the ball because they were sending pressure. I know that’s the first thing everybody will say: Why we didn’t run the ball? You can’t run the ball against blitz-zero. They just did a good job of taking away the run and forcing us to make plays on the outside. We made a lot of them, but we missed some, too. …
