The Philadelphia Eagles continue to show their championship mettle in their win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Eagles remain undefeated through the first four weeks of the season. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Getty Images
The Philadelphia Eagles are still the NFL’s team to beat through the first quarter of the season.
While it didn’t look pretty and it wasn’t perfect, the Eagles defeated one of their biggest threats in the previously unbeaten Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s no secret that Philadelphia had struggled in Tampa in recent years, ending their 2023 season with a blowout playoff loss at Raymond James Stadium before losing once again in Week 4 last year.
Those two losses were by a combined score of 65-25. Entering today’s game, it was once again scorching hot at 88 degrees – it felt like over 100 degrees – and the Eagles were still able to outplay the Buccaneers, leading the game by as many as 18 points.
Through the first quarter of the season, the Eagles entered the late afternoon games of Week 4 as one of just two undefeated teams in the NFC. And while the execution hasn’t been perfect, the Eagles remain the team to beat in the NFL as the undefeated Super Bowl champions.
“It was a great team win,” said Jalen Hurts after the game. “Another great win, finding a way to win. This has been a challenging environment to play in. A really good opponent for us over the years. Just proud of the way we competed. Didn’t quit, found a way situationally to an extent.”
They hardly look as dominant as they were last season, when they won 16 of their final 17 games, including their four playoff games by a combined score of 145-to-77, an average margin of 19.3 points per game.
However, they’ve proven they can close out games repeatedly against the best of opponents, closing out the Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs in three consecutive weeks. The Chiefs have been the AFC’s dominant team since Patrick Mahomes stepped in at quarterback, the Rams proved to be Philly’s biggest threat during their postseason run and the Bucs had been a torn in the Eagles’ side in recent years.
The Eagles have now won all four of their games by one possession this season, even overcoming a 19-point deficit in their win over the Rams last week. In other words, they’re proving they can win in every way imaginable – which is the test of a true champion.
Philadelphia is doing so in a league that looks less than impressive. The Los Angeles Chargers – one of the NFL’s remaining unbeaten teams – lost against a rookie quarterback making his first career start with an injured Malik Nabers leaving the game. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers are coming off a loss against the hapless Cleveland Browns.
“We played a hell of a game today,” said offensive tackle Jordan Mailata after the win. “That was a great team. The Bucs, they’re not bums. Winning games in Tampa is a big deal, because we haven’t. We’ve been humiliated, we’ve been on that side of the ball.”
To demonstrate even further how the Eagles are winning in every way imaginable, Hurts obviously had one heck of a game, throwing two touchdown passes with a 104.5 passer rating and 62 rushing yards – the most by any Eagles player – to boot. However, he didn’t have a single completion during the second half.
This was while the Buccaneers were attempting to make an 18-point comeback and had an opportunity to do so on the final drive. Considering Tampa Bay had won their first three games of the season with game-winning drives at the end, it speaks volumes that Philadelphia was able to close them out.
“Every game is circled and they’re all circled with their own reasons why, and I think being able to come find a win in a very competitive and tough environment against a really good team, a well-coached team, that’s something you take pride in,” says Hurts. “Again, you always take pride in things that you know you can improve on, the things you know you see on film when you watch it, and say, ‘We can be better here.’ There’s pride in everything overall.”
Barkley – the NFL’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year – had a touchdown, but he only posted 43 rushing yards on 2.3 yards per carry. And the Eagles still won.
“I don’t care what it looks like,” said Barkley after the game. “Whether it’s me rushing for 20 yards or 200 rushing yards, we’re 4-0.”
It’s obviously a long season and Philadelphia has plenty to clean up – the key word consistently mentioned in the locker room was “execution” – but the fact that the Eagles have defeated three top-tier teams during arguably their roughest stretch of the 2025 regular season sends a message that Philadelphia isn’t playing around when it comes to their mission of repeating as Super Bowl champions.
“It’s a matter of how you look at it,” says Hurts. “I think we were in a good place at 2-2 last year. We had a lot of opportunity in front of us. I think we’re in a good place now, no different because we have a lot of opportunity in front of us, and so we’re looking at the standard of execution.
“Regardless of where you are, when you’re this early in the season you’re still searching to try and elevate and play to a standard and play to a standard of execution and so great opportunity in front of us as a team to continue to build, continue to grow, have a desire to learn and support the collective of what we do. I’ve said before, talent wins you games but a certain level of team, collective play, collective attacking and intelligence in the game, that wins you championships. We just want to continue to build in that direction.”