The Eagles Have Mastered the Art Of Winning Ugly

That put the score at 31-23, and the Bucs seemed to have the momentum. Until they didn't.

With 7:57 left in the game, Tampa Bay had driven down to the Philadelphia 11-yard line. Mayfield had himself another scramble drill, and this time, Campbell was assigned to cover tight end Cade Otton from the line of scrimmage. Campbell took Otton through his route into the endzone, and then peeled off to pic off Mayfield's pressured pass to receiver Chris Godwin, who thought he was wide open on a crossing route.

Once again, the Eagles did just enough to win the day, even if it didn't always look pretty.

Special teams have certainly helped. In the win over the Bucs, there was tight end Cameron Latu's block of Riley Dixon's punt with 12:59 left in the first quarter. Safety Sydney Brown returned that block 35 yards for a touchdown, and that gave the Eagles their first score of the game.

And who can forget defensive tackle Jordan Davis' block of Rams kicker Joshua Karty's 44-yard field goal attempt in Week 3, when the Eagles beat the Los Angeles Rams, 33-26? Had Karty made that kick with three seconds left in the game, the Rams would have escaped Lincoln Financial Field with a close win. Instead, Davis took that block and rumbled 61 yards for the game-sealing touchdown.

That's one way to outlast a team that outgained you, 356 yards to 288. Per Elias Sports, the Eagles are now the first NFL team since at least 1978 to block a kick (field goal or punt) on three consecutive opponent possessions.

"I think what we do great on this team – and what other teams don't do – our special teams guys have roles," Brown said after the Bucs game. "Everybody has a role throughout the week and it's not like we [mess] around. I think everybody goes out there, they play hard, they understand what we need to do to be successful.

"What [special teams coaches Michael] Clay and Tyler Brown and Joe [Pannunzio] are giving us — that's what we do. We dominate it, and I think that when you play complementary football, I think special teams is one of those three phases that can really impact the game."

The 2025 Eagles' mantra so far: Rare wins coming from rare places.

Hurts has said that his team needs to stop playing not to lose, and start playing to win. He has a valid point, but head coach Nick Sirianni, who has started 4-0 in three different seasons since he got the job in 2021 (the 2022 and 2023 seasons were the others), talks more about the process. He doesn't seem to be all that concerned about the nature of the wins, as long as they keep coming — the standard "that's not how we want to play" coachspeak aside.

"Well, we didn't turn it over," Sirianni said, when asked why his team can blow big leads like they did against Tampa Bay and still win. "Defensively, you can't give up explosives. We gave up explosives. Now, we turned them over a couple times. But again, we were able to have enough of a lead to keep it on, but that's not how we want to play.

"We want to be aggressive, and that's not how we want to play the second half, offensively, defensively. Now, give them a lot of credit. I think the world of Baker Mayfield, I think he's a really good quarterback. I think [Buccaneers head coach] Todd Bowles does a good job. New young receivers, a really good player [in Emeka Egbuka]. [Receiver Chris] Godwin's been a good player for a long time. That number seven, Irving, is a special back. So really good players, good scheme. I give them a lot of credit.

"It's nice to be on the other end, coming out of here with a win."

Sirianni seems comfortable with living on the razor's edge, and so far, it's working despite the odds. We'll see just how long that can continue.