Buccaneers Battered, But This One Came as Expected

Anyone out there surprised at the outcome?

Philadelphia 33, Tampa Bay 14.

It was coming. The Eagles were waiting, eager to bash and batter the winless Buccaneers.

It was simple assault and battery.

Let Raheem Morris sum it up for you:

"Outplayed us across the board. We were outplayed by a better football team."

Did anyone expect different of those Eagles?

After all, they came up with a nifty game plan: squash the Buccaneer hopes of running the football and force young Josh Johnson to commit aerial suicide.

Cadillac Williams had his tires stolen. Derrick Ward probably wished he was back in New York. Earnest Graham was the lucky one, he didn't dress. Ward and Williams had 45 yards between them, 28 on one run by Ward.

Johnson, again running for his life, was the leading rusher with 40 frightening yards.

When he wasn't being sacked or chased, Johnson threw up 50 passes. Yes, FIFTY!

Nice game plan.

It was one born strictly of desperation.

Eagle rookie Jeremy Maclin schooled the Buccaneer secondary on the Eagles second play of the game; he burned Elbert Mack on a 51-yard bomb from Donovan McNabb, who returned from his rib injuries to play a near-perfect game and take advantage of what has become a horrible Buccaneer secondary.

The tone was set early. The Bucs simply fell further behind as this game dragged on.

One positive for these 0-5 Buccaneers is that Kellen Winslow Jr. finally decided to show up and earn his portly paycheck. He was J.J.'s only friend in Philly; he caught seven balls for 102 yards and both Buccaneer touchdowns.

He had to. Michael Clayton has returned to being, well, Michael Clayton, and Antonio Bryant wasn't much better.

"Both guys (Clayton and Bryant) dropped a bunch," Morris lamented afterward.

Indeed, Johnson might have had an 80-yard touchdown pass early if Clayton had gone full extension for the catch. "Hard to grade Josh," Morris said "Could have had an 80-yard bomb."

But the tone was set early and this one was all but over by halftime as the Eagles led 21-7.

The second half was no better. More of the same.

The distinct smell of 0-5 was already permeating the Buccaneer sidelines.

It would become 28-7, then 31-7.

Philadelphia's equivalent of a victory cigar came in the final six minutes of the game when Michael Vick was actually put in the game to play quarterback. No wildcat, no gimmicks, just play quarterback.

Fox network announcers wondered out loud:

"Where does Raheem (Morris) go from here?

That's a question all of Tampa might ask.

The answer?

Well, first he got on the flight from Philadelphia back to Tampa.

He can look forward to next Sunday's home game against Carolina, a team that boosted itself with a victory over the Redskins Sunday.

One less winless team in the NFL.

But for the Buccaneers, another loss, an expected loss.

Which begs the question:

How many more can we expect?