On Sunday, the Philadelphia Eagles had an embarrassing performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when they lost by a score of 33-16. Just simply, they did not show up on either side of the ball, and they were overwhelmed by the 100-degree heat on the field. This lackluster performance was very unexpected since they played pretty well in the last game against the New Orleans Saints. I wouldn’t have expected the Buccaneers to have this type of performance, because they couldn’t have had a normal practice week due to the hurricane that impacted them, but they were much more ready to play than the Eagles.
For some reason, Jalen Hurts has become scared to throw ball into any sort of traffic. I think this is because he is scared of being criticized for throwing too many interceptions. He has to get rid of the ball sooner or he’s going to be out of the game from being hurt! It just shows you how important AJ Brown and Devonta Smith are to this team, because this week they weren't able to do anything in the passing game all day long.
The defense was terrible as well. They got almost no pressure on quarterback Baker Mayfield, and their Hall of Fame wide receiver Mike Evans did whatever he wanted to do. The special teams unit was terrible too. They created two fumbles against themselves on punt plays. It was like Bad News Bears football!
The Eagles have a bye this week, so they better beat a terrible Cleveland Browns team at home.
The Phillies will play on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the New York Mets in the division series. This is a best of five game series. I think the Mets’ pitching staff is weaker overall. I think in the playoffs, if you score four to five runs in a game, you’re going to win most of the time because the managers will use their whole bullpen in every game. I hope the Phillies players don’t try to hit home runs every time they’re up to bat and they can just relax and enjoy playing baseball. If that happens, it’s going to be a fun month of October.
The Presidents Cup golf event was not as competitive as I had hoped. For the first time ever in match play golf, on back to back days, both teams swept each session, meaning means the score was 5-5 going into Saturday after two rounds of play. For some inexplicable reason, the international team captain Mike Weir and his assistant coaches decided to use the same eight players in both rounds of golf on Saturday, which meant they were exhausted by the end because they played 36 holes. I bet the four players who did not play at all on Saturday were angry. The whole week, the U.S. team played the back nine holes very well. There were a lot of one-up and two-up victories, which means the competition was closer than the score would indicate. The U.S. team ultimately won by the score of 18 1/2-11 1/2.
The next tournament will be played in 2026 at Medina Golf Club in Chicago. I don’t think the format has to be changed to make the tournament more competitive. I think it would help the international team a lot if the people on the LIV tour were allowed to play in the tournament, of if there is a merger between the two tours. That will include players like Cameron Smith from Australia, Abraham Ancer from Mexico, Russell Ortiz from Mexico and Marc Leishman also from Australia to give them more player options for the team. We will see.
-
A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
