The 108-degree heat index certainly got the best of the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, more so than Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense. Tampa certainly had the after effects of Hurricane Helene, which rocked the western coast of Florida earlier in the week.
The result was hot and humid weather. The Eagles, wearing their midnight green jerseys, had multiple players leave the game due to the heat. Center Cam Jurgens (cramps) and defensive tackle Jalen Carter (cramps) were questionable to return and safety Reed Blankenship (illness) was ruled out. Cornerback Avonte Maddox also said he got an IV because of the heat, while several other players also were in-and-out of the game.
Having the ball for 9 minutes in the first half didn't help, as the defense was on the field the majority of the time. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said the offense was still prepared.
"There's guys on both sides going down as far as the cramping and with the heat," Sirianni said, via a transcript provided by the team. "We did what we normally do as far as heat games with our hydration throughout the week. I know this team is in good shape because they work, they work their ass off to be in good shape with the way we practice, and also the extra conditioning that they're doing in the weight room. We knew that."
How did the players feel about the heat? C.J. Gardner-Johnson said Sunday's weather wasn't something you train for.
"Shoutout to Hurricane Helene. She left the aftermath," Gardner-Johnson said. "That's not something you can prepare for. You can take as many IVs as you want, and do what you need to do.
"But it's one of those games where you gotta continue to stay hydrated and keep on it."
The heat certainly favored Tampa Bay, as quarterback Baker Mayfield said it was a home-field advantage "weather wise." The Buccaneers are used to the extreme Florida heat in September. The Eagles learned the hard way.
"With a hot game like this it's going to take everybody - all hands on deck and we needed everybody," Sirianni said. "Again, it didn't work out but, we knew in this type of game there were going to be guys going in and out because of the heat and it would take rotation by everybody to try and get the thing done, but obviously we didn't."
