During a first quarter that went about poorly as possible for the Philadelphia Eagles, one player stood out for their poor performance. Starting cornerback James Bradberry appears to have been benched late in the first quarter after giving up a crucial third down conversion due to his inability to tackle and after letting Mike Evans get behind for a deep touchdown that Evans, luckily, dropped.
As noted in the tweet below, Bradberry has remained on the sidelines and has not been receiving medical attention.
Rookie corner Kelee Ringo was inserted as the second cornerback, across from Darius Slay, on the Buccaneers’ drive that spanned the end of the first quarter and went into the second quarter. The Bucs ended up with a field goal on the drive and currently lead the Eagles 13-0 midway through the second.
Bradberry has struggled over the past few weeks and it doesn’t seem like he was able to flip a switch in the playoffs like many fans were hoping the Birds defense would be able to do. As I was finishing writing this post, Bradberry was put back in the game, but as the third corner. So, it looks like the Birds will be rearranging chairs on the Titanic for the rest of the game to try and find some way to salvage their defense.