PHILADELPHIA - A night that began with a laser light show and the christening of Lincoln Financial Field ended with this sobering reality for the Philadelphia Eagles:
They still are no match for the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense.
That lesson was learned under the bright lights of Monday Night Football and the Bucs' 17-0 whitewash that had 67,662 Eagles fan wondering what happened to quarterback Donovan McNabb.
The Bucs' vaunted defense took care of McNabb, and Tampa Bay wide receiver Joe Jurevicius provided the offensive highlights with a pair of spectacular touchdown catches in the end zone.
McNabb completed just one of his first seven passes, an alarming trend that never got much better. Against perhaps the NFL's finest secondary, McNabb went 19-for-36 for 148 yards.
Jurevicius scored on catches of 13 and 7 yards in the second half to break open a 3-0 Bucs halftime lead. Tampa's two touchdown drives covered 80 and 73 yards against the Eagles' blitzing defense.
The Eagles challenged Jurevicius' first touchdown catch in the third quarter. He went over cornerback Lito Sheppard in the back left corner to snag a perfect 13-yard pass from quarterback Brad Johnson.
Television replays confirmed that Jurevicius not only had control of the ball, but also tapped both feet down in the end zone before going out of bounds along with Sheppard.
Sheppard replaced starting cornerback Bobby Taylor in the second half after Taylor strained his left plantar fascia.
Jurevicius, who also had a big catch against the Eagles in the Bucs' NFC championship game here in January, was part-magician on his second scoring catch.
Covered by cornerback Troy Vincent, he deflected Johnson's pass into the air, spun around Vincent and dived in front of Sheldon Brown to catch the carom.
That scoring drive also featured a 14-yard catch by defensive tackle Warren Sapp, playing as a tight end.
The Bucs held a 3-0 lead in a woeful first half that hardly celebrated the opening of a new stadium. McNabb struggled fiercely with his accuracy and completed just two of nine passes in the first quarter. Johnson was barely better, hitting four of nine.
Nevertheless, the Eagles had the best chance to take control early after wide receiver James Thrash went 47 yards on a reverse to the Tampa 16.
