11-6 is not far off the expectations people had for the Eagles this season. There was a lot of talk of 12-5, maybe 13-4. On paper, it does not seem like too much of a disappointment. But the way it happened, starting 10-1, only to lose 5 of the final 6 games, is what makes this season such a disaster so far. Even worse, is who they lost to. Back-to-back losses against two of the worst teams in the sport is certainly a huge blow to morale. But the season is not over yet. They head down to Tampa this weekend to take on the Bucs.
The good news, the Bucs are the worst team, at least on paper, in the playoffs. They are only here because they play in the NFC South, and someone from that division had to make the playoffs. They only just snuck in too, beating the lowly Panthers 9-0 in the final week to clinch their spot. The bad news is the Eagles have been maybe the worst team in football the past month. They lost to the Cardinals, they can certainly lose to the Bucs too. Especially now that they will be without AJ Brown.
In some ways, the Bucs are tailor-made to expose the Eagles’ biggest weaknesses. The Eagles can’t stop the blitz? Well the Bucs blitz at the 3rd highest rate in the NFL. The Eagles’ secondary has been swiss cheese? The Bucs have a talented WR group. Baker Mayfield has actually played well the past month, the Panthers game aside.
This will not be an easy game for the Eagles. Vegas may have them as favorites, but the Eagles team we have seen the past 6 games can easily lose to the Bucs team we have seen the last 6 games. They are both playing differently than they were back in week 3 when the Eagles beat them in Tampa.
These 6 Bucs Players Could Give the Eagles Trouble On Monday:
Mike Evans
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Eagles are 31st in Football with 252.7 passing yards allowed per game. Mike Evans is 90th amongst WRs with 1,255 total yards and leads all WRs with 13 TDs. Seems like a place where the Bucs can certainly take advantage of a favorable matchup. Darius Slay will be back, which will help. But the Eagles have not often had Slay follow the other team’s best WR around the field. And 23% of the time this season, Evans has operated out of the slot.
Rachaad White
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Rachaad White has not done anything too special this season. He came just short of 1000 yards and averaged under 4 yards per carry. This is less about him and more about how bad the Eagles have been at stopping the run. When they played in week 3, the Eagles had the best rush defense in football. Now they have amongst the worst. They went from allowed around 60 yards per game in the first 9 weeks, to over 130 since. And with how they are playing, you have to be concerned about any RBs ability to pile up yards against them.
Chris Godwin
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Godwin hasn’t been quite as flashy as we may be used to, but he has still had a solid season. 83 catches for 1,024 yards is nothing to sneeze at. And as we have discussed, this Eagles secondary has played very poorly. They let Greg Dortch put up 82 yards on them. Chris Godwin could certainly have a big day against his hometown team.
Antoine Winfield
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The Eagles struggle more than any team in the league against the blitz. The Bucs love blitzing. And when they do, they love sending Safety Antoine Winfield. he is 2nd on the team with 6 sacks and 1st with 6 forced fumbles. he also has 3 interceptions for what it’s worth. The Bucs will basically be able to blitz him whenever they want because the Eagles have proven they have no clue how to adjust to it.
Lavonte David
(Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Another guy the Bucs love to Blitz with is Linebacker Lavonte David. And he has 4.5 sacks to show for it. But even when he is not blitzing, he is the type of Linebacker who can make plays all over the field. Must be nice to have a guy like that. The Eagles certainly don’t.
Baker Mayfield
(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
And of course, there is also the Bucs QB. Baker Mayfield has actually had a solid season. He got over 4000 yards for the first time in his career and threw a career-high 28 TDs. This will be his third playoff game and only his 2nd season where he got to the playoffs. The last time was in 2020 he beat a Steelers team a lot of people are comparing this year’s Eagles to. They started 11-0, went 1-4 in December, and then lost in the first round. Can Baker do the same thing to the Eagles?
