PHILADELPHIA — Traveling back to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday won’t be a vengeance tour for the Philadelphia Eagles, who appear to be over their blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round of the playoffs.
This is a different Eagles team than the one that took the field in Tampa Bay nine months ago, with a new offense for Jalen Hurts and an improved defense under Vic Fangio. The Buccaneers have relatively the same core from the team that defeated the Eagles 32-9 in the wild card round last January.
With both the Eagles and Buccaneers sitting at 2-1, both teams are heading in opposite directions after last week. The Eagles earned a hard-fought victory against the New Orleans Saints on the road while the Buccaneers suffered an embarrassing loss at home to the Denver Broncos. The Buccaneers will be looking to rebound against an Eagles team they have defeated in five of their last six meetings, including twice in the playoffs.
How will the Eagles respond against the Buccaneers in their final matchup before the bye week? Here’s a preview of Sunday’s game, along with how to watch the contest:
Where to watch
Date: Sunday, Sept. 29 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, Fla.)
TV: Fox | Stream: fubo (try for free)
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds: Buccaneers +3, O/U 48
Eagles wide receiver situation
The Eagles are going to be down at least two of their top four wide receivers heading into Sunday. DeVonta Smith is out with a concussion and Britain Covey is out multiple weeks with a shoulder injury. The biggest question that remains is A.J. Brown, who has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury and did not practice at all this week until Friday. Brown is questionable for Sunday, and the Eagles many need him to go given their current situation at wide receiver.
Philadelphia will have Jahan Dotson and Johnny Wilson on the active roster, with Parris Campbell expected to be called up from the practice squad. John Ross, who spent the entire offseason with the team, was signed to the practice squad this week and is likely a call up since he knows the offense.
Brown playing on Sunday would be massive for the Eagles, especially since the Buccaneers won’t have Antoine Winfield Jr. in the secondary. Brown has 87.7 receiving yards per game since the start of the 2022 season, fourth in the NFL. With the depleted group at receiver, having Brown would be massive for the Eagles offense.
Jalen Hurts vs. the blitz
The Eagles’ struggles against the Buccaneers defense last season put Hurts on notice when facing the blitz. Hurts was 12 of 20 against Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles’ defense in the wild-card round defeat last season, throwing a touchdown with an 87.9 passer rating. He also had just 92 yards on those 20 attempts, as Bowles dialed up the pressure knowing that was Hurts’ weakness.
In Hurts’ five seasons in the NFL, he improved his completion percentage against the blitz every year. Hurts went from 51.1% in his rookie season to his 71.4% this year, a 20.2% increase over that span. Even in Hurts’ best season (2022) he improved his completion percentage against the blitz by 13.3%.
Hurts is completing a career-high 71.4% of his passes against the blitz this season, a vast improvement over the 60.5% he had last season. Hurts’ struggles against the blitz have been well-documented, no longer a detriment to his game.
“I think he is doing a great job,” Bowles said to reporters this week. “They understand the offense because he has been in it a while now. So, a couple years in, he’s got a good grasp of what they’re trying to do.
“Obviously, Kellen [Moore] added some things, as well, to make the offense a little more multiple that way. He is handling everything well.”
The Buccaneers have blitzed Hurts early and often in the prior matchups. That’s not expected to change Sunday, even if the Buccaneers have just two sacks on the season (0 in their last two games).
Key stats
- Baker Mayfield has a career-high 74.4% completion rate and 7.8 yards per attempt this season.
- Saquon Barkley is first in the nFL in rushing yards this season (351) and fourth in percentage of his team’s offense (31.7%).
- Jalen Hurts has 7 straight games with an interception — the longest such streak by an Eagles player since Ty Detmer in 1996.
- Eagles have allowed 10 plays of 25+ yards this season, the third-most in NFL. They allowed 37 all of last season.
- Dallas Goedert has 239 receiving yards this season, the most amongst tight ends.
- The Buccaneers have 41 missed tackles this season — the most of any team in NFL.
- The Eagles are first in completion percentage allowed at 57.2%.
