by PHILADELPHIA – Traveling back to Raymond James Stadium on Sunday won’t be a revenge 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 as 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 on the road against the New Orleans Saints, while the Buccaneers suffered an embarrassing loss at home to the Denver Broncos. The Buccaneers will look 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 game before the bye week? Here’s a preview of Sunday’s match and how to watch the match:
Where to look
Date: Sunday September 29 | Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL)
TV: Fox | Current: fubo (free trial)
To follow: CBS Sports App
Chances: Buccaneers +3, O/U 48
Eagles wide receiver situation
The Eagles will 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 for several weeks with a shoulder injury. The biggest question remaining is AJ Brown, who has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury and hasn’t practiced at all this week through Friday. Brown is questionable for Sunday, and many on the Eagles need him given their current situation at wide receiver.
Philadelphia will have Jahan Dotson and Johnny Wilson on the active roster, while Parris Campbell is 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 will likely be called up because he knows the offense.
Playing Brown on Sunday would be huge for the Eagles, especially since the Buccaneers’ Antoine Winfield Jr. will not have in the secondary class. 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 huge for the Eagles’ offense.
Jalen Hurts vs. the blitz
The Eagles’ struggles against the Buccaneers’ defense last season put Hurts on notice when faced with the blitz. Hurts was 12 of 20 against Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles’ defense in last season’s wild-card round loss, throwing a touchdown with an 87.9 passer rating. He also only had 92 yards on those 20 attempts, as Bowles piled on the pressure, knowing this was Hurts’ weakness.
In Hurts’ five seasons in the NFL, he improved his completion percentage against the blitz every year. Hurts went from shooting 51.1% in his rookie season to 71.4% this year, an increase from 20.2% in 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 from the 60.5% he had last season. Hurts’ struggles against the blitz are well documented and are no longer a detriment to his game.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” Bowles told reporters this week. “They understand the offense because he’s been at it for a while. So now, a few years later, he has a good understanding of what they are trying to do.
“Of course, Kellen [Moore] also added a few things to make the offense a little more multi-faceted that way. He takes care of everything well.”
The Buccaneers have bombarded Hurts early and often in the previous matchups. That’s not expected to change on Sunday, even though the Buccaneers have just two sacks this season (0 in their last two games).
Key statistics
- Baker Mayfield has a career-high 74.4% completion percentage 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 gone seven straight games with an interception — the longest streak by an Eagles player since Ty Detmer in 1996.
- Eagles have allowed 10 plays of more than 25 yards this season, the third-most in the NFL. They allowed 37 last season.
- Dallas Goedert has 239 receiving yards this season, the most among tight ends.
- The Buccaneers have 41 missed tackles this season, the most of any team in the NFL.
- The Eagles are first in completion percentage at 57.2%.
