The Buccaneers enter the playoffs for the fourth straight season after winning the NFC South for the third consecutive season.
The Buccaneers and the Eagles have played more meaningful games in the Buccaneers’ playoff history than any other team.
The most infamous game is the NFC Championship game at Veterans Stadium. Ronde Barber intercepted a Donovan McNabb pass and took it 92 yards for a touchdown to seal the victory and send the Buccaneers to their first Super Bowl, silencing the Philly crowd.
These two teams have met five other times in the postseason, with the Buccaneers holding a 3-2 advantage.
Buccaneers And Eagles Meet For The Second Time This Season
The two teams most recently met in the postseason in 2022 during Tom Brady’s second season. The Buccaneers beat the Eagles 31-15 in that game.
These two playoff rivals will meet for the sixth time in the postseason on Monday night at Raymond James Stadium.
The two teams met earlier in the season in week three, with the Eagles jumping out to a 25-3 halftime lead before leaving Tampa with a 25-11 win.
De’Andre Swift had a big game on the ground, gashing the Bucs defense for 201 yards. Wide receiver AJ Brown had 131 receiving yards as the Eagles had their way with the Buccaneers.
The Bucs could only generate 174 yards of offense in that week three matchup. They will need to be much better to win on Monday night.
Bucs Are Trending Up While The Eagles Are Trending Down
The Buccaneers offense has improved since that September beatdown. This will be a chance to show those improvements against a team that dominated them early in the season.
The Eagles come to Tampa just a shell of the team that was so dominant early in the season. The Eagles have lost five of their last six games and are giving up 29 points a game in their previous six games.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts is dealing with a finger injury and did not throw until late in the week. Wide Receiver AJ Brown has a knee injury and will not play on Monday night.
Despite the recent swoon to end the season, this is still a team with a lot of talent and a team you cannot take lightly.
The battle in the trenches is where this game will be won or lost. Antoine Winfield Jr. talked about the battle in the trenches and the importance of shutting down the Eagles’ running game. “What I learned, first and foremost, is that we have to stop the run. They gashed us during that first game, so that’s one thing I learned from that we have to do a better job this time around.”
The Bucs run defense has been much better in the final month of the season, and they will need to continue that trend if they are going to win this game.
The Buccaneers ended the season fifth in the NFL, giving up just 95 yards a game on the ground.
The other factor in this wildcard game could be the weather. The forecast is for a rainy/stormy Monday night, with the heaviest rain forecasted for the 6-9 PM window.
If that forecast comes to fruition, both teams may need to rely more on the run game.
The Buccaneers are healthy, and everyone is good to go Monday night. Baker Mayfield, KJ Britt, and Josh Hayes are questionable on the injury report, but there should be no doubt that Baker will be under center Monday night.
The Eagles are the better team on paper, but this is the playoffs, and the better team sometimes does not win these games. It’s the team that is currently hot and playing the best football.
2.5 points favor the Eagles. That is no surprise, as the Buccaneers have been the underdogs in most games they have played this season.
Unless the Buccaneers are inept on offense and take a step back on defense, I can’t see the Eagles winning this game.
There are a lot of distractions around this Philadelphia team. There is talk that should the Eagles lose this game, head coach Nick Sirianni will be out of a job.
Keys To A Buccaneer Win
One huge key for the Buccaneers in this game is stopping De’Andre Swift. They cannot let Swift run all over them like he did in their first meeting.
I believe the Buccaneers defense will be up to the challenge and will lock down De’Andre Swift.
Another key will be to score first and give the defense a chance to play the aggressive style that Todd Bowles likes to run.
Just because AJ Brown is out for this game doesn’t mean the Eagles pass offense will be dormant. This team still has DeVonta Smith and tight-end Dallas Goedert, who can wreak havoc on opposing defenses.
The Buccaneers defense has struggled at times this season, covering tight ends, and Goedert is a good one that can cause defenses some problems.
Author’s Prediction: The Buccaneers will win this game in a low-scoring affair, 21-20. It may not be pretty, but the most important thing is to win and move on, and the Buccaneers will do that Monday night.