The Tampa Bay Buccaneers revenge tour got underway Monday night in front of a raucous crowd of Buccaneer fans at Raymond James Stadium, taking out the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 in one of the more impressive wins on wildcard weekend.
The Buccaneers avenged the loss to the Eagles earlier in the season in Tampa, a 25-11 loss in which Philadelphia built a 25-3 lead at halftime.
Now the tour heads to Detroit and a date with the NFC North champion Detroit Lions, who beat Tampa earlier in the season 20-6.
Baker Mayfield Continues To Prove The Critics Wrong
Baker Mayfield was once again the star on offense for Tampa, passing for 337 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Buccaneers to the wildcard win.
Who had Cade Otten as a prop bet Monday Night to lead the Buccaneers in receiving? Otten had eight catches for 89 yards to lead the team.
Trey Palmer, David Moore, and Chris Godwin caught touchdown passes as Dave Canales put on an offensive masterclass to keep the Philly defense off-balance all night.
The offense was great, and the defense played lights out. The Eagles were not able to convert on third and fourth down. They were 0/9 and 0/2 respectively.
The Bucs also had their best special teams game all season, with Devin Tompkins setting the Buccaneers up with good field position, averaging 12 yards per punt return. Chase Mclaughlin was 3/3 on field goals, and Jake Camarda continued his trend of excellent punts.
In my preview article, I talked about the battle that would be waged in the trenches as one of the keys to the Buccaneers coming out on top. The Buccaneers dominated both lines of scrimmage.
The offensive line helped the Bucs run for 119 yards, led by Rachaad White and his 72 yards. The defensive line helped the defense shut down the Eagles run game, as they could only generate 42 yards running the ball.
Buccaneers Shut Down The Eagles Run Game-A Key To Victory
Shutting down De’Andre Swift was another key to the Buccaneers win, and the Bucs run defense was up to the challenge as they held Swift to 34 yards on 10 carries—a far cry from the 130 yards Swift had on the ground in game three of the season.
Todd Bowles said it came down to game planning. “It was completely different from the first time we played them, all the way around from a game plan standpoint. From base to different packages. Guys were communicating better. We could do more because they had more experience over the course of the games. We tweaked some things around from the first time.”
Calijah Kancey did not play in that first game, YaYa Diaby played limited snaps, and KJ Britt saw limited time backing up Devin White. All three played critical defensive roles in helping the Buccaneers shut down the Eagles offense.
Since November, KJ Britt has been a big part of the improved Buccaneer defense. Coach Todd Bowles has noticed and talked about Britt’s improvement. “K.J. is probably our best downhill thumper, and it was very good to have (him) in there for that. Like I’ve said, K.J. is a good football player. We think we have three starting linebackers. He’s a big part of that. He’s earned his right to play. He’s a leader on our team, and he did very well.”
Buccaneers Still Not Earning Respect
The Buccaneers are peaking at the right time. It does not matter that this Tampa team will not be the favorite in any game they play the rest of the season. The confidence inside the locker room is very high.
But these Buccaneers don’t care what others outside the locker room think. Baker Mayfield said, “It’s always fun to be counted out. Obviously, I’m pretty comfortable in it, but our team has completely embraced that.”
The revenge tour continues Sunday with a matchup against the Detroit Lions in the divisional round at 3 PM.