PREVIEW – Playoffs: Eagles Face Playoff Showtime in Tampa Bay
It is finally here.
The Eagles have somewhat miraculously found their way in the playoffs. They will head to Tampa to face Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs on Sunday afternoon.
The fact that they even reached this point is a huge accomplishment in its own right considering the state of this team 12 months ago and even 3 months ago, but obviously, they might as well try to make some noise while they are here.
Photo: NFL
The Buccaneers are a tough draw for the Eagles. Despite how banged up Tampa’s receiving corps is at the moment, I still think this was the least desirable of the four possible opponents they could have faced this weekend. To start, their quarterback is Tom Brady, who, as deplorable as he is, has more playoff experience and success in his career than most NFL franchises do all time. He led the league in both passing yards and passing touchdowns at the age of 44 and is a legitimate MVP candidate. While Chris Godwin tore his ACL and Antonio Brown fell off the deep end, they still employ an intriguing set of pass-catching weapons. Mike Evans is an uber-talented physical deep threat who has had at least 67 catches and 1000 yards in all eight seasons of his career and had 14 touchdowns this season. Rob Gronkowski has looked closer and closer to his pre-retirement self the more he has played in Tampa and put up consecutive games of 7 catches and over 100 yards to close out the season. Leonard Fournette has molded into a well-rounded back ever since signing with the Bucs, as he is now a legitimate pass-catching threat for them out of the backfield. If Brady is locked in, he can definitely still put up yards and points with this supporting cast, though it is worth noting the high chance of rain during this game as of this writing.
The part that worries me more, however, is when the Eagles have the ball. The weather could work more in favor of the Eagles’ typical game script, but the Buccaneers finished with the third-ranked run defense this season with almost the same defensive roster as last year when they had the top-ranked unit in that regard. Tampa wants to hone in on the run game until Brady gives them enough of a cushion where they can just pin their ears back and get after the passer, and this tactic works more often than not. If the Eagles fall behind early and have to put this game on the shoulders of Jalen Hurts, they have no chance, in my opinion. That is not meant as a slight towards Hurts but rather a reminder that this team can not move the ball when they have to pass a vast majority of the time, as we saw earlier in the year.
The Eagles’ offensive line has been very good down the stretch, but massive nose tackles Vita Vea, and Ndamukong Suh might be the best in the business in the run game, and their front 7 is full of versatile linebackers/pass-rushers in Lavonte David, Devin White, Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaquil Barrett, and Joe Tryon. It would be a lot for the Eagles to handle if their offense is forced to become the wrong kind of one-dimensional. Tampa’s defensive backs are certainly no slouches either, even with Richard Sherman out for the playoffs.
Given the forecast and the fairly banged-up supporting cast, I can see the Buccaneers struggling to score a little more than they did in Philadelphia in October when it almost looked like they were toying with the Eagles for fun at times. However, I also think the Eagles are going to have a hard time moving the football consistently. I believe this is a relatively slow, low-scoring affair with a couple of turnovers on both sides that will come down to who makes one more big play in the second half. I just can not bring myself to pick Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni to draw up that one crucial play over Brady, as impressive as they have been recent.
The Eagles keep it competitive throughout, but the Bucs make a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter to put it away, and the Eagles season ends on a disappointing but still quite successful note. Here’s to hoping I am eating my words in the next preview article one week from today.
Prediction: Buccaneers 23, Eagles 18
Featured Image: NFL
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